How do I run a 500 K exe file under Hiren's CD, or USB under DOS?

[mm]

How do I run a 500K exe file under Hiren's CD, or a USB flashdrive
under DOS?

I have a DELL 4200S windows XP computer with a hard drive that "needs
work" and won't run windows at the moment, and to make some changes I
have been running Hiren's Boot CD, which includes a PE version of
windows on it. I wanted to run a dos program, XXCopy, whose file is
500K and I get a box saying I don't have enough RAM. The computer has
358 Megs. How could it not have enough RAM?

Is this a limitation of Hiren's that I can get around?

The program is on a USB flash drive which the computer recognizes, and
displays the contents of. I could copy it to the harddrive if you
think that would make a difference..

In order to free up RAM, I tried cntl-alt-delete to cancel processes
that I didn't' really need, and I got no response. That is, no Task
Manager screen came up. Maybe under Hiren's or Windows PE, Task
Manager, is disabled. And maybe Windows PE somehow uses all 358
Megs???

How can I run this program?

The computer is too old to allow booting from its usb port.

But I do need to use a USB external HDD.

If I boot from a floppy, are there files I can put on the boot floppy
or another floppy that would allow me to use USB?

Hiren's CD will also boot only to DOS. That's

 

[Sjouke Burry]

How do I run a 500K exe file under Hiren's CD, or a USB flashdrive
under DOS?

I have a DELL 4200S windows XP computer with a hard drive that "needs
work" and won't run windows at the moment, and to make some changes I
have been running Hiren's Boot CD, which includes a PE version of
windows on it. I wanted to run a dos program, XXCopy, whose file is
500K and I get a box saying I don't have enough RAM. The computer has
358 Megs. How could it not have enough RAM?

Is this a limitation of Hiren's that I can get around?

The program is on a USB flash drive which the computer recognizes, and
displays the contents of. I could copy it to the harddrive if you
think that would make a difference..

In order to free up RAM, I tried cntl-alt-delete to cancel processes
that I didn't' really need, and I got no response. That is, no Task
Manager screen came up. Maybe under Hiren's or Windows PE, Task
Manager, is disabled. And maybe Windows PE somehow uses all 358
Megs???

How can I run this program?

The computer is too old to allow booting from its usb port.

But I do need to use a USB external HDD.

If I boot from a floppy, are there files I can put on the boot floppy
or another floppy that would allow me to use USB?

Hiren's CD will also boot only to DOS. That's

Dos programs get only ~400-640 Kbytes of program space.
They can use the remainung memory as dataspace or ramdrive.
600+ space you only get with a rather specific config.sys.
If you put the program and DOS OS on a floppy or a bootable usb stick,
and tweak the autoexec.bat and config.sys, the program might work.
Example config.sys yielding 615 Kb on my DOS 6.22 computer:
-------------------------------------------------------------
device=A:\himem.sys /TESTMEM:OFF
device=A:\emm386.exe noems
dos=high,umb
buffers=40
FILES=40
stacks=8,256
shell=A:\command.com /p /e:1024
devicehigh=A:\ansi.sys
lastdrive=Z

 

[mm]

Dos programs get only ~400-640 Kbytes of program space.

Oh yeah, I remember now. 640K, extended memory, high memory. I'd
almost forgotten this stuff.

They can use the remainung memory as dataspace or ramdrive.
600+ space you only get with a rather specific config.sys.
If you put the program and DOS OS on a floppy or a bootable usb stick,
and tweak the autoexec.bat and config.sys, the program might work.
Example config.sys yielding 615 Kb on my DOS 6.22 computer:
-------------------------------------------------------------
device=A:\himem.sys /TESTMEM:OFF
device=A:\emm386.exe noems
dos=high,umb
buffers=40
FILES=40
stacks=8,256
shell=A:\command.com /p /e:1024
devicehigh=A:\ansi.sys
lastdrive=Z

I"ll ask the XXCOPY people if it ever runs under native dos, not just
a dosbox, and if they have an old shorter version.

If I can get past that, I may very well use your file above. Thanks.

I'm still surprised that Windows PE said it was too large.

 

[Sjouke Burry]

Oh yeah, I remember now. 640K, extended memory, high memory. I'd
almost forgotten this stuff.


I"ll ask the XXCOPY people if it ever runs under native dos, not just
a dosbox, and if they have an old shorter version.

If I can get past that, I may very well use your file above. Thanks.

I'm still surprised that Windows PE said it was too large.

Without the tweaked config.sys you only get about 450 k memory.
If you need a floppy boot image, gimme a valid email adress,
and I will mail you a zip file.

 

[foxidrive]

I"ll ask the XXCOPY people if it ever runs under native dos, not just
a dosbox, and if they have an old shorter version.

Are you using the 16 bit version of xxcopy?
You know it doesn't support long filenames, if you have any...

 

[mm]

Are you using the 16 bit version of xxcopy?
You know it doesn't support long filenames, if you have any...

I'm using the 32-bit version. I'm sure the 16-bit is shorter, so
thanks for reminding me not to fall for that.

 

[foxidrive]

I'm using the 32-bit version. I'm sure the 16-bit is shorter, so
thanks for reminding me not to fall for that.

