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How to make a DOS bootable CD??

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NathanAllan

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It's probably been touched on a lot already, but now there is a sea of info to sift through. Anyway, seems like a good thing to bring up since it's been a while since I have seen it discussed.

I own the three floppies, but how do I grab the data and make a bootable CD out of it? A friend is trying, also, but his floppy drive is broken, he's seeing about another one, and he also owns the disks.

Is there an eay way to get this done??

If I have done it before it's been years ago, and cannot remember.

Nathan
 
Way I have always done it , is as follows..

Make the bootdisk you wish to use and image it, using winimage or whatever program. Then just use nero 5.x+ to create the cd. Select boot cdrom, then select the boot disk image of the floppy you created earlier. Add whatever files and burn. Easy boot cd :D
 
Basically any CD burning software can make a bootable CD. They ones I create use disk image as the bootable section of the disk, and the rest is stored on the CD as you would usually expect it to be (so make sure to have your config.sys and autoexec.bat install CD-Rom drivers).

I use CDBurnerXP (http://cdburnerxp.se). I create my boot disk like normal and test it out to make sure it is what I want. I then create an image from this disk. Then using CDBurner I start a new data disc project. Then click "Disc" -> "Boot Options", check make this disk bootable, point it to the image I created, leave everything else default and click ok. Drag my files into the project and burn the disk.

Check out this software, it allows you to create a bootable CD with a menu and when you select an item on the menu it can boot the corresponding disk image. Very nice for making a disc with multiple configurations on it.
 
I think the OP is asking something different.

He talks about "I have the three disks". I take it these are the installtion disks of DOS 6.22 or something like that. And he is asking how to create a CD to install DOS from it.

I'm not sure if this is possible. The DOS installation looks for the disk LABEL, and I don't think you can change this on the fly. So I don't think it's possible what he is trying to do...
 
Actually dos disks do not check the label, but for disk.id in the files, same as win 3.x... You can install dos from any medium provided dos can access it.

Just do what I explained earlier, repeating the same steps to create boot cd, with one minor difference. Copy off the diskettes to a directory, making sure to include system files. Then just drag that directory onto the boot cd. Since you'll have tons of extra space, I recommend sticking on win 3.x as well. If you need more help or some step by step process, just let me know. Its pretty straight forward. Or worse case I can image one of my bootcd's for you. Just keep in mind the bootdisk you emulate for the bootcd must be exactly the same version as the version you wish to install.
 
twolazy said:
Actually dos disks do not check the label, but for disk.id in the files, same as win 3.x... You can install dos from any medium provided dos can access it.
Click to expand...

I also think that it only looks for the disk.id file when it runs out of files to copy. So you could merge all the disks into one folder and install it from there without any issues.

Just create a boot disk that loads the CD-Rom driver, changes over to the install CD and runs setup.
 
I'm quite sure that, MS-DOS 6.22 at least, does indeed check the label. Not sure about other DOS versions though, I have only ever used MS-DOS.
 
twolazy said:
Actually dos disks do not check the label, but for disk.id in the files, same as win 3.x... You can install dos from any medium provided dos can access it.

Just do what I explained earlier, repeating the same steps to create boot cd, with one minor difference. Copy off the diskettes to a directory, making sure to include system files. Then just drag that directory onto the boot cd. Since you'll have tons of extra space, I recommend sticking on win 3.x as well. If you need more help or some step by step process, just let me know. Its pretty straight forward. Or worse case I can image one of my bootcd's for you. Just keep in mind the bootdisk you emulate for the bootcd must be exactly the same version as the version you wish to install.
Click to expand...

So maybe it checks the label, but how does the DOS setup know when it's finished copying all the files before looking for the next disk?

If it only goes checking for a new disk (with or without label), wouldn't it be possible to put all setup files on 1 big disk and when it asks for disk 2, simply exit setup as it's already done copying all files?
 
It just checks the directory its working from, for simple disk id tag files. Each one has a different sequential file name.
 
twolazy said:
It just checks the directory its working from, for simple disk id tag files. Each one has a different sequential file name.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but that simply is incorrect. Maybe you have some pirated disks or copies where you modified various INI files, but the standard DOS 6.22 installation disks need to have correct LABEL on every disk.

If the LABEL doesn't match it will simply keep asking you to insert Disk 2...

There are also no "disk id tag files" on the disks.
 
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First off, I do not have a pirated copy. Its the 6.22 legit step up available from microsoft. Now the step up does in fact use labels, you are correct there. But not all copies worked this way. May I refer you to this article here. It shows the file listing of dos 5.0 which is similar with 6.0. Notice DISK1. DISK2. DISK3. Feel free to research it. I also have a Dell install cd which installs 6.21 in the same manner using disk . id files. I own multiple copies of msdos btw.

meh. :eek:nfire:
 
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twolazy said:
It's the 6.22 legit step up available from microsoft.
Click to expand...

It shows the file listing of dos 5.0
Click to expand...

Well there you go...

In IT it's important to mention the version of whatever it is you are talking about.

The step-up version is TOTALLY different: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/117417

It requires an existing copy of MS-DOS on the machine.

But yea, the OP could have mentioned what version he was using and we/I could have asked as well or not assumed version 6.22.

twolazy said:
Now the step up does in fact use labels
Click to expand...

I can see it's easy for you to mix it up. It's the other way round though for 6.22.

The SETUP.BAT batch program creates the C:\STEPUP directory and extracts the MS-DOS 6.22 Step-Up files from the archive files (1MSDOS62.EXE, 2MSDOS62.EXE and 3MSDOS62.EXE). SETUP.BAT then runs the MAKESYS utility to create the MS-DOS 6.22 system files. Finally, it runs MS-DOS 6.22 Setup.
Click to expand...
Source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/119151

capturekk.jpg


The normal version of MS-DOS 6.22 (the one that you can install on a blank HDD) does indeed check the LABEL on each disk.

Feel free to research it.
 
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Wow, this is a healthy topic. I did neglect to mention it was 6.22, my mistake. Pretty sure I have a handle on the situation, going to try a few suggestions, see what works. If I do succeed I will let you all know. Or my friend will let me know, I in turn will let you all know.
 
Believe it or not it works with dos 6.21 also. Just make empty txt files, name them disk1. disk2. and disk3. and stick them into the install directory on the cdrom. It will not prompt for the next disk if you do this. :)

On the flip side 6.22 stepup isnt a full os, just an upgrade. The step-up is a bit different, some reason it does not work. Still do not understand why Microsoft forces you to use diskettes. BUT if I recall correctly, you can use the setup.exe out of 6.0/6.21 on 6.22 files, allowing you to use the disk1. disk2. disk3. files. Only reason I know so much about this , is in this era I used to image machines for trade shows. We would install dos off a network drive, as well as windows. Diskettes took too much time and were not an option. Ghost 5 was an option, but it always had trouble resizing partitions on these systems if they contained bigfoot drives, which 1/2 of them did! Maybe it is an undocumented feature...
 
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I'll see if I can locate the dell dos/win installation disc tonight. I'll be happy to image it for you minus the win3.x files (or with if you own a legit copy of win 3.x).
 
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