How to find DOS version?

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I have Windows XP Professional/SP2. Help/About says 'Windows .....version
5.1.... blah blah blah". How do I find what DOS version is included?
 
ray124c41 said:
I have Windows XP Professional/SP2. Help/About says 'Windows .....version
5.1.... blah blah blah". How do I find what DOS version is included?
Click to expand...

There is no DOS in XP, just an emulator. XP is descended from Windows
NT.
 
ray124c41wrote
I have Windows XP Professional/SP2. Help/About says 'Window
.....version
5.1.... blah blah blah". How do I find what DOS version i included
Click to expand...

Windows XP (both home/pro) are not based on MSDos but uses a DO
emulater that allows a person to write /repair dos based programs o
run Dos based programs in XP operating system with a compatabilit
progra
 
XP doesn't have MSDOS. The "DOS Mode" is not really DOS either.

Start Menu > Run > type "Cmd" (no quotes) and at the system prompt type
"VER" as you would in MS DOS.

It shows your current Windows XP version.

But you can find the Windows version by right clicking the "my computer"
icon and go to "Properties".
 
David Candy said:
Dos 5.0.5, a Dos 5 on XP. Type
command /k ver
to see
Click to expand...

That's the version of the operating system. (And on my WinXP
Professional machine it says 5.1.2600.) You can think of it as the
version of WinNT that you're running. It is absolutely, positively
*not* a version of DOS. There is no DOS in WinXP!!
 
Tim said:
That's the version of the operating system. (And on my WinXP
Professional machine it says 5.1.2600.) You can think of it as the
version of WinNT that you're running. It is absolutely, positively
*not* a version of DOS. There is no DOS in WinXP!!
Click to expand...


Quite right.

And the DOS emulator sucks. So much so that it may be worth keeping an
old 386 around just to run old DOS programs.

Heh heh.
 
Maybe not, but command.com doesn't know it.

Microsoft(R) Windows DOS
(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp 1990-2001.

C:\DOCUME~1\WESLEY~1.VOG>command /k ver

MS-DOS Version 5.00.500


C:\DOCUME~1\WESLEY~1.VOG>ver

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

C:\DOCUME~1\WESLEY~1.VOG>
--------------------------------------------------

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\>command /k ver

MS-DOS Version 5.00.500


C:\>ver

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

C:\>


--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
Wesley said:
Maybe not, but command.com doesn't know it.

Microsoft(R) Windows DOS
(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp 1990-2001.

C:\DOCUME~1\WESLEY~1.VOG>command /k ver

MS-DOS Version 5.00.500
Click to expand...

Most likely for old programs that look for such version information in a
COMMAND.COM program before loading. There's lots of backward
compatability stuff like that sitting around in Windows.
 
=?Utf-8?B?cmF5MTI0YzQx?= said:
I have Windows XP Professional/SP2. Help/About says 'Windows .....version
5.1.... blah blah blah". How do I find what DOS version is included?
Click to expand...

No dos version is included.
 
ray124c41 said:
I have Windows XP Professional/SP2. Help/About says 'Windows .....version
5.1.... blah blah blah". How do I find what DOS version is included?
Click to expand...


Not to put too fine a point on it, you don'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, included, or "ridden upon" MS-DOS. The Recovery
Console's CLI (Command Line Interface) is the closest you can come to
the old "DOS mode." What, precisely, are you trying to accomplish?


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin
 
Boy! Ask a silly question!

As there seems to be some confusion out there, let me clarify:

Let us establish that Windows (XP and otherwise) comes with a link or
shortcut to something called 'Command Prompt'. When you click this link or
shortcut, a window appears whose only purpose appears to be to accept and
execute DOS commands. Indeed, the program running while this window is
open is a command-line interpreter named 'Cmd.exe' or some such thing. The
most recent version of DOS that this interpreter (the one on my machine)
understands is what I'm after.

So, I ran the following command:

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner>command /k ver,

and got the following result:

MS-DOS Version 5.00.500.

So that answers my question. Thank you. And thank you all for your
responses.

Note that for the purposes of this discussion, any technicalities such as
whether or not Windows is DOS based or whether I have a dual boot system,
etc., etc., .... are irrelevant. Some of your responses made me wonder
whether you got the same Windows with your computer as I did with mine!

That brings us to another question. Since the above version of DOS is not
the most recent, can I install the most recent version of DOS? (That is to
say, a version of the command line interpreter that understands the most
recent version of DOS!) And how do I do this?
 
ray124c41 said:
Boy! Ask a silly question!

As there seems to be some confusion out there, let me clarify:

Let us establish that Windows (XP and otherwise) comes with a link or
shortcut to something called 'Command Prompt'. When you click this link
or shortcut, a window appears whose only purpose appears to be to accept
and
execute DOS commands. Indeed, the program running while this window is
open is a command-line interpreter named 'Cmd.exe' or some such thing.
The most recent version of DOS that this interpreter (the one on my
machine) understands is what I'm after.

So, I ran the following command:

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner>command /k ver,

and got the following result:

MS-DOS Version 5.00.500.

So that answers my question. Thank you. And thank you all for your
responses.

Note that for the purposes of this discussion, any technicalities such as
whether or not Windows is DOS based or whether I have a dual boot system,
etc., etc., .... are irrelevant. Some of your responses made me wonder
whether you got the same Windows with your computer as I did with mine!

