Microsoft Windows 95 - Preinstall Manual w/COA OEM
 

Microsoft Windows 95 - Preinstall Manual w/COA OEM
Product Number   Shipping Weight 1.0 lbs
Warranty Period 1 Year Manufacturer Microsoft
Condition New Manufacturer Part No.  
Packaging OEM Manual/COA/CD Support Contact Dealer
 In Stock and Ready To Ship!
 
Windows 95 was a big success for Microsoft, and I would say this was for good reason: while certainly sharing many of the flaws associated with other Microsoft operating systems, Windows 95 was a significant improvement over Windows 3.x in virtually every way. However, Microsoft developed a problem with the operating system as time went on, specifically related to the file systems it supported. As hard disks grew in size, they began to approach the maximum size allowed by a FAT16 partition. This meant that PC makers were forced to divide the drives in their new systems into multiple partitions, which was extra work and which some customers didn't like. People buying new hard disks also had a similar problem. Since hard disks were only going to keep getting bigger, Microsoft had to do "something".

That "something" came in the form of the FAT32 file system, which allows for much larger single partitions than the older 16-bit version of FAT. FAT32 support was included in an updated version of Windows 95 that Microsoft released in 1996, along with some other new features. In a move that was controversial at the time, Microsoft decided to make these new operating systems available only to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers, in this case PC and PC component makers)--no retail version was ever created. The new version of Windows 95 was called "Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2", which is usually abbreviated to "Windows 95 OEM SR2" or "Windows 95 OSR2". It is also sometimes called "Windows 95B".

OSR2 was never sold to the public at retail, so if you wanted to use the newer version with FAT32 support you had to either buy a new PC, motherboard or hard disk, or buy a "gray market" copy from a retailer willing to break Microsoft's rules (and doing this was quite popular in 1996 and 1997). Microsoft never really explained why they refused to make FAT32 available to the unwashed masses, but speculation is that they didn't want to expend the energy involved in doing a full quality assurance cycle to ensure that it would work with all the hardware in use at the time. By restricting it to OEMs and new systems, they didn't have to worry as much about whether OSR2 would work with all older hardware and software, and could even push some of the validation effort onto the OEMs themselves.

Between 1996 and 1997, Microsoft actually released three slightly different variants of Windows 95 OSR2:

  • OEM SR2.0: This is the first OSR2 version, also called "Windows 95B".
  • OEM SR2.1: This is OSR2.0 with the addition of a patch to allow (rudimentary) USB support within Windows 95. Also called "Windows 95B".
  • OEM SR2.5: This was produced at around the time that Microsoft became obsessed with tying browsers into their operating system. :^) It includes everything from OSR2.1 and also Internet Explorer 4. This variant is often called "Windows 95C".
  • *Note: All of these are identical, except as noted, and they all support the FAT12, FAT16, VFAT and FAT32 file systems.
Features/Specifications
  • Full OEM Version - Manual with Integrated COA - No CD Included!!
  • Includes Product Key number (blacked out in photo)
  • The Manual contains a licence for Windows 95 but is not specific to a version
  • You may use this licence to cover any installation from the original version to OSR2.5 
  • OEM: End-User must purchase with qualifying hardware to have a valid licence with this product!!
  • FAT32: As the name implies, expands the limit to over four million clusters -- the limit that can be represented by a 32-bit number.  With this setup you can have a partition as large as eight gigabytes and still have clusters of only 4K.  The partition size limit is now two terabytes -- 2048 gigabytes!
  • Bus Mastering: OSR2.1 builds on this by adding support for "bus mastering" or "direct memory access," a technique that newer IDE drives can use to transfer data while placing a much lower burden on the processor. 
  • Improved Virtual Memory: : OSR2.1 has improved handling of virtual memory, and also fixes a bug that Windows 95 had which caused the name and path caches to have the wrong sizes.
  • Display and Multimedia: OSR2.1 has a wider variety of video card drivers, and a new feature to let you set the refresh rate of your video card if it allows Windows to control it; something possible before only with some cards' third-party drivers.  This can be accessed from the Display Properties screen by selecting Settings and clicking the Advanced Properties button.  Normally you'll want to leave this in the "Optimal" setting, but if you run Windows-based games or view motion video files changing it to "60 Hz" may improve graphics performance.  Support is also provided for the OpenGL graphics enhancements, and a set of 3D screen savers is included to show off OpenGL's capabilities.
  • Internet and Online Services: Microsoft has been pushing its Internet Explorer ever since Windows 95 first came out, so it's no surprise that IE 3.0 is included as part of OSR2.  IE 3 has become a very close competitor to Netscape's Navigator 3.0 as an all-round Internet access program, and has some nice features that Navigator doesn't have (such as the capability, with an add-on you can download, to display foreign character sets even on a U.S. version of Windows 95). 
  • Windows Messaging: This is a slightly refined version of the Microsoft Exchange client, renamed to avoid confusion with the Exchange Server program.  It's been reworked to run faster on systems with less memory, and includes an Imaging application from Wang that works with Windows Messaging's fax feature.
Product Requirements
  • OEM: End-User must purchase with qualifying hardware to have a valid licence with this product!!
  • The Manual contains a licence for Windows 95 but is not specific to a version
  • You may use this licence to cover any installation from the original version to OSR2.5 
  • Some new compatibility issues introduced with FAT32, if you were dual-booting NT, DOS, or using pre-FAT32 low-level file system utilities such as Norton DiskEdit etc. (FAT32 doesn't have to be used; it's an option)
  • 66 MHz 486 or faster system
  • 8 Mb RAM or higher
  • 4x CD-ROM Drive
Informational Links
Back to top Back to Descriptions