MS-DOS Startup Disk

[John]

When you right-click on Floppy Drive and click on format, there is the
option to "Create an MS-DOS startup disk." When you create it, it doesn't
contain a COMMAND.COM and when you boot to it, it errs out, saying
"COMMAND.COM is missing or corrupt."

Anybody else get that error?

John

 

[Chad Harris]

Hi John--

What is your source for making the dos start up disk? Is it actually ***for
Vista? If it was designed for another OS it may not work in Vista and Vista
uses the Windows imaging format based on Win PE.

I've seen it written widely that you can't run the Vista install from dos.
I see comments like this all the time: This is from MSFT and titled

Using Windows PE for Installation
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsvista/aa905120.aspx

"Using Windows PE for Installation
Microsoft has designed Windows PE to replace MS-DOS as the pre-installation
environment. Windows PE is built from Windows Vista components, providing a
robust, flexible, and familiar environment. In fact, Windows PE can run many
Windows Vista applications, detect and enable most modern hardware, and
communicate across Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Windows PE typically
consumes less than 100 MB of disk space and can run entirely from Random
Access Memory (RAM), enabling you to insert a second CD that contains
drivers or software. These features enable Windows PE to run on computers
that do not currently have a formatted hard disk or installed operating
system. However, Windows PE is not a full-featured operating system like
Windows Vista."

Or this from:
http://flimflan.com/blog/default,month,2006-12.aspx

"Unfortunately, you cannot run the Vista install from DOS. If that were the
case, you would simply have to share a folder (or drive) on your technician
computer containing the Vista install, map a drive to it from the target
computer, and run setup.exe. Instead, invoking Vista's setup.exe will give
you an error message that it cannot run from DOS.

Running Windows PE 2.0
The solution is to boot your target computer into Windows PE 2.0, which is
the Vista equivalent of a DOS boot disk (with MUCH more capabilities). You
cannot download Windows PE 2.0 (that I know of), so you need to create your
own PE image using the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK). Download
the image at that link, rename the .img file to .iso, and either mount it
using VirtualCD, some other ISO disk mounter, or burn it to a CD. Once you
can read the disk image, run the setup to install WAIK on your technician
computer.

Unfortunately, one of the steps to create a version of Windows PE 2.0 that
can be booted from the network must be performed on a computer already
running Windows Vista (or PE 2.0). If you have access to such a machine, you
can skip ahead to "Creating a Windows PE 2.0 PXE Installation". Otherwise,
use the following steps to get a minimalist Windows PE 2.0 up and running:"

Good luck,

CH







CH

 

[David A. Spicer]

You can download boot disks from http://www.bootdisk.com/

 

[DX]

Chad, Why don't you read the users comments properly.
He just wants to make a bootable floppy via the vista format command, who
said he was going to install vista with it etc..... geeez

 

[Chad Harris]

I did read it properly. LOL and I think I demonstrated why he's having
trouble doing what he's doing. The Vista DVD is bootable. I'd still like to
know the source that he's using to make the bootable floppy for Vista. I
know all the Boot Disc sites and have been linking them for years on these
groups, but I don't think they are going to help him make a "bootable floppy
for Vista."

There are hundereds of sites where people have tried.

CH

 

[Chad Harris]

A bootable floppy for what prey tell? LOL

CH

Chad, Why don't you read the users comments properly.
He just wants to make a bootable floppy via the vista format command, who
said he was going to install vista with it etc..... geeez

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, John

Are you sure?

I just now used Start | Computer, right-click on Drive A:, click Format...
and be sure to check the box to "Create an MS-DOS startup disk". I think
that's exactly what you did. It formatted the floppy. Then I clicked Start
| Computer | Drive A: to see that floppy in Windows Explorer. And I saw
what you saw: 10 files, but NO Command.com.

But then I opened a Command Prompt as Administrator and typed Dir A: - and
there it is! 93,040 bytes, dated 4/10/2004 at 5:54 PM. This shows 13
files, including autoexec.bat and config.sys.

Then I typed Dir A:\ /s /a and saw 15 files, with io.sys and msdos.sys also
appearing.

I don't know why Explorer doesn't show all the files, even when I
right-click Windows Explorer and Run as Administrator. But good ol' Dir
/s/a gets everything! I haven't tried to boot to this floppy, but I think
that it would; I've done it before. But it won't read Drive C:, of course,
unless it is formatted FATx.

As it says in my Sig, I'm running Vista Ultimate x64. Which version are you
using?

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail beta in Vista Ultimate x64)

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

The solution is to boot your target computer into Windows PE 2.0, which is
the Vista equivalent of a DOS boot disk (with MUCH more capabilities).

I would not say that you analogy is very good. It's pretty easy to get real
WinPE 2.0 on the internet if you look. I found it on one of those
Rapidshare sites from a link I found on Google.

ss.

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

When you right-click on Floppy Drive and click on format, there is the
option to "Create an MS-DOS startup disk." When you create it, it doesn't
contain a COMMAND.COM and when you boot to it, it errs out, saying
"COMMAND.COM is missing or corrupt."

The machine I built for Vista has no floppy drive, so I have never noticed
this. Just use an older machine for anything to do with floppies.

What do you need this bootable floppy for? The only possible reason I can
think of is to flash the BIOS of your graphics card or something like that.

ss.

