Installing and running Microsoft PowerPoint on old Windows releases.
Microsoft PowerPoint is a graphical presentation tool for Mac and Windows. It was first released for the Mac. When it was ported to Windows in 1990, they started at version "2.0" to line up with the current Mac version. PowerPoint was later bundled as part of Microsoft Office.
Installation problems of PowerPoint 2.0 on Windows 3.0.
The installation of Microsoft PowerPoint 2.0 (available at the Microsoft PowerPoint page of WinWorld) on my Windows 3.0 worked fine, but when finished, I got an issue that is rather frequent with software installation on Windows 3.x: the creation of the new program group deleting all other groups in Program Manager (and by that, also in Dashboard). No idea, when and why this happens. Perhaps there is a simple work-around: Backing up the program group files before performing software installations and, if the groups are deleted, restoring them. If I find the time, maybe one day I'll try it out.
The screenshot below shows the program menu of Dashboard after the installation of PowerPoint 2.0. One single program group, Windows Applications, all others "having disappeared"...
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Successful installation of PowerPoint 4.0a on Windows 3.1.
Microsoft PowerPoint 4.0a may be downloaded from the Microsoft PowerPoint page of WinWorld. I succeeded to install the English version on my Windows 3.1 (German language version). To note that because of the different national languages, I got several messages telling that a given DLL actually supports German, and asking if I wanted to overwrite the DLL with the English supporting version; I answered this question with No in order to keep the original files.
After the Welcome screen, the input of your name (the organization field may be left empty) and the display of a dummy serial number, you are asked for the installation directory, which by default is C:\POWERPNT. As you can see on the screenshot, I changed it to E:\POWERPNT, as my Windows 3.1, part of a multiple boot, is located on the E: partition.
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In the following windows, you're asked the installation type (I chose typical installation), and to specify a program group (default = "Microsoft Office"). Then, you are asked if it is ok for you to automatically convert graphs to Microsoft Graph 5.0 (answer No if you want to use the presentations on a system with a prior version of Graph), and if you want to install the American English or British English dictionary. Finally, the files are copied to the harddisk. Insert the floppy diskettes as you are asked to do so.
Now, the important thing: To finish the installation, Windows has to be restarted. This may be a problem, as the restart of Windows will fail, if the 1024×768 pixels 256 colors VESA driver is installed. The PowerPoint installation program offers the option to exit setup instead of restarting Windows (screenshot on the left), and when you do so, informs you that, when leaving Windows later and being in DOS, you'll have to run the program C:\WINDOWS\_MSRSTRT.EXE (screenshot on the right). If you choose to do this way (and that's what I would recommend), the installation program terminates with a message telling you that Setup has not been successfully completed. Don't worry about that: This only means that the program mentioned in the preceding dialog box has not yet been executed.
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Now exit Windows and being in DOS, run _MSRSTRT.EXE (the program executes silently with no output). Then, start Windows again. The program group "Microsoft Office" should now be present in Program Manager resp. in Dashboard and PowerPoint should be ready to be used. The screenshot below shows the first page of the "Welcome to PowerPoint" quick preview, which is started when you launch the presentation application for the first time.
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Successful installation of Office 4.3 Professional on Windows 3.11.
MS Office 4.3 Pro may be downloaded from the Microsoft Office page of WinWorld. The download archive contains 2 CD images, the first ISO being the Office installation files, the second one containing Bookshelf.
During setup, you should choose Complete/Custom as installation type; this gives you the possibility to choose which components you actually want to be installed (so you have the possibility to only install MS PowerPoint...).
The installation of Microsoft Office 4.3 Professional on Windows 3.11 is described in my Installing and running Microsoft Word on old Windows releases tutorial. I suppose that the installation would also succeed on Windows 3.1. The screenshot shows PowerPoint included with Office 4.3 Professional with an empty presentation opened.
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Problems running PowerPoint 95.
MS PowerPoint 95 (7.0a) is available for download on the Microsoft PowerPoint page of WinWorld. During installation, it is called PowerPoint for Windows 95, so the reason why I did not succeed in using it on Windows NT4 and Windows Me may be because it only works with that release of Windows (I did not try it on Windows 95, because I actually had installed MS Office 97 there; cf. next section). Another possibility is that I did something wrong during install...
Installation succeeds without any problems, however, there is no Start menu item created. Running the application form the filesystem, it starts up properly, but creating a presentation (at least if you use the included autolayouts) does not work. Double-clicking the fields to insert an object (such as, on the screenshot below, a graph) results, after a long time where the application seems to hang, in the error message The server application, source file or item cannot be found. With PowerPoint 97 working well, I did not make any effort to find out what may be the reason of the problem.
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Installation of Microsoft Office 97 on Windows 95.
On Windows 9.x or Windows Me, the PowerPoint application included with MS Office 97 is probably the most adequate. I successfully installed the French version of Microsoft Office 97 Professional SR-1 (available at the Microsoft Office page of WinWorld) on my Windows 95C (French language version). I suppose that the installation will also succeed on Windows 98 and Windows Me. Choosing the custom installation type, you may select the components that you actually want to be installed (and you may install only PowerPoint, if you don't want the other applications...).
On the screenshot below, showing a slide based on the graph autolayout opened in MS PowerPoint included with Microsoft Office 97 Professional SR-1, you can see the animated Office companion, a new help feature that Microsoft introduced with their products from the end 1990s.
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Installation of PowerPoint (MS Office 97) on Windows XP.
On my German language Windows XP, I had installed Microsoft Office 97 Small Business Edition, that does not include PowerPoint. So I decided to install PowerPoint included with the German version of Microsoft Office 97 Professional SR-2 (that may be downloaded from the Microsoft Office page of WinWorld).
The screenshot shows the New Presentation dialog box displayed at the application startup. In the left bottom corner, you can see the animated Office companion.
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Installation of Microsoft Office XP on Windows XP.
Choosing PowerPoint included with Microsoft Office XP as presentation application seems to be the obvious choice on a Windows XP computer. This installation has been described in my Installing and running Microsoft Word on old Windows releases tutorial.
The screenshot below shows PowerPoint included with MS Office XP running on my Windows XP (with an empty slide).
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