You Can Now Run Windows 95 in Your Web Browser

Remember when we told you about that guy who made Windows 95 run on a Nintendo 3DS XL? Well, a nineteen-year-old student named Andrea Faulds has recently managed to get Microsoft’s famed OS to run in almost any web browser, which is just as impressive if you ask me. The feat was made possible thanks to an emulator named Emscripten, which is able to convert C++ code into JavaScript in real-time. The best part about this project is that it doesn’t require any plugins or special software in order to run properly, although it’s worth mentioning that the emulator might need a while to load up properly.

Users might experience issues with the mouse, and there are a few known stability problems, but the project actually does a fine job in delivering a responsive experience overall. Just in case you’re curious, classic games such as Solitaire, Minesweeper, Hearts and Freecell work like a charm. Unfortunately, other programs such as Internet Explorer are not yet supported, but maybe this issue will be fixed in future versions. Apparently, the creation process involved installing Windows 95 OSR2 in DOSBox and packaging the disk image along a custom dosbox.conf and an Autoexec.bat file. When asked about this impressive emulator, Faulds has stated the following:

“Really, all the hard work was done by the Emscripten, DOSBox and Em-DOSBox people. And, of course, the browser vendors and other people who have worked tirelessly to make the modern web platform what it is today. In the process of making this, I never once had to touch the DOSBox source code.”

You can try out the emulator yourself right here.