Win4Lin User's Guide

But before any user can install Windows for their own use, the Windows installation files must first be "loaded" into Win4Lin. This is done only once, and it must be done by the "root" user. This step copies the Windows installation files from your Windows 95 or Windows 98 installation CD into a shared location, so the actual install of Windows for each user does not require the use of the CD again. All users on the system must use the same version of Windows.

NOTE: Loading from Windows installation floppies is not supported. Also note that Windows 3.x is not supported.

This "loading" step also automatically installs MS-DOS from the Windows installation files. So this "loading" of the Windows installation CD is the first thing that must be done after Win4Lin is installed.

The amount of disk space required to load the Windows CD and for each user to install Windows is given in the following table. Note that the loaded CD files are put under /var/win4lin, and for each user, the files are installed under their home directory.

If there is not enough space in the /var filesystem, then you will have to use symbolic links to relocate /var/win4lin to another filesystem that has enough space.

The Per-User files are by default installed where the C: drive is mapped to in the Linux filesystem. The default location for this is $HOME/win. If if you do not have enough room in $HOME for this, you will have to relocate where the C: drive is mapped to. See the section Relocating the C: drive at the end of this page for instructions on how to do this.

Note: The C: drive MUST be mapped to a "local" filesystem. If your $HOME is accessed via NFS then you MUST relocate where drive C: is mapped.

Loading Windows CD

To load the Windows 95, 98 or Me installation CD into Win4Lin, use the WinSetup GUI utility. You must be logged in as the "root" user to load from the CD. You must have:

• A Windows 95 installation/upgrade CD and a matching Windows boot floppy (also know as a "Windows startup disk")
  OR:
• A bootable Windows 98 installation CD
  OR:
• A non-bootable Windows 98 installation CD and a matching Windows boot floppy (also know as a "Windows startup disk")
  OR:
• A Windows Millennium Edition CD and boot floppy
  OR:
• A non-bootable Windows 95 to Windows 98 Upgrade CD and a matching Windows 95 or Windows 98 boot floppy (also know as a "Windows startup disk"). You will also later need to have a qualifying Windows 95 installation CD to actually install Windows for a user.

The command "winsetup &" starts the WinSetup GUI utility.

From the first WinSetup window, follow these steps:

1. Click on "System-Wide Administration",
2. Click on the OK button.
3. Click on the "Load Windows CD" button to bring up the "Load Windows CD" window.

The help page for the "Load Windows CD" window has the full instructions for loading the Windows CD. Instead of duplicating that here, click here to go to to the "Load Windows CD" help page.

This page also covers the topic of the Windows boot floppy.

Installing Windows for a User

Once the files from the Windows installation CD have been loaded, then installing Windows for individual use is very easy. All that is required is enough disk space, and the Windows "product key". You will have to enter this "product key" data as part of completing the installation of Windows. (You are responsible to have the proper number or type of Windows licenses for all the installations of Windows on your system.)

To install Windows you should be working in the Desktop environment (i.e. using X windows). The DISPLAY environment variable must be set as is normally required for X client programs.

Windows will be automatically installed in your personal C:\windows directory.

To begin the installation of Windows, start up a Win4Lin Windows session. Win4Lin detects that Windows is not installed, and automatically starts the Windows installation GUI. Follow these steps:

• Chapter 1 covers the various ways you can start up a Windows session. Any of the ways will work, but to keep it brief here, execute the "win &" command from a Linux command prompt. A dialog box pops up asking if you want to install Windows now.

• Click on the Yes button to start the installation process. This is a version of the standard Windows installation process.

• Win4Lin now supports two different styles of networking: Winsock and VNET. You must select which type of networking support is desired at this time. If you are not sure, select Winsock networking. If you would like to use VNET networking in the future, follow the instructions given in the sections Upgrading to VNET Networking.

  Winsock networking, which has been supported in previous versions of Win4Lin, requires no specific configuration. It smartly translates standard Microsoft Winsock calls onto the Linux socket interface, thereby providing transparent access to standard TCP/IP services over your pre-configured Linux network.

  VNET networking provides a virtual network adapter to the user's Windows session and runs the complete suite of Microsoft network services over the Microsoft supplied TCP/IP protocol stack. (Refer to chapter 3, "VNET style networking under Win4Lin" for more information about just how VNET works.

  This allows the user to browse shared resources by using 'Network Neighborhood' and provides additional functionality. However, VNET networking also requires that you provide a unique IP address to identify each installation of Windows. The network subnet mask, gateway address, domain name, and Microsoft network configuration information must also be specified, just as you would have to do with real Windows machine on your network.

  These configuration settings can also be modified later via the standard Windows Network Control Panel interface.
  NOTE: You must specify an IP address for the session if you are not using DHCP to allocate your IP address.

• Depending on the version of Windows being installed, you will have to respond to the standard prompts.

  One prompt will be for the Windows product key. (You might first see a warning that you have entered a wrong key, even though you have not typed in anything yet. Ignore this warning, and just type in the key.) You can obtain the key value from the disk or the disk-packaging materials supplied by the manufacturer.

  If Windows was originally loaded from a "Windows 95 to Windows 98 Upgrade" CD, then you also will need to put your qualifying Windows 95 CD in the drive. When prompted, enter drive "N:\" for the location of the CD.

