HELP STATION
Update Windows Media
In the February issue story on virtual machines, it mentioned that we can get images for old Windows boot disks at www.allbootdisks. com – do these images contain the original Windows version, or do they include all the updates to these older versions that were supplied before MSFT support ended? It wasn’t clear in the article.
Phil West
TechLife responds: These boot disk images aren’t suitable for installing Windows – they basically provide boot and repair functions only. If you read the article again, you’ll see that Neil has directed you to the website to obtain a boot floppy disk image for Windows 95, because the Windows 95 CD-ROM itself wasn’t bootable, and requires this to run.
When it comes to updating older machines, you’ll find that most updates and patches are available online. In the case of Windows 95, you’ll find key patches at , while Windows XP users can still manually download all updates – including Service Pack 3 – from Microsoft’s own catalog (go to and search for “XP SP3”). If you’re creating a Windows XP virtual machine, once it’s up and running you can create your own install media with SP3 and all post-SP3 updates slipstreamed into it using nLite (This must be run inside your virtual XP machine, and the ISO file generated, then copied to a safe location on your main machine for future use.
