Windows for Workgroups 3.11 is identical to Windows 3.1 except in just about one way: networking. Windows 3.1 supports networking, but only in real mode. WFW 3.11 supports it in protected mode. This leads to a better network driver. The two versions of WFW are 3.1 and 3.11. 3.11 has more network drivers, and is less buggy. It also comes in 8 floppies instead of 3.1’s 10 floppies. This article covers the installation of WFW 3.11 in VMware. This article also assumes that MS-DOS 6.22 has not been installed yet. I will cover this as well. The process of installing WFW 3.11 in VMware is nearly identical to that of in Virtual PC, but there are some differences in how the application works. There is a separate guide for installing WFW 3.11 in Virtual PC.

Part 1: Setting Up the Virtual Machine

1. Open up VMware and click New Virtual Machine.
2. Click Next, and select Custom and click Next again.
3. For Guest Operating System, choose Windows 3.1, then hit Next.
4. Choose the name of your Virtual Machine, and choose the location for the Disk Images and configuration files, then hit Next.
5. For memory, I would set it to 32MB. More memory = better. Except with some applications, for example, IE setup will not run with more than 40MB of memory. Click Next after choosing.
6. For Network Connection, this can get a bit complicated. In the Networking HOWTO for WFW 3.11, this is covered.
7. Choose the type of disk image you want. For most, creating a new virtual disk is good enough. If you are reading this, you probably don’t have a disk image already for use. Using a physical disk is dangerous. Use it only if you know what you are doing.
8. For disk size, 2GB is PLENTY for WFW 3.11, MS-DOS 6.22, and some utilities. If you have 2GB readily available, choose Allocate all disk space now. This enhances performance. Don’t worry about the split disk into 2GB files option.
9. Choose the filename for the disk. The default is usually acceptable.
10. Click Finish, and the disk will be created. Once it�s done, you will see a summary of all the settings for your Virtual Machine.

Part 2: Installing MS-DOS 6.22

1. Insert Disk 1 of the MS-DOS 6.22 set into the floppy drive and click �Start this Virtual Machine�.
2. The virtual machine will boot and the setup program will begin the load.
3. Once the setup program loads, read whatever it says and press Enter. Note: To interact with the virtual machine, you must click on it. To release control, press Ctrl + Alt.
4. Setup will either give you two options: Configure disk or Exit Setup. Choose “configure disk”.
5. Keep the floppy in the drive and press Enter.
6. Setup will once again begin to load, and eventually, it will.
7. It will ask for the date, time, country, keyboard layout now. If you live in the United States, these settings are most likely correct. If not, you can change them by using the arrow up and arrow down keys. Then choose “The settings are correct”.
8. Now it will ask where you want to install the DOS files. Ninety-nine percent of the time, C:\DOS is perfectly acceptable. Then hit Enter.
9. The installation program will now install MS-DOS 6.22 onto your hard disk image. The installation will take a some time since its being run off of floppies.
10. When the setup program asks for disk two, to make it recognize the second disk, do the following exactly as described.
11. Make sure the disk drive light is off and eject the floppy.
12. In the lower right-hand corner, right-click the little floppy disk icon, and click Disconnect.
13. Insert the next disk.
14. Right-click the floppy icon again, and click Connect. Step 10e: Click on the virtual machine and press Enter.
15. Do this for the next disk-switch.
16. When Setup asks for the third disk, do the same procedure as above.
17. Once everything is done, remove all the disks and press Enter.
18. Congrats! MS-DOS 6.22 is installed. Read on to find out how to install WFW 3.11.

Part 3: Installing Windows for Workgroups 3.11

1. Boot up MS-DOS 6.22. Once it loads, insert Disk 1 of WFW 3.11 in the drive.
2. Disconnect and Connect the disk drive to the virtual machine using the steps outlined above.
3. Type A:\Setup.exe.
4. Once Setup loads press Enter.
5. Ninety-nine of you will use a standard setup, so choose Express Setup by pressing Enter once more.
6. Setup will start copying files and ask for disk 2, just follow the above on that.
7. After disk 2 is loaded, Windows will boot, continuing installation.
8. After it boots Windows, it will ask for Full Name, Company, and Product Number. Product Number isn’t required, so if it’s not handy, just ignore it.
9. Setup will now copy even more files.
10. It will keep on asking for more and more and more disks, so just keep feeding it.
11. Setup will now ask if you want to install a printer. Most likely, you won’t, so just click Install.
12. Setup will now ask if you want to install any network related things, if you don’t want a network at this time, click Continue, if you do, click Networks, and then click “Install Microsoft Windows Network”, then click OK.
13. The Program Manager will briefly show, and then it will scan applications. When the window comes up asking what the name of EDIT is, click OK.
14. A window asking if you want to view the tutorial will appear. Most likely, you won’t want to sit through it, click Skip Tutorial.
15. Remove all floppies, and click Restart Computer.
16. MS-DOS will boot again, and it will sit at the C:> prompt. Type win to start Windows.
17. Congrats! Windows for Workgroups 3.11 is now installed!

Part 4: Installing CD-ROM Drivers

1. If you want to use CD’s, or use the networking tutorial for WFW 3.11, you’ll need the CD-ROM drivers. This is because IE 5(in the networking tutorial) is on an ISO because its around 8MB.
2. Download the CD-ROM drivers (in VMWare image format).
3. Start the virtual machine, but DO NOT start Windows.
4. Mount the image in VMware by right-clicking on the floppy drive in the lower right-hand corner, and click Edit. Click Use Floppy Image, and Browse to where you stored the image. Then click OK.
5. In DOS, type “A:” no quotes.
6. Then type “CDSETUP” no quotes. A window will appear that you can’t completely see. I don’t know why this happens, but just hit Enter. You can see a portion of the status bar, so when it gets to 100%, wait a minute, and press Enter. That exits the setup program. Restart your virtual machine by clicking Power > Reset.
7. MS-DOS should load again without error. It will say SAMSUNG CD/DVD-ROM Device Driver. If you don’t have a Samsung drive, don’t panic, the driver works flawlessly with most drives.