Boot to MS-DOS

  • Thread starter Thread starter Andrew
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A

Andrew

Okay, I need to reformat my drive and partition it into
two halves. I formatted a 3.5 floppy disk and told it to
create a MS-DOS startup disk. It did all that, but when
I boot up the PC with the startup disk I have no commands
in DOS. I can't even change the directory from A:\

Does anyone know how to get MS-DOS up and running on
startup?

Thanks,

Andrew
 
I assume you made the "MS-DOS Startup Disk" in WinXP? If so, it is
next to worthless. There is nothing on it except the ability to boot
to "A" drive. But, you should be able to boot with your WinXP CD and
do what ever partitioning and formatting you need from there.

Regards, hawk
 
Andrew said:
Okay, I need to reformat my drive and partition it into
two halves. I formatted a 3.5 floppy disk and told it to
create a MS-DOS startup disk. It did all that, but when
I boot up the PC with the startup disk I have no commands
in DOS. I can't even change the directory from A:\

Does anyone know how to get MS-DOS up and running on
startup?

Thanks,

Andrew
Click to expand...

Get a Win98 boot disk from www.bootdisk.com, then
use fdisk.exe to partition the disk.
 
Greetings --

Short answer: You can't.

There is no way to reboot a WinXP PC into Real Mode DOS unless
you've set up a dual-boot system. The WinNT family of 32-bit
graphical operating systems, of which WinXP is the latest generation,
has never used or included MS-DOS. The closest they have is the
Command Prompt window.

WinXP, like its predecessors WinNT & Win2K, is a pure 32-bit GUI
OS, and does not include or "ride upon" any version of DOS, as did
Win3.x & Win9x/Me. WinXP does include a command-line emulator for
those times when GUI applets are unnecessary/redundant, but it cannot
be started in "DOS mode."

Simply boot from the WinXP installation CD. You'll be offered the
opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the
installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order of boot
devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.)

HOW TO Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;316941

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm


Bruce Chambers

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You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
 
Greetings --

But why bother with a boot diskette at all, when the WinXP CD is
bootable, and has the capability of partitioning and formatting the
hard drive?

Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:




You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
 
Good point.


Bruce Chambers said:
Greetings --

But why bother with a boot diskette at all, when the WinXP CD is
bootable, and has the capability of partitioning and formatting the
hard drive?

Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:




You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
Click to expand...
 
Just use a software like Partition Magic it can do
evrything partition format even the system drive its got
its own boot diskettes and all wizard format.
 
Just use a software like Partition Magic it can do
evrything partition format even the system drive its got
its own boot diskettes and all wizard format.
Click to expand...

It costs more money and is not necessary.

You boot from the CD and do a clean install.
Click on or copy and paste the link below into your web browser address bar.
How to clean install XP.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
 
WOW.

I really didn't expect that many people to answer.

Thank you everyone. Right after I posted that message I
remembered that XP had a Partioner in the install
process. But thank you again for all of your help.

Andrew
 
Greetings --

Why spend money on a 3rd party utility to do what the WinXP CD can
already do at no additional charge?

Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:




You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
 
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