dos boot up floppy

[RJK]

If I dig out my old dos 6.22 floppy, from years ago when I used to able to
tweak the things (config.sys and autoexec.bat), so that I at least get that
old generic OAK cd-rom driver installed in config.sys along with a
corresponding mscdex.exe - i think it was called etc, will that be good
enough to use, and for Nero to read when making a bootable cd-r with the 4
command line scanners that David H Lipman uses.

I tried a DOS 6.22 boot floppy creation from bootdisk.com and there's no
cd-driver installed, and no keyb uk, and the XP boot floopy creation wizard
yields a floppy with an empty config.sys and NO autoexec.bat at all !!

....and yes, I do know that config.sys is a pure ASCII text file, same as
autoexec.bat and they're read top down etc.
....and are there any DOS externals lurking in my XP Home ed. machine like
there used to be in the command directory in W98se ?

regards, Richard

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

If your hard disk/partition is NTFS formatted, you won't be able to boot
with a DOS 6.22 disk.

--


Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups

 

[RJK]

4th item down on this page - I made one, and there is no cd-rom driver
included or set up to be installed in
config.sys and autoexec.bat !
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

regards, Richard

 

[Zhagrasa]

DOS 6.22 does NOT support FAT32, only FAT16. You will hardly find drives that
are formatted with FAT16 anymore, and its maximum partition size is 2 GB anyway.

If it is possible, you should create a boot disk from Windows 98, featuring
DOS 7 which supports FAT32.

 

[RJK]

Right !

Can I use the old DOS version on this W98se boot up floppy, and ntfs4dos.exe
? are they compatible ?

**** If I strip out config.sys...

[menu]
menuitem=CD, Start computer with CD-ROM support.
menuitem=NOCD, Start computer without CD-ROM support.
menuitem=HELP, View the Help file.
menudefault=CD,30
menucolor=7,0

[CD]
device=himem.sys /testmemff
device=oakcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
device=btdosm.sys
device=flashpt.sys
device=btcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
device=aspi2dos.sys
device=aspi8dos.sys
device=aspi4dos.sys
device=aspi8u2.sys
device=aspicd.sys /D:mscd001

[NOCD]
device=himem.sys /testmemff

[HELP]
device=himem.sys /testmemff

[COMMON]
files=10
buffers=10
dos=high,umb
stacks=9,256
devicehigh=ramdrive.sys /E 2048
lastdrive=z
device=display.sys con=(ega,,1)
country=044,850,country.sys
install=mode.com con cp prepare=((850) ega.cpi)
install=mode.com con cp select=850
install=keyb.com uk,,keyboard.sys

**** and strip out autoexec.bat :-

@ECHO OFF
set EXPAND=YES
SET DIRCMD=/O:N
set LglDrv=27 * 26 Z 25 Y 24 X 23 W 22 V 21 U 20 T 19 S 18 R 17 Q 16 P 15
set LglDrv=%LglDrv% O 14 N 13 M 12 L 11 K 10 J 9 I 8 H 7 G 6 F 5 E 4 D 3 C
cls
call setramd.bat %LglDrv%
set temp=c:\
set tmp=c:\
path=%RAMD%:\;a:\;%CDROM%:\
copy command.com %RAMD%:\ > NUL
set comspec=%RAMD%:\command.com
copy extract.exe %RAMD%:\ > NUL
copy readme.txt %RAMD%:\ > NUL

:ERROR
IF EXIST ebd.cab GOTO EXT
echo Please insert Windows 98 Startup Disk 2
echo.
pause
GOTO ERROR

:EXT
%RAMD%:\extract /y /e /l %RAMD%: ebd.cab > NUL
echo The diagnostic tools were successfully loaded to drive %RAMD%.
echo.

IF "%config%"=="NOCD" GOTO QUIT
IF "%config%"=="HELP" GOTO HELP
LH %ramd%:\MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001 /L:%CDROM%
echo.
GOTO QUIT

:HELP
cls
call help.bat
echo Your computer will now restart and the startup menu will appear.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
restart.com
GOTO QUIT

:QUIT
echo To get help, type HELP and press ENTER.
echo.
rem clean up environment variables
set CDROM=
set LglDrv=

down to just the bits I need, without the menu, ...and load cd-rom driver,
will ntf4dos.exe work in this dos os ?

regards, Richard

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

DOS 6.22 does NOT support FAT32, only FAT16.

Also FAT12.

You will hardly find
drives that are formatted with FAT16 anymore, and its maximum
partition size is 2 GB anyway.

If it is possible, you should create a boot disk from Windows 98,
featuring
DOS 7 which supports FAT32.

That's not good enough for most Windows XP users, who will be using NTFS,
which isn't supported by any version of MSDOS.

 

[Zhagrasa]

Also FAT12.

Right. That wasn't exactly ment to be a complete list.

That's not good enough for most Windows XP users, who will be using NTFS,
which isn't supported by any version of MSDOS.

Assuming one has exclusively NTFS (or non-FAT) partitions, which should be
correct for a majority of PCs today, this is right.

However I simply wanted to make clear that there's more than one type of FAT,
and DOS 6 will be unable to read the type the OP will most likely find on his
harddrive if he has a "FAT"-partition.


(F'up to ms.p.win98.gen_discussion set)

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Right. That wasn't exactly ment to be a complete list.

Understood. I madethe addition just for the sake of completeness.

Assuming one has exclusively NTFS (or non-FAT) partitions, which
should be correct for a majority of PCs today, this is right.

Yes, that was my point.

However I simply wanted to make clear that there's more than one type
of FAT, and DOS 6 will be unable to read the type the OP will most
likely find on his harddrive if he has a "FAT"-partition.

OK. We agree.

(F'up to ms.p.win98.gen_discussion set)

Changed back to crossposting to to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, where
I'm reading the message.

 

[RJK]

Thanks Will, I'll be using ntfs4dos.exe ...from the bootable cd-r that
I've been farting around with for the past few days, i.e. I'm having to
refresh myself with MASSES of DOS based stuff that I haven't used for ages
!

regards, Richard

 

[RJK]

...I give up !



regards, Richard

 

[Franc Zabkar]

If I dig out my old dos 6.22 floppy, from years ago when I used to able to
tweak the things (config.sys and autoexec.bat), so that I at least get that
old generic OAK cd-rom driver installed in config.sys along with a
corresponding mscdex.exe - i think it was called etc, will that be good
enough to use, and for Nero to read when making a bootable cd-r with the 4
command line scanners that David H Lipman uses.

I tried a DOS 6.22 boot floppy creation from bootdisk.com and there's no
cd-driver installed, and no keyb uk, and the XP boot floopy creation wizard
yields a floppy with an empty config.sys and NO autoexec.bat at all !!

...and yes, I do know that config.sys is a pure ASCII text file, same as
autoexec.bat and they're read top down etc.
...and are there any DOS externals lurking in my XP Home ed. machine like
there used to be in the command directory in W98se ?

regards, Richard

You could create a 17MB bootable Win XP CD-ROM using WinPE freeware
(based on BartPE):
http://www.911cd.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=16528

The CLI is Win XP's cmd.exe. You can add a freeware shell such as
bbLean.

- Franc Zabkar

 

[RJK]

This looks VERY interesting, thanks Franc

regards, Richard