The 32 bit version doesn't run in dos - that's what the 16 bit version
is for.

 

[Tim Slattery]

I'm using the 32-bit version. I'm sure the 16-bit is shorter, so
thanks for reminding me not to fall for that.

If Hiren's boots to DOS, then you're not going to be able to run
32-bit software at all. Maybe you should check Bart's:
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

 

[H-Man]

Dos programs get only ~400-640 Kbytes of program space.
They can use the remainung memory as dataspace or ramdrive.
600+ space you only get with a rather specific config.sys.
If you put the program and DOS OS on a floppy or a bootable usb stick,
and tweak the autoexec.bat and config.sys, the program might work.
Example config.sys yielding 615 Kb on my DOS 6.22 computer:
-------------------------------------------------------------
device=A:\himem.sys /TESTMEM:OFF
device=A:\emm386.exe noems
dos=high,umb
buffers=40
FILES=40
stacks=8,256
shell=A:\command.com /p /e:1024
devicehigh=A:\ansi.sys
lastdrive=Z

Heads up, you'll lose access to NTFS drives this way. No long file names,
and depending on the version of DOS, you may lose even FAT32 access. You
won't be able to fix much that way. Try BART PE.

 

[mm]

If Hiren's boots to DOS, then you're not going to be able to run
32-bit software at all. Maybe you should check Bart's:
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

It gives a choice of DOS or PE. I've been using PE because I need the
USB port, and I don't think there is any access to USB in Hiren's DOS,
and maybe not in any implementation of any native DOS that I can put
on any disk.

 

[mm]

Without the tweaked config.sys you only get about 450 k memory.
If you need a floppy boot image, gimme a valid email adress,
and I will mail you a zip file.

I couldn't figure out how to un-mung your email address. You can
write me at meirman appending to that a domain of erols dotttttt com.
I appreciate it.

 

[Sjouke Burry]

I couldn't figure out how to un-mung your email address. You can
write me at meirman appending to that a domain of erols dotttttt com.
I appreciate it.

You mailadress failed.
Mine is burry 0 0 4 at planet dot nl
2 zips waiting for you.

 

[mm]

Heads up, you'll lose access to NTFS drives this way.

Good to know. In this case thre is no NTFS drive iirc, but I'll check
again.

What about including ntfs4dos.exe I think its name is.

No long file names,
and depending on the version of DOS, you may lose even FAT32 access.

I'd be using MS-DOS7

You
won't be able to fix much that way. Try BART PE.

I had some trouble doing BART PE once. I'll try again.

Hiren's CD has some sort of mini-XP, but it has that limitation on dos
file size, which isn't present in full XP, since I use xxcopy there
all the time.

 

[H-Man]

Good to know. In this case thre is no NTFS drive iirc, but I'll check
again.

What about including ntfs4dos.exe I think its name is.


I'd be using MS-DOS7


I had some trouble doing BART PE once. I'll try again.

Hiren's CD has some sort of mini-XP, but it has that limitation on dos
file size, which isn't present in full XP, since I use xxcopy there
all the time.

Okay, based on the fact that you have a Windows XP system the assumption is
that you have either a FAT32 drive or an NTFS drive. Most XP installs are
done on NTFS in my experience, however some are FAT32. MS-DOS 7.0 did not
support either FAT32 or NTFS, MS-DOS 7.1 supports FAT32 but not NTFS. A
WINPE disk will enable access to NTFS. ntfs4dos will give AFAIK, read only
NTFS access. I've tried with this, but never did get it working in any sort
of stable manner. Long filenames in pure DOS will also be a problem as most
DOS utilities will not work with LFNs. Also, with FAT32 file size limit is
2GB, so if you're working with files bigger than that, forget it.

There are a couple of different ways to make a PE disk these days, and I'm
being told BART is the old way, but it still works really well for me.

BTW, what are you doing with XXCOPY, maybe there's another way to
accomplish what you need.

 

[Todd Vargo]

How do I run a 500K exe file under Hiren's CD, or a USB flashdrive
under DOS?

I have a DELL 4200S windows XP computer with a hard drive that "needs
work" and won't run windows at the moment, and to make some changes I
have been running Hiren's Boot CD, which includes a PE version of
windows on it. I wanted to run a dos program, XXCopy, whose file is
500K and I get a box saying I don't have enough RAM. The computer has
358 Megs. How could it not have enough RAM?

Is this a limitation of Hiren's that I can get around?

The program is on a USB flash drive which the computer recognizes, and
displays the contents of. I could copy it to the harddrive if you
think that would make a difference..

In order to free up RAM, I tried cntl-alt-delete to cancel processes
that I didn't' really need, and I got no response. That is, no Task
Manager screen came up. Maybe under Hiren's or Windows PE, Task
Manager, is disabled. And maybe Windows PE somehow uses all 358
Megs???

How can I run this program?

The computer is too old to allow booting from its usb port.

But I do need to use a USB external HDD.

If I boot from a floppy, are there files I can put on the boot floppy
or another floppy that would allow me to use USB?

Hiren's CD will also boot only to DOS. That's

Something is not right. My copy of xxcopy (Ver 2.42.5) is 167,936 bytes.
The zipped distro is 127,698 bytes.