13 FAT16 Multi
Boot - w3.1,
95, 98, ME, 2K, XP, Server
2000+2003 with BootitNG
I read something on the surveillance web the other week about installing Windows on FAT16 partitions and that started me to wondering as to which versions of Windows can install natively on FAT16 partitions, so I've done a bit of playing around in VirtualBox and this VHD is the result.
This is a multiboot VHD with 8 Windows installs - DOS and Windows 3.1, Windows 95B, Windows 98SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, WIndows XP, Windows Server 2000 and Windows Server 2003.
All installs are done using the native Windows installers onto FAT16 partitions on a single hard disk.
I've used the BootitNG boot manager for this as it allows multiple primary partitions (in this case, 12 in total).
BootitNG is a pretty spiffy piece of kit - it's shareware so I'd suggest you give either it, or the latest version known as Bootit Bare Metal, a try.
Bootit can create multiple primary partitions using it's proprietary EMBR (Extended Master Boot Record) scheme (I've tested up to 15 primaries so far without any issues) - the only caveat in using the EMBR scheme is that all partitioning work must be done using the partition manager in Bootit so that it retains the integrity of the EMBR (any other partitioning tool will destroy the EMBR structure).
All of the above Windows versions install just fine on FAT16 and I've not found any issues in testing them.
Not that that's either here or there, as using FAT16 for later Windows such as 2000 or XP is rather wasteful as the FAT16 cluster size of 64K wastes a heck of a lot of disk space.
Just an exercise done out of curiosity.
Windows 6 onwards objects to installing on FAT16 partitions, but the surveillance web reveals there are possible tweaks to make later versions work with FAT16 so I might play around with some of those options and see if I can get a Windows 6 or 7 install running on a FAT16 partition (as well as doing an XP 64 bit install just to verify it will also install on FAT16 without any issues).
All the installs were done using VirtualBox 6.1.26 and no guest additions are installed.
I've added VBemp display drivers for the w9x installs and applied the fast CPU fix for w95 for CPU's >2.1ghz.
Wherever there are logins needed, the password has been left blank.
If you change any of the partitions or install a different OS in any, then you'll need to re-install / re-activate BootitNG from the floppy image (included in the zip file).
The VHD size is 4.5GB but this has been zipped down to 1.5GB for download.
Windows 2000, 2000 Server and Server 2003 are Lite versions with lots of exclusions so they may not be all that functional, but as this exercise was as a test to see what installs on FAT16 I reckon you can live with it.
* Note on graphics: Allocate your VM's graphic card at least 40MB of RAM or the VBemp driver in w95-98-2K will only show a black screen on startup. The more RAM you allocate, the higher the resolution you'll be able to achieve (Windows 2000 is particularly fussy).
* All these installs will run fine with 512MB or RAM in VirtualBox.
* You'll need to tweak your VM sound settings for w31 and XP as the sound is currently set for w9x.
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