msdos.sys and io.sys

[Bill Cunningham]

Is there any registry settings or anything else that would keep my XP
MCE from recreating msdos.sys and io.sys ? I really don't think these files
are need with XP and I'm not running my old 98SE.

Bill

 

[John John (MVP)]

The zero byte files are there for compatibility reasons with older
MS-DOS programs. They hurt nothing, why bother with them?

John

 

[Bill Cunningham]

The zero byte files are there for compatibility reasons with older MS-DOS
programs. They hurt nothing, why bother with them?

John

If they are for compatibility why is msdos.sys empty of text? I had to
restore my mbr because I added to msdos.sys

[options]
bootgui=0

Can I use my win 98se because of these files along with my XP ?

Bill

 

[Don Phillipson]

If they are for compatibility why is msdos.sys empty of text? I had to
restore my mbr because I added to msdos.sys

[options]
bootgui=0

Can I use my win 98se because of these files along with my XP ?

A standard dual-boot implementation of Win98 as well as WinXP
would put system files onto a different logical partition. So you
would see in the Win98 boot partition MSDOS.SYS (1700 to 2000
bytes long) and IO.SYS (222kb.) because their contents would be
different from those of the same filenames in WinXP boot.

 

[Bill in Co.]

Evidently the compatability issue simply requires the presence of that file,
so 0 bytes at least says it's there. (Presumably some MS-DOS programs or
whatever check to see if it *exists*, that's all).

The zero byte files are there for compatibility reasons with older MS-DOS
programs. They hurt nothing, why bother with them?

John

If they are for compatibility why is msdos.sys empty of text? I had to
restore my mbr because I added to msdos.sys

[options]
bootgui=0

Can I use my win 98se because of these files along with my XP ?

Bill

 

[Twayne]

Is there any registry settings or anything else that would keep my
XP MCE from recreating msdos.sys and io.sys ? I really don't think
these files are need with XP and I'm not running my old 98SE.

Bill

I noticed just recently that a lot of the reinstall disks for a Dell MCE
were actually win98 and worked two ways: bootable as a pure DOS or
callable from XP by simply clicking the right setup instead of install
programs. Sort of a double-headed thing; never came across anything
like it before. In fact, IIRC, the MediaDirect3 disk you have to
install before you use the XP disk was a win98 DOS disk, and all it did
was set up the partitions for the user, with and without the on-disk
recover & the hidden partition. Surprised the heck out of me!

I think I'd leave well enough alone since it's an MCE machine unless you
absolutely know they don't need to be there for something. If you ever
need to use shift-F12 or whatever it is, you might get a rude surprise.

Sorry I don't know more about it than that little bit. Couldn't find
anything at Dell to explain it.

HTH

Twayne

 

[John John (MVP)]

If they are for compatibility why is msdos.sys empty of text?

Like Bill in Co. said, MS-DOS programs would only look for their
existence, they wouldn't look at the contents of the files. Some 16-bit
installers look for these files when they install programs and if the
files are absent the installation fails.

I had to restore my mbr because I added to msdos.sys

[options]
bootgui=0

I don't know how you managed to damage your MBR by adding these two
lines to the file, I just did the same on one of my machines and Windows
rebooted just fine. You must have done something else to damage the MBR
and I should add that it isn't exactly easy to damage the MBR on on the
System Disk while Windows is up and running! Perhaps you deleted or
damaged other essential system files.

Can I use my win 98se because of these files along with my XP ?

I'm not sure that I understand what you mean by that. Are you dual booting?

John

 

[Bill Cunningham]

I'm not sure that I understand what you mean by that. Are you dual
booting?

John

Yes XP MCE and linux. But I wouldn't mind putting 98se in the mix too. I
am not running NTFS but fat32 with my xp.

Bill

 

[Bill Cunningham]

If you are on Fat32 then yes...you could also run win98...
but you'd have to install it on a second partition.

You may prefer to just run win98 in a virtual machine.

You can download Microsoft's VM free...
It works quite well

I checked MS's download site I could find this. IS there a link to this
virtual machine?

Bill

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:35:35 PM, and on a
whim, Bill Cunningham pounded out on the keyboard:

Yes XP MCE and linux. But I wouldn't mind putting 98se in the mix too. I
am not running NTFS but fat32 with my xp.

Bill

Hi Bill,

This article tells you how:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306559

I use a 3rd party program called Boot Magic, that comes with Partition
Magic. BootIt NG is another: http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/index.htm






Terry R.

 

[John John (MVP)]

If they are for compatibility why is msdos.sys empty of text? I had to
restore my mbr because I added to msdos.sys

[options]
bootgui=0

Can I use my win 98se because of these files along with my XP ?

A standard dual-boot implementation of Win98 as well as WinXP
would put system files onto a different logical partition. So you
would see in the Win98 boot partition MSDOS.SYS (1700 to 2000
bytes long) and IO.SYS (222kb.) because their contents would be
different from those of the same filenames in WinXP boot.

If you use a third party boot manager that is how it will be but if you
setup a Microsoft dual boot it won't work like that. The operating
systems will be on different partitions but the files required to boot
the operating systems will all reside on the same partition, the Windows
XP boot manager (ntldr) will be used to boot the operating systems.
When you set up an ntldr dual boot the Windows 98 boot sector is copied
to a file called bootsect.dos and the NT boot loader is installed in the
partition boot sector. When you boot to Windows XP the boot loader
loads the NT boot sector, if you select to boot Windows 98 the boot
loader reads the bootsect.dos file and loads or mimics the Windows 98
boot sector.

John