This document details the steps needed to make older web browsers run on modern computers.
Classic browsers on Windows 10/11 #
Windows 10/11 will run surprisingly old software as long as you’re running a 32-bit or 64-bit version of the application. There are some quirks that need to be taken into account to make old web browsers run or install properly on Windows 10/11. This becomes sometimes apparent when trying to run 16-bit Windows software designed for Windows 3.x. 16-bit software will not function in a 64-bit copy of Windows 10/11, however software compiled for 32-bit will usually work, with some tweaking. Many early web browsers had 32-bit versions available. The problem you will encounter with early versions of Netscape, is that while the executable binary for Netscape may be 32-bit, the installer for it will be 16-bit and refuse to run on a 64-bit operating system.
Update: There now seems to be a way to run 16-bit applications on modern versions of 64-bit Windows. See WineVDM project for more details. You can find a compiled binary on the right side of the page under “Releases” which at the time of writing was 0.8.1. This should allow running 16-bit applications.
Option 1: Netscape Navigator #
I’ve noticed that the 32-bit edition of Netscape for Windows 95/NT will not successfully install on a computer with a 64-bit edition of Windows. This is because the installer is 16-bit, even though the browser itself is 32-bit. While a 64-bit edition of Windows will run 32-bit software, running the installer is impossible, since it is only 16-bit. To get around this limitation, you’ll need to download and install WineVDM to run the installer. Just go to the link mentioned before, and on the right, click on Releases to download the latest version of WineVDM (be sure to download the right edition, there is one download for modern Windows and another download for old Windows versions). Once Netscape is installed, you can remove WineVDM, if you want to.
- For your convenience, I’ve created a preinstalled portable packages of Netscape that will run directly in Windows 10/11 without needing to run the 16-bit installer. Scroll down to the Downloads section to grab them. You may unzip anywhere, and may want to add a shortcut to the executable on your desktop.
Option 2: RetroZilla #
This is our recommended web browser for modern Windows with several quality-of-life enhancements and is based of the Mozilla 1.8 web browser. It supports tabs, scrolling, HTML source syntax highlighting, and many other modern features, while remaining compatible with old websites. It includes a theme to make it look more like Netscape 4.x.
Downloads #
Please see this page for downloads of specific web browsers. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the download links.
