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DOS 6.22 + New Computer

antiquekid3

antiquekid3

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I would like to install DOS on my 20GB D: drive. My C: drive contains WinXP. I have the three installation disks, but how can I install DOS on my D: drive?

I was thinking about disconnecting the 40GB C: drive, replacing it with my 20GB drive, installing it normally, then putting the 40GB drive as C: and the 20GB drive as D:. Then when I want to boot DOS, I hit F12 at startup and boot from the 20GB "slave drive," now known as D:. Does that make sense, and would it work?

Any help would be much appreciated!!

Kyle
 
Why not just modify the BOOT.INI file on C: ? I haven't tried it, but I think it should work.

Alternatively, you could make some room for a primary DOS partition on C: (use gparted or a similar partition editor) and boot from that.
 
How can I do that? I am completely new to DOS and modifying system32 files and such... :)

Can WinXP boot from a drive labeled D:? If so, I'll just switchero the drives and install DOS on C:. Would that work?

Kyle
 
Yes, you can boot WinXP from D:, but the Windows boot files still have to be on C:

Google is your friend here. Try searching for "Windows boot.ini DOS"

You'll get hits like this one:

http://home.earthlink.net/~jdbryan/directboot.html

Note that DOS 6.22 has a partititon size limit of 2GB and that partition must be located in the lower 2GB of a drive. Also note that DOS 6.22 understands only FAT16 and FAT12 filesystems; not NTFS, so sharing your XP files with DOS is going to get a little involved. (hint: WinXP can understand FAT partitions, but DOS doesn't understand NTFS partitions).

Most people are surprised when they find out that XP has a native multiboot facility.

Another option is to install DOSBox on your XP system.
 
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... and in any event DOS6.22 will only be able to access the first 8GB of that 20GB drive.
Why not move up to 7.x?
 
Save the 20 and 40 for something that can really use it, like XP or BSD or something. If you actually have an interest in DOS, I recommend 2-8 GB drives which are normally considered useless, but still plentiful. DOS is a great OS but useless in a multi boot situation because you lose all the benefits of it's immediacy.
 
When I need to use DOS, I load up an extra system with Windows 98, including network support. That gives me the ability to pass files between my other systems. When I need to run DOS, I just drop out of Win98.

You could also do much the same thing with pure DOS and Windows for Workgroups.

One of the problems with modern PCs and old operatings ystems is that disk drives are too large to be really usable and device drivers for newer devices often don't have DOS versions of them.

You may also want to investigate FreeDOS, which is a bit more up-to-date in terms of device support, such as USB.
 
I've installed various DOS versions on new-ish computer systems, but it's been a while.

In order to attempt the installation, you'll need to re-arrange the hard drive partitions to install Microsoft DOS, which much be installed on the first two GB of hard drive space (as mentioned earlier). As I recall, Microsoft DOS can only boot from the primary hard drive (not Slave), and it may have to be a Primary partition. So with a 40GB drive, you'd have two partitions, like this:

#1, 2GB, formatted with FAT12 or FAT16
#2, 38GB, formatted with NTFS

As a general rule of thumb, install the older operating system first. So install DOS on the first partition, then install XP on the second partition.

Now you'll need a boot loader capable of booting both of those operating systems. The XP boot manager ~may~ be able to do it. Otherwise, there are other alternatives to investigate, XOSL and GRUB for examples.

And you can avoid some of the hurdles by using a newer DOS repalcement, like FreeDOS as recommended by Chuck.

Also, there's tons of information online regarding dual-booting various operating systems. A Google search for Dual boot xp and DOS should get you lots of information, and perhaps even step-by-step walkthroughs.

Good Luck!
 
MikeS said:
Well, depending on the boot manager it's not necessarily any less immediate; in any case that hardly makes it useless...
Click to expand...
I guess. :) DOS is my main OS because everything is direct - I don't have to "go anywhere" first. I walk up to the keyboard and type "ph mik" and all the "mik" names with phone numbers show instantly. That's why I use DOS. If I had to pick up a mouse and click somewhere first or even just wait a couple of seconds, it would be useless to me. :)

Anyway, I'm probably ignorant. The only boot manage I've ever used for dual booting (way back when) is System Commander, and that's a tedious process. Boot managers have probably improved since then.
 
Unknown_K said:
Use partition magic to pick which partition you want to boot from (or drive for that matter).
Click to expand...

Does anyone remember when the multi-boot manager that PM used was first seen on OS/2?

If you've got a gig or so of room on your C: drive, download the Gparted live CD. It's a very slick partition editor that can be booted from CD-ROM or even a USB flash drive. You can make yoru new C: drive DOS partition that way.
 