That brings us to another question. Since the above version of DOS is not
the most recent, can I install the most recent version of DOS? (That is
to say, a version of the command line interpreter that understands the
most
recent version of DOS!) And how do I do this?
Click to expand...

Once again, Windows XP DOES NOT HAVE DOS IN IT! It has a DOS EMULATOR which
is NOT the same thing!
And no, you can't "install" Dos 6 because there is NO DOS THERE IN THE
FIRST PLACE!

If you REALLY need Dos, then you must dual-boot.
 
People get hysterical here about Dos. They just don't understand.

A command.com from a later version may make MS Dos API calls not in the 5 series. But the difference between 6 and 5 wasn't much. However XP has a modified version of 5. Anything typed is passed to cmd via the call

cmd /c <whatever you typed>

Dos 6 series of course aren't modified. And 5 is late enough for any program to use.

Try setver allowing dos to report 6.22 to command.com. But problem - All other Dos programs and Windows 16 bit programs may not run. But you can also configure multiple MSDos configurations. Be carefull and think before making changes - setver requires MSDos to run so you may have trouble undoing what you've done (easily that is). Remember Setver stores the table in it's exe file to needs to write to the file. Setver is both a program and a device driver. You control it as a program but it works as a device driver.
 
ray124c41 said:
Boy! Ask a silly question!

As there seems to be some confusion out there, let me clarify:

Let us establish that Windows (XP and otherwise) comes with a link or
shortcut to something called 'Command Prompt'. When you click this link or
shortcut, a window appears whose only purpose appears to be to accept and
execute DOS commands.
Click to expand...

Actually, it executes NT commands. (You could, if you wanted, run
Windows NT/2000/XP entirely from the command line. But MS doesn't
include full documentation.)
Indeed, the program running while this window is
open is a command-line interpreter named 'Cmd.exe' or some such thing.
Click to expand...

Correct. It's NT's command line interpreter (which was originally
written for IBM's OS/2, actually, which MS did under contract to IBM.)
It was written to understand DOS commands, too.
The
most recent version of DOS that this interpreter (the one on my machine)
understands is what I'm after.

So, I ran the following command:

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner>command /k ver,

and got the following result:

MS-DOS Version 5.00.500.
Click to expand...
[...]

That's the version of DOS that the emulator emulates.

Just be aware that the emulator is crippled. Has been ever since Windows
2000. The last NT that had a full DOS emulator was NT4, IIRC. So if you
need a full DOS emulator, you'll have to go back to NT4. Or else get a
VPC (Virtual PC) program.

Unless you want to run some old game, you probably don't need a full
emulator, though. This W2K box runs most Win3.x apps without complaint.

Have fun!
 
ray124c41 wrote:
[...]
That brings us to another question. Since the above version of DOS is not
the most recent, can I install the most recent version of DOS? (That is to
say, a version of the command line interpreter that understands the most
recent version of DOS!) And how do I do this?
Click to expand...

You can not install a more recent version of DOS on an NT/2000/XP
system. Period.

To accomplish your goal, you would have to rewrite the NT command
interpreter, which is
a) beyond your skill level;
and
b) illegal, since you would be modifying code that belongs to Microsoft.

Once again:

The command line is NOT a DOS command interpreter. It is an NT command
interpreter. The commands look like DOS commands, and most of them even
result in the same actions as DOS commands, _but they are not DOS commands_.

NT's cmd.exe in a sense "understands" DOS commands. When a DOS program
is run (in the emulator), the DOS commands are passed to the emulator's
API (the layer of code that connects the emulator to the operating
system), which converts them into code that NT's cmd.exe understands.
NT's cmd.exe then executes them, and passes the result back to the
program running in the emulator.

Got it?
 
A rose by any name ....... Funny that Microsoft calls this one MS-DOS
5.00.500.

I know, I know, it's not really DOS, but MS calls it that, thereby helping
to create the semantic morass manifested here. So, whatever it is, it has a
version number, which I now know. I was asking if this is the latest version
of whatever it is. If not,
can I update and, if so, how? (David Candy has already answered this. Thank
you, David.)
--
ray124c41


Wolf Kirchmeir said:
ray124c41 wrote:
[...]
That brings us to another question. Since the above version of DOS is not
the most recent, can I install the most recent version of DOS? (That is to
say, a version of the command line interpreter that understands the most
recent version of DOS!) And how do I do this?
Click to expand...

You can not install a more recent version of DOS on an NT/2000/XP
system. Period.

To accomplish your goal, you would have to rewrite the NT command
interpreter, which is
a) beyond your skill level;
and
b) illegal, since you would be modifying code that belongs to Microsoft.

Once again:

The command line is NOT a DOS command interpreter. It is an NT command
interpreter. The commands look like DOS commands, and most of them even
result in the same actions as DOS commands, _but they are not DOS commands_.

NT's cmd.exe in a sense "understands" DOS commands. When a DOS program
is run (in the emulator), the DOS commands are passed to the emulator's
API (the layer of code that connects the emulator to the operating
system), which converts them into code that NT's cmd.exe understands.
NT's cmd.exe then executes them, and passes the result back to the
program running in the emulator.

Got it?
Click to expand...
 
Not to put too fine a point on it, you don'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, included, or "ridden upon" MS-DOS. The Recovery
Console's CLI (Command Line Interface) is the closest you can come to
the old "DOS mode." What, precisely, are you trying to accomplish?
Click to expand...


you could run DOS as a virtual machine with VMware or Microsoft's
Virtual PC product.
 
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