BEHOLD! MY COOL (VIRTUAL) MACHINE!!!
this page is dedicated to my cool little vm with windows me that i'm trying to make good :3
i'm pretty fascinated by dos-era windows versions, and i never did a lot of vm stuff with windows me, so i decided to give it a shot.
this page will not only show off my progress with this vm, but i'll also share stuff that i learned about how to deal with this system :D
tricks :D
1. direct downloads
old versions of internet explorer have quite a lot of difficulty navigating any website that wasn't made with old web protocols in mind.
but to download stuff into the vm, we can simply bypass the websites and type the direct download link into the browser :D
if you don't know, direct downloads are the urls that download the files themselves, a link is a direct download if it ends with a filename:
for example: example.com/place/file.txt
while the websites we need to visit will almost always make ie complain
if you find the direct download link in your real machine and type it in ie, you'll be able to download it straight into the vm!
from the few times i used it, it seemed reliable enough, but if this doesn't work for some file, we can always get it the long way
2. imgburn
this isn't really a trick if ya already have some experience with vms, but if not then keep reading :3
if there's no other way to get a file from the internet in the vm, you can download the file on your real machine...
then use imgburn to make an iso file with the download, which you can then insert into the vm like a normal cd
updates
the first thing i did with my vm was getting as much updates as i could.
unfortunately, microsoft killed windows update for these versions, but thankfully we can use windows update restored on ie 5.5!
btw, i recommend sticking with the built-in version of ie until you get all possible updates
for some reason version 4 of windows update restored stopped working on my ie at some point and i believe its because i updated to ie 6
also, there's two updates that gave unknown errors and didn't install, those are the "Windows ME Help and Support Update, November 2000" and windows media player 7.1
if you know why this happens or how to fix it, feel free to contact me :D
version 3
version 4
official stuff
1. windows media player 9
windows media player 9 is that version with the cool design from windows xp, it not only supported windows me and 2000 too but windows 98 as well! :D
it's kinda hard to find it for some reason, but at least it's on microsoft's update catalog, it should be simple to install it:
description
direct download
2. internet explorer 6.0
updating ie is not really for using it (unless ya just wanna download stuff, like me), i think ie's utility is for the core files
there's probably some stuff out there that may need ie6's engine to run, so better be safe than sorry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
description
direct download
3. interactive cd sampler
if you insert the windows me installation cd and open "(drive):\cdsample\Demos", you'll find a few trials - mainly for games - given as freebies :D
| freebie games |
| image |
game |
notes |
 |
microsoft motocross madness |
complains about 3d acceleration, likely needs directx 9.0 or something |
 |
scholastic's the magic school bus explores the world of animals |
|
 |
microsoft's pandora box |
gives an error i don't understand |
|
microsoft pinball arcade |
works, but the graphics get screwed up on the unofficial generic graphics |
 |
microsoft entertainment pack: the puzzle collection |
|
 |
microsoft international football 2000 |
complains about resolution errors, likely the graphics driver too |
 |
msn gaming zone |
connects to zone.com, which doesn't exist anymore |
|