For creating and formatting partitions, I most often use Ranish Partition Manager running on a bootable CD.
I've never used Partition Magic, since it's a commercial software and rather expensive for what it does.
You can also download partition tools from the hard drive manufacturers, Seagate's Seatools for example.
Or, if you're a gambler, any of the LiveCD Linux distros have partition tools. Iv'e had mixed results with those (Mandrake created overlapping partitions, and RedHat completely scrambled an existing partition table that was rather complex and difficult to recreate).

Resizing your existing partitions, shrinking the current XP partition to make room for a DOS partition, might be possible with some of the new tools out there. With some of the old tools, you could shrink a partition only by cutting off the end, which not only is no good for you installing DOS, but it often gave a good screwing by deleting critical files that some OSes install at the end of each partition. Might be worth trying one of the new tools, but it's still a risky bit of work.

------------------------------

For a bootloader, I've used XOSL, BeOS BootMan, GRUB, and Lilo. GRUB is perhaps the best out there now, but it needs to be installed onto it's own partition because it doesn't fit into the MBR. BeOS Bootman works great, as long as your desired operating systems are supported. XOSL doesn't work well with many newer operating systems or file systems, but it does have some intersting capabilities, such as using hidden partitions to dual-boot multiple instances of Windows.

For sbooting DOS and XP only, the most simple solution will be to use either XOSL or XP's own boot manager.
Here's a Microsoft website with instructions on dual-booting XP and DOS:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306559
 
Wow, a little more complicated than I would care for, it sounds like! So, can WinXP not boot from a slave drive? If it can, I'll just have my C: drive for DOS.

I happen to have Partition Magic, so I might give that a try too.

Kyle

P.S. Okay, so it can boot from D:, but the files have to be on C:. What does that mean for me installing DOS on C:? I'm about to play around with Partition Magic after WinXP-SP3 installs. I never realized I'd still be updating my computer almost a week after getting it!!
 
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They mean that the Windows XP boot files (the hidden files you normally don't see) have to be on the active boot partition, the OS files themselves can be wherever. When you install XP, you can specify whatever partition you want, but it will always put it's boot files and boot loader in the active boot parition regardless.
 
Well, I seem to have found a solution. I made my 20GB drive the C: drive, installed DOS, and then put the 40GB back as C: and the 20GB as D:. Then, when I want to boot DOS, I press F12 at startup, and select the "Primary Slave Drive." That boots into DOS, and despite WinXP thinking it's the D: drive, it's the C: drive in DOS.

When I boot in WinXP (from the "Primary Master Drive"), the D: drive is present and can be accessed normally, it would appear. I haven't tried moving files from XP to the D: drive, but I assume it can be done. They all appear normally, at least.

If all else fails, I can always move programs via the 3.5" floppy drive!

Kyle
 
Well, I seem to have found a solution. I made my 20GB drive the C: drive, installed DOS, and then put the 40GB back as C: and the 20GB as D:
Click to expand...
That was easier than creating two partitions?!?

Then, when I want to boot DOS, I press F12 at startup, and select the "Primary Slave Drive." That boots into DOS, and despite WinXP thinking it's the D: drive, it's the C: drive in DOS.
Click to expand...
That's easier than using a boot manager?

When I turn on a dual-booting computer, I want to see a list of all available OSes, and click on the name to boot each one.

I'm glad you found a solution, although it sure seems more complicated than the process should be.
 
Bobthearch said:
That was easier than creating two partitions?!?
Click to expand...
Sure sounds easier to me; no need for partitioning software, no need to back up XP just in case, no need to repartition the 40G drive, just format and install DOS same as you'd have to anyway.
That's easier than using a boot manager?
Click to expand...
Sounds exactly the same to me.
When I turn on a dual-booting computer, I want to see a list of all available OSes, and click on the name to boot each one.
Click to expand...
That's your choice, no problem.
I'm glad you found a solution, although it sure seems more complicated than the process should be.
Click to expand...
Not to me.

I assume the 20GB drive is only formatted and partitioned to 8GB ?

mike
 
I'm with Mike on this one. I found it much easier to swap one cable than installing Partition Commander, backup my computer (of which I don't have any software to do so...), not to mention eliminating all of my fears of installing to the wrong drive or some other problem occurring.

I think pressing three keys (F12, 2, ENTER) at startup is just as easy as selecting the OS you want to boot from, really. Plus, I KNOW what I have on my hard disks. I don't need a list to tell me.

Unfortunately, the hard disk is formatted as 2GB!! What's up with that?!

Kyle
 
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