MS DOS 5-1 (fdisk command)

[Brian]

I have MS DOS 5.1.2600 running under Windows XP
Professional. I just added a slave drive and now I need
to run the fdisk command to partition the new drive.

However, the fdisk command (along with several other DOS
commands) is not present. It says it is not a
valid "internal or external" command.

Can I somehow get a copy of fdisk.exe or do I need to
completely re-install MS DOS 5.1, or upgrade to 6.22???

HELP

 

[David Candy]

I don't understand. Dos 5.00.500 comes with XP. One uses Disk Management or XP's setup program to partition.

 

[E McCann]

No, you don't have DOS 5.1.2600. That is the NT version number - yes,
Windows XP is "NT 5.1.2600."

There is no DOS in Windows XP.

You need to go to Administrative Tools - Computer Management - Disk
Management to partition the new drive. If it's not found off your "start"
menu, look in Control Panel.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In

I have MS DOS 5.1.2600 running under Windows XP
Professional.

Sorry, but no you don't. 5.1.2600 is the Windows version, not the
DOS version. It's Windows NT 5.1, build 2600.

Please note that there is *no* DOS in Windows XP. There is DOS
emulation, which lets you do many, but not all, of things you
could do in DOS.

I just added a slave drive and now I need
to run the fdisk command to partition the new drive.

Well, you need to partition the drive, but you don't need to run
fdisk. In fact, if you want to partition it as NTFS, you can
*not* do it with fdisk.

However, the fdisk command (along with several other DOS
commands) is not present. It says it is not a
valid "internal or external" command.

That's correct. As I said above, DOS emulation lets you do many,
but not all, of things you could do in DOS. Since the old fdisk
command has no support for NTFS, it's not one of the things
supported.

Can I somehow get a copy of fdisk.exe or do I need to
completely re-install MS DOS 5.1, or upgrade to 6.22?

You can get a copy of fdisk, but you don't need it, and can't use
it if you want your drive to be NTFS. And you can *not* install
any version of DOS under XP.

Just partition the drive using XP's native facilities: go to
Control Panel | Adminstrative Tools | Computer Management | Disk
Management. Right-click the drive and choose "New Partition."

 

[Plato]

I have MS DOS 5.1.2600 running under Windows XP
Professional. I just added a slave drive and now I need

Nope, you have windows version 5.1

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have MS DOS 5.1.2600 running under Windows XP
Professional. I just added a slave drive and now I need
to run the fdisk command to partition the new drive.

You do not do it with FDISK. From Windows, Control Panel - Admin Tools
- Computer Management, select Disk Management and look lower right for
the graphic of the drive. R-click in 'Unallocated space' and take
'Create Partition'.

 

[cquirke (MVP Win9x)]

On Mon, 15 Mar 2004 12:20:17 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP"

Just partition the drive using XP's native facilities

That won't work if what you want are FAT32 volumes over 32G in size.
XP will work fine with those, but is too brain-dead to create them,
and even the latest fixed FDisk versions break over 99G.

The best way to create FAT32 volumes is to use BING, which is free for
30 day use, from www.bootitng.com. Even if you don't intend to ever
use NTFS, say Yes to "do you want to convert to NTFS", as that will
align the volume so that should you ever convert, you won't get
512-byte clusters (which makes NTFS very slow and brittle).

Final tip: You don't need to install BING (Boot It New Generation) as
a boot manager to do partition work with it. Cancel the initial
"install?" dialog that the boot diskette starts with, then do your
things in the Partition Work section.

It's sooo much better than FDisk and Format, you won't go back!

Finally, a correction to comments made earlier about Win9x (Win95xx,
Win98xx and WinME). None of these "run on top of DOS" or are "based
on DOS". All but WinME are two OSs, the native Win9x as well as a
pure DOS mode that can be booted instead (as required for
maintenance). WinME is the same, but crippled to mimic NT's absence
of an alternate maintenance OS (Recovery Console is not an OS).

You expect marketeers playing fast and loose with technical truths,
just to push sales, but one hopes for better here <g>

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