How to Install OS/2 Warp 3 and 4 on VirtualBox

30 years ago I bought a copy of the recently released IBM OS/2 Warp 3 operating system, and I used it in the primary partition of my computer for a while, until around 1997, when I sold my 486 PC and moved back to Argentina.

(Nowadays, the word Warp means something else entirely… and the Hobbes OS/2 archive shut down earlier this year. Le sigh.)

I’ve been looking for ways to run OS/2 on virtual machines for a while, but I finally found a way to do this on VirtualBox 7.0 using the files provided by WinWorld. Here are the steps for those of you who might be interested to try it out.

OS/2 Warp 3

1. Download the floppy disk images labeled “IBM OS2 Warp 3.0 (Bluebox Edition) (3.5)”.
2. Download the CD-ROM disk image labeled “IBM OS2 Warp 3.0 (Blue Spine) (CD)”.
3. Uncompress the IBM OS2 Warp 3.0 (Bluebox Edition) (3.5).7z and IBM OS2 Warp 3.0 (Blue Spine) (CD).7z files.
4. Create a new VM on VirtualBox:
   1. Name it “OS/2 Warp 3”.
   2. Select the IBM OS2 Warp 3.0 (Blue Spine) (CD)/os2warp3_install.iso as ISO Image.
   3. Click “Next”.
   4. Select 48 MB of RAM and 1 CPU.
   5. Select a 1 GB hard disk.
5. Click on the “Empty” word next to “Floppy Device” on the “Storage” section of VirtualBox and select the IBM OS2 Warp 3.0 (Bluebox Edition) (3.5)/Disk00.img disk.

6. Start the virtual machine.
7. When prompted, select the IBM OS2 Warp 3.0 (Bluebox Edition) (3.5)/Disk01 (CD Install).img disk image in the diskette drive.
8. Hit “Enter” to format the drive with default settings.
9. Select the IBM OS2 Warp 3.0 (Bluebox Edition) (3.5)/Disk00.img disk again and press “Enter” to reboot.
10. Again, select the IBM OS2 Warp 3.0 (Bluebox Edition) (3.5)/Disk01 (CD Install).img disk image in the diskette drive when prompted.
11. Continue the installation, and remove the diskette image when prompted.
12. The installation continues. When the configuration screen appears, select “Non-listed IDE CD-ROM” in the “CD-ROM Device Support” section of the configuration screen.
    1. If this is not specified, then it won’t be possible to access the CD-ROM drive after reboot!
13. Reboot and the VM is ready to use.

Here’s a user guide to continue your exploration.

OS/2 Warp 4

This version, among the latest ever released by IBM to the public, is even easier to install.

1. Download the “ISO” specified in the corresponding WinWorld page.
2. Extract the ISO and the 3 diskette files contained in the archive.
3. Create a standard VirtualBox VM for OS/2, with 64 MB of RAM and a 2 GB hard disk.
4. Attach the ISO as a CD for your VM.
5. Add a floppy controller to the VM, and attach the disks “Installation.img”, “Disk01.img”, and “Disk02.img” to it.
6. Make sure that the “Installation.img” disk is the one selected for the floppy controller, and boot the VM.
7. Follow the instructions of the installer.