Setting up WinUAE really depends on what you intend to use it for.  Workbench is probably one of the trickiest operating systems to try to emulate, made more difficult by the inadequacies of the operating system the PC is invariably installed with.

Having said that WinUAE and it's predecessor UAE are feats of incredible software engineering, and the writers deserve great credit for pulling off an excellent project.  While not perfect, with each new release more problems get ironed out and the more nostalgic amongst us get closer to a brighter and more enjoyable era in computing.

Take a look at the following images and you will see what is achievable, although not without a lot of testing, crashes and flashing red screens.

Workbench      Imagine    Cinema4D     Sysinfo

Ok down to business...
 

Choosing your OS...

Windows NT is no longer supported by WinUAE, I don't know if this is permanent, or whether Windows 2000 and Windows XP are now supported instead, however my recommendation is to go with Windows 98.  The reason for this is that I know it works.

This is more important than it sounds.  The most annoying thing about WinUAE is that it can stop working for the stupidist reasons, mostly to do with Windows bugs rather than the falt of the programmers.  For example, after configuring WinUAE and clicking "OK", more often than not it simply presents you with a black screen.

The reason for this can be simply that you ran Internet Explorer and it sucked something into memory that WinUAE doesn't like, so a reboot will fix the problem.  Or it could be more complex, such as the settings you choose in the config, or applications that are running in the background are doing bad things.

So it is important to eliminate any simple problems first, such as the OS you are using.  Therefore I use Win98, because as I said before, I know that works, and having a constant like that can be very important.
 

Choosing a version of WinUAE...

This depends on several factors, but it's usually safe to say the latest is the greatest.  In the past, and probably the future a brand new version can produce unseen problems, this is true of any software package.  However if the makers have listed a version for more than two weeks, you can be sure that if there is a problem or two, they have listed a solution in a help file, or they have decided that the problem is not as important as the improvements.

There are so many versions of WinUAE out there it isn't funny, but personally I know two that work very well.

winuae0816R4.exe        The last version that works with NT.
winuae0817R1.exe        The latest version available.

The version that comes with Amiga Forever is very old, and although it's stable enough, there have been so many improvements since then it makes little sense sticking with it.

comming soon..  Page 2 and possibly Page 3 ..

Which will detail the various methods of installing WinUAE and customising your setup.