Devices: The Issues

For information related to the specific devices you are responsible for administering, check the lists of supported hardware in the Add New Hardware wizard and the README.TXT file provided with Windows 95.

If you try to install device drivers that were created to run in 32-bit mode in Windows 3.x, you can damage your Windows 95 configuration, because these particular drivers add VxD information to the SYSTEM.INI file. If the device is supported under Windows 95, the best way to recover and install the device is to do the following.

To recover from faulty installation of a Windows 3.x driver

1. Restart the computer. Press F8 when the Starting Windows 95 message appears, and then choose the Safe Mode option.
2. Remove all entries added to SYSTEM.INI by the Windows 3.x driver installation program.
3. Remove the device in Device Manager, as described in "Changing Settings with Device Manager" later in this chapter.
4. Restart Windows 95.
5. In Control Panel, double-click the Add New Hardware icon to reinstall the device using real-mode drivers. To install real-mode drivers, you must choose to manually select the hardware you want to install, and then provide the path name to the real-mode drivers. The device will function correctly, but will not be operating in 32-bit mode.

   Also, contact the device manufacturer to determine when drivers compatible with Windows 95 will be available.