 

[John]

The machine I built for Vista has no floppy drive, so I have never noticed
this. Just use an older machine for anything to do with floppies.

What do you need this bootable floppy for? The only possible reason I can
think of is to flash the BIOS of your graphics card or something like
that.

ss.

You're right! It is to boot to flash my BIOS.

John

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

You're right! It is to boot to flash my BIOS.

I actually said "flash the BIOS of your graphics card", as these days, all
the major motherboard manufacturers let you update the BIOS through Windows.
Are you sure there is no way to do this with your motherboard?

ss.

 

[XS11E]

You're right! It is to boot to flash my BIOS.

You can flash the BIOS from a bootable CD or, if your machine allows
booting, from a flash drive you can use one of them.

 

[Mike]

Hi, John

Are you sure?

I just now used Start | Computer, right-click on Drive A:, click Format...
and be sure to check the box to "Create an MS-DOS startup disk". I think
that's exactly what you did. It formatted the floppy. Then I clicked Start
| Computer | Drive A: to see that floppy in Windows Explorer. And I saw
what you saw: 10 files, but NO Command.com.

It probably depends on your setting for "hide OS system files" in
Explorer.

Mike

 

[R. C. White]

Whoops! Unimportant correction, just to set the record straight:

93,040 bytes, dated 4/10/2004 at 5:54 PM.

Make that 4/18/2005.

RC

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Mike.

It probably depends on your setting for "hide OS system files" in
Explorer.

Nope. That's one of the first things that I fix when I install Windows or
Vista! ;^}

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail beta in Vista Ultimate x64)

 

[John]

Thanks. You are on to my problem and you have answered affirmative to my
question.

Now to add to that strangeness, I have tried and retried the situation and
now command.com shows every time!

However, you were guessing what would happen when you booted to it.

First, though, the reason I am doing this is that I think I have a flaky
BIOS. I have an Asus M2N32-SLI Premium Vista mobo and it has taken four
boards to POST, so I've been through a lot these past four months. I no
sooner get it up and go to boot and it just stops at the mobo splash screen
before you either get into the BIOS or tab to watch it go through the
devices. I tried several times and the best I could do is to get it to say
that it was opening setup, then would sit right there. Asus sent me a new
BIOS chip which I installed. Now it occasionally gets stuck there, but I
can get on by restarting. Lately, however, I get what is apparently the
Vista blue screen and it somehow fixes it and goes on. The blue screen
happens at the strangest times; it happened at 3 a.m. (yes, I was asleep at
the time, the computer was supposed to be asleep too). I heard the fans
start up and the room lit up and there was the blue screen. Lines of
activity showed up at the bottom of the screen and it rebooted. (I turned
the monitor off and went back to bed.) Come morning and the system seems to
work just fine. From Asus' website I learn there is a newer BIOS, but it is
a BETA. With the goofy problems I'm having, this looks like what I need to
do, Beta or not. Asus' manual was apparently translated from the Chinese,
so it is not the clearest thing you ever read, but I think it wants me to
put the .BIN BIOS file and amdflash.exe on a bootable floppy. This won't
happen because there isn't enough room on the floppy. So, I was going to
work on a way to boot to the floppy and then jump to a disk that could be
read from there, if you know what I mean. (Sorry for the length, but that
is why I didn't get into all this in my original post.)

Anyway, when you boot to the floppy, it goes this way:

"Starting...

The following file is missing or corrupted: COMMAND.COM
Type the name of the command interpreter (e.g., C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM)"

Then I typed "dir" and it again showed those two lines.

So, I typed C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM. On C: was my old Win/ME disk, so it
announced it was Windows Millenium, etc., then added on a new line, "Data
error reading drive A." This I assume was because it was using a Win/ME
command.com with Vista utilities.

NOW, when I type DIR, it shows command.com. I'm not sure why, but I no
longer get "Data error reading drive A."

Once back up in Vista, in Format I made a new MS-DOS startup disk. Back
into Command Prompt and DIR and there is command.com.

After all this, I checked the next post in this thread, from MIKE. Go
there.

John

 

[Mike]

Hi, Mike.


Nope. That's one of the first things that I fix when I install Windows or
Vista! ;^}

Well, it was only a guess - that's why I said probably. But the file
is clearly there, since I have made a DOS Startup disk and it worked.

Mike

 

[John]

Before you read this, read my post after R.C. WHITE.

Now go to the bottom.

It probably depends on your setting for "hide OS system files" in
Explorer.

Mike

When I saw your post, I said, "Oh, that is the first thing I do when I set
up a new system, to uncheck those Hide items." Then I looked and found one
of the Hides that hadn't been unchecked; it was the one for the system
files!

Still, if you read my post after R.C. WHITE, command.com became visible even
though it was checked to Hide. Crazy. But thanks for the reminder to go
back and check it.

John

 

[John]

I actually said "flash the BIOS of your graphics card", as these days, all
the major motherboard manufacturers let you update the BIOS through
Windows. Are you sure there is no way to do this with your motherboard?

ss.

Yes, Asus has a utility to do this, but it responds: "Sorry, there're
[their spelling] no proper BIOS image files on the server," which,
interpreted, means--I think--that a Beta BIOS file is not a "proper"...file.
So, I'm doing it the hard way.

John

 

[Chad Harris]

Of course you could get an external floppy drive for $30 from Fry's. I'm
not sure how much anyone needs one though these days.

CH