I need config.sys and autoexec help!

[patscc]

multiconfig

multiconfig

I never really found an optimal configuration for everything, so (once it came out) got in the habit of using DOS's multiconfig, which is also available under Win 95/98.
Briefly, it presents a menu at entry of config.sys, and you can pick which run-time configuration gets booted. This way, you can have several setups, one with network stack, one plain, one with CD but no zip, you get the idea. There's third party utilities that do same as well.

There's a description here:
http://www.knowplace.org/pages/morgue/dos_multi-config_booting_howto.php

probably not the best, but if you google DOS & multiconfig, you should come up with some useful links.

patscc

 

[Lutiana]

I would agree completely with Pat.

Using the config.sys menu functionality you can have 2 different boot options. This would allow you to boot into Windows when need be, and a pure DOS enviroment for real mode games.


Here is the code to combine both config.sys files

[Menu]
Menuitem=Windows,Windows
Menuitem=Dos,DOS
menudefault=windows,5

[DOS]
DEVICE=C:\DRIVERS\jemmex.exe NOEMS I=B000-B7FXX
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVERS\JLOAD.EXE C:\DRIVERS\XCDROM32.DLL /D:MSCD0001
LASTDRIVE=Z

[Windows]
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /NUMHANDLES=128 /TESTMEM:OFF /Q
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE AUTO RAM NOEMS
LASTDRIVE=Z

And the autoexec.bat files, but what I would do is rename win.com to win95.com, this will stop Windows from automatically loading at the end of the aiutoexec.bat file.

@echo off
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6

if "%CONFIG%"==Windows then goto Windows
if "%CONFIG%"==DOS then goto DOS
GOTO END

:DOS
LH C:\DRIVERS\CTMOUSE.EXE
LH C:\DRIVERS\SHSUCDN.EXE
LH C:\DRIVERS\SHSUCDX.EXE /C /D:MSCD0001 /L:D
GOTO END

:Windows
LH C:\DRIVERS\CTMOUSE.EXE
Win95.com 
:END

 

[Gwb]

Okay this menu prompt is really neat. Thanks everyone for your help and patience.

-First problem is that if you go to DOS, the DOS enviroment will appear for a brief second, then it tries to load Windows automatically and refuses to do so because of the protected software enviroment DOS has established.

-I renamed "win.com" and "win.ini" to "win95.com" and "win95.ini" respectively. Windows will not load as it is giving the "Cannot find Win.com" error.
What else do I have to rename for Windows to load the "Win95" files or what can I do so that Windows does not try to automatically load? I've tried removing the Windows/95.com line altogether to no avail.

 

[Chuck(G)]

So you want to boot to the DOS prompt? Easy.

See this tutorial on MSDOS.SYS boot options.

Note that to modify MSDOS.SYS, you'll have to do this:

attrib -r -h -s msdos.sys

in the root directory of your C: drive. You can then change the contents. In particular, you'll want to make the change BootGUI=0.

 

[Lutiana]

So you want to boot to the DOS prompt? Easy.

See this tutorial on MSDOS.SYS boot options.

Note that to modify MSDOS.SYS, you'll have to do this:

attrib -r -h -s msdos.sys

in the root directory of your C: drive. You can then change the contents. In particular, you'll want to make the change BootGUI=0.

Yeah, thats a much better way of doing it, then leave win.ini and win.com alone, then change win95.com in the autoexec.bat to win.com.

I should have realized renaming win.com would not work, sorry about that, its been a while :D

 

[Gwb]

I set BootGUI to 0 which disables the automatic loading of Windows which allows me to boot into the DOS environment. This is good. If I select Windows in the menu it will give me a prompt, requiring me to type "win" to boot into Windows. I'm guessing that there is something I can add to the autoexec.bat to auto type "win" to automatically boot into Windows or something similar.

Another thing I noticed is that in the autoexec.bat file under the Windows list is the command "LH C:\Drivers\ctmouse." Is this necessary because my mouse operated fine in Windows before I added this line- or am I just being picky?

Another dilemma I have discovered is regarding dos4gw.exe. I have the original Warcraft CD-ROM. It is compatible and runs great with Win95. In the DOS environment it installs fine but the problem is that the game will only run at the time it is installed in the DOS environment. If I reboot or come back at a latter time it displays the "stub failed dos4gw.exe" error. If I try to "LH C:\Warcraft\dos4gw.exe" it will give me a syntax error (I will type the error out tomorrow). I have done research and the dos4gw.exe file expands the 640k memory particularly useful for the Doom series. Are Win95 games supposed give these errors in the DOS environment?

Thanks again for the much appreciated help!

 

[Lutiana]

I set BootGUI to 0 which disables the automatic loading of Windows which allows me to boot into the DOS environment. This is good. If I select Windows in the menu it will give me a prompt, requiring me to type "win" to boot into Windows. I'm guessing that there is something I can add to the autoexec.bat to auto type "win" to automatically boot into Windows or something similar.

Another thing I noticed is that in the autoexec.bat file under the Windows list is the command "LH C:\Drivers\ctmouse." Is this necessary because my mouse operated fine in Windows before I added this line- or am I just being picky?

@echo off
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6

if "%CONFIG%"==Windows then goto Windows
if "%CONFIG%"==DOS then goto DOS
GOTO END

:DOS
LH C:\DRIVERS\CTMOUSE.EXE
LH C:\DRIVERS\SHSUCDN.EXE
LH C:\DRIVERS\SHSUCDX.EXE /C /D:MSCD0001 /L:D
GOTO END

:Windows
REM LH C:\DRIVERS\CTMOUSE.EXE
win
:END

That should do it.

With regards to the DOS4GW issue, I am not sure. A quick google search leads me to believe that it is either that DOS4GW needs to be in the Warcraft folder, or possibly needs to be updated. Others here should have more experience than I, and you may want to start a new thread on that one.

 

[Chuck(G)]

You're correct in guessing that you don't need to load the mouse drivers in your config.sys file. Windows uses its own driver.

If you don't need to access your CD-ROM right away, why not load the driver only when needed? Win95 doesn't need a DOS driver to access it.

As a rule of thumb, if it's in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, you can usually run a program anytime, not just at boot time.

 

[Gwb]

I got the multi boot to work but I am having CD-ROM drive problems. When I type "d:\dir" it tells me that "volume in drive d has no label." Windows has my Iomega zip drive as letter D and my CD-ROM drive as letter E. The CD-ROM drive works fine in Windows.

config.sys

[menu]
Menuitem=windows, Windows 95
menuitem=dos, MS-DOS
menudefault=windows, 8

[dos]
DEVICE=C:\Drivers\jemmex.exe NOEMS I=B000-B7FXX
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICEHIGH=C:\Drivers\jload.exe C:\Drivers\XCDROM32