• Windows will be automatically restarted several times as part of the installation process. At the end of the installation process, Windows will be running in the X window. To complete the last step of installation for Win4Lin you will need to "shutdown" the Windows session. You do this in the standard way that you shut down Windows: click the "Start button" in the lower left and then click "Shut Down". Then make sure "Shut down" is selected and click "OK".

• Now windows is installed.
  

  Changing the size of your Windows window

  The easiest way to change the size of your Windows window is with the mouse pointer. Simply drag the window to the desired size.
  
  Alternatively, you can use the standard Windows "Display" control panel. In a Windows session:
  1. Double click the Display icon on the Control Panel window or right click on the desktop and select Properties.
  2. Click on the Settings tab.
  3. In the Desktop area or Screen area, use the sliding bar to set the window size.
     (The number of colors cannot be changed, because it is tied to the number of colors currently available from the X Windows Display Server.)

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  Relocating the C: drive

  There are two ways to relocate where the C: drive is mapped to in the Linux filesystem. (By default it is mapped to $HOME/win).

  The first way is to use the WinSetup GUI to adjust the "win" configuration's drive C mapping. The second is to use regular Linux symbolic links. In either case the first step is to create the new directory where the C: drive is to be located.

  For example if you have your own directory named "/local/sally" and you want to relocate drive C from $HOME/win to "/local/sally/win", first create the new directory and make sure only you, the owner, has access to the directory. (This is needed because each user's C drive must be only writeable by the that user, and normally should be unreadable too.) Type these commands to create such a directory:

  1. mkdir /local/sally/win
  2. chmod 700 /local/sally/win

  Then, to change the "win" configuration, start up the WinSetup GUI and follow the steps:

  1. Run "winsetup &"
  2. Click the line "Person session configuration: win"
  3. Click the "OK" button.
  4. Click the "Drives & Filesystem" button.
  5. Click the line "C: Linux $HOME/win/"
  6. Click the "Properties..." button.
  7. In the "Directory" box, replace the current directory setting with "/local/sally/win".
  8. Click the "OK" button.
  9. Click the "Save" button.
  10. Click the "Exit" button.

  If you don't want to do the above adjustment of the "win" configuration, you can use symbolic links. If $HOME/win already exists and has files you want to keep, first move the files over to the new directory. Once you have done that and it is ready to be replaced, (or $HOME/win does not exist), do these steps:

  1. cd $HOME
  2. rm -rf win
  3. ln -s /local/sally/win win
  Now $HOME/win really is /local/sally/win

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  Upgrading to VNET Networking

  Win4Lin now supports two different styles of networking: Winsock and VNET. Refer to chapter 3, "VNET style networking under Win4Lin" for more information about just how VNET works.

  You can upgrade from Winsock to VNET support using the procedure given later in this section. But before you do this you must get all the network setting information you need to configure the Microsoft networking. What you need is all the same settings you would need if your are setting up a Windows computer on the network with a fixed IP address:

  • Unique IP Address
  • "Host" name that matches the IP address on the network.
  • Network subnet mask
  • Gateway address
  • DNS server addresses
  • DNS domain
  • DNS domain search order
  • Windows Network Neighborhood Workgroup name

  Quick overview

  Here is the overview of the steps you need to take to upgrade to VNET networking.
  1. Run the command:

     	win_network -v
     

     This command updates the Windows installation associated with the your "win" configuration and then starts a Windows session for you to perform the following steps with.

     Note: If you want to do this with a Windows installation associated with another configuration name, then also specify that configuration name. (E.g. "win_network -v win2").

  2. In the Windows session bring up "Networking" control panel. The rest of the steps are all in this control panel.
  3. Click on the "Add" button to bring up the control for adding clients, adapters, protocols and services. Using this add:
     • Adapter: Merge/NIC "Merge NIC"
     • Protocol: Microsoft "TCP/IP"
     • Service: Microsoft "File and printer sharing for Microsoft Networks"
     Then click OK to exit back to the main Network control panel. Note: if you are using Windows Me, you will need to add the Merge/NIC using the "Add New Hardware" control panel instead.
  4. Remove unneeded protocols. If IPX or IPX/SPX is listed, click select it and then click the "Remove" button.
  5. Configure TCP/IP. Select "TCP/IP" and click the properties button. This is used to set all the TCP/IP settings. Required ones are the IP address, subnet mask and the gateway address. If your network uses DNS, then set up the host name, domain and DNS server addresses. When done, click "OK".
  6. Configure "File and printer sharing for Microsoft Networks". Select this and then click "Properties". The "LM Announce" property should be set to "No", unless you know it has to be set to "Yes" for your Lan Manager network. (If this is set to "Yes", it can cause the shutdown of Windows to be quite slow.)
  7. Click on the "Identification" tab to set up the Network Neighborhood properties. Typically the "Computer Name" should be set to the same name as your DNS "host" name. For the Workgroup, the standard default setting is "WORKGROUP".
  8. That's all the required configuration. You can make adjustments as required to other networking properties as needed. When all done, click OK. It will say that you have to restart the computer.
  9. Restart the Windows session, and the VNET networking should be all working.
  One note about clicking on the "Network Neighborhood" icon. After starting up your Windows sessions, sometimes it takes a while for the Network Neighborhood to get itself setup. Just close it and wait a short while before trying again.

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