Modern, 64bit versions of Windows… don’t support running Windows 3.1 software.

Linux distributions can’t run Windows 3.1 software either. (At least… not out of the box.)

This is, obviously, a tragedy. How on Earth are we expected to play Castle of the Winds or SkiFree on modern operating systems!?

Luckily, Wine does an astoundingly good job of supporting Windows 3.1 software… though many might not realize it (as most people are focused on the support for Windows 95 and later software).

On Windows

If you’re on Windows, you’ll want to grab a copy of Winevdm — a version of Wine specifically for running Windows 3.1 software on modern 64 bit Windows. Free and open source. Good stuff.

Installation is dog simple. Run “install” and — shazam — you can now run Castle of the Winds on Windows 10 / 11. Along with just about anything else you might like.

I don’t use Windows very often. But, when I do, I darn well better have access to Castle of the Winds and SkiFree. Darn it.

On Linux

Things are even easier on Linux. Simply install Wine from the default repositories for your distribution.

On Debian (and Ubuntu, etc.):

sudo apt-get install wine

On Fedora:

sudo dnf install wine

On Arch:

sudo pacman -S wine

Whamo. You’re good to go.

There are other ways…

Using Wine to run Windows 3.1 software (either on Linux or Windows) works fairly well for the majority of software out there. But, occasionally, you’ll run into snags.

Sometimes… some pretty big ones.

For those instances, looking at running Windows 3.1 in a dedicated emulator (such as QEMU, VirtualBox, or DOSbox) is going to net far more desirable results.

But, if the software you need runs in Wine, that route will give you the most “seamless” experience… as the software will run, in its own window, alongside the rest of your software.

Check out this craziness! Someone managed to squeeze a version of MS-DOS 7.1 and Windows 3.11 onto a single 3.5” floppy.

I repeat: You can boot directly into Windows 3.11… off a single Floppy.

Whoever created it goes by “DOS China Union” (seems to be a group of people)… and did this work back in 2006. I hadn’t seen this until now (and the original Geocities webpage is long gone), luckily a version is also hosted up at Archive.org.

Seriously. It’s absolutely insane. Check this out:

That’s what it looks like when first launching.

It then asks if you want to launch “Mini-Windows”, or just boot into DOS 7.1.

Shazam! There it is! Windows 3.11 booting entirely off a floppy drive!

And it works.

Sure, a lot of the software you’d normally expect isn’t there. But it has just enough to use. Which is pretty gosh darned impressive.

There’s the bootable floppy disk when looking at it in the Windows File Manager. Barebones… but functional. Amazing.

You can grab the floppy .img file from Archive.org and it’ll boot in just about any emulator (or you can write the image to an actual floppy and boot from real hardware).

I’m going to be honest. I don’t have an actual use for this. But it’s such an incredibly cool accomplishment that I just had to share.

Starting this very moment -- Wednesday, September 20th, 2023 at 8am Central Time -- The Lunduke Journal will be celebrating "Windows 3.1 Week"!

A chance to marvel in the beauty that is Windows 3.1!  To experience it all over again -- or for the first time -- and enjoy all of its quirks and peculiarities.  To run software from the Windows 3.1 era... and to see just how far we can push Windows 3.1 using modern hardware and services.

This week will include articles and shows from The Lunduke Journal -- and the entire community is invited to also post their own Windows 3.1 related awesomeness (in the form of screenshots, questions, cried for help, stories, etc.) to Lunduke.Locals.com.

There are many ways to enjoy Windows 3.1 (and related software) during the week, inclusing:

• Running on hardware or in virtual machines
• Windows 3.1 or 3.11 (or Windows for Workgroups)
• An OS/2 version which includes Windows 3.1 (OS/2 Warp, eComStation, or ArcaOS)
• Running Windows 3.1 software via WINE

There's no wrong way to run Windows 3.1!

This wonderful Windows-y week will run until 8am on September 27th, 2023.  A full week.  Of Windows 3.1.  Wild.

You can watch Lunduke's intro video here on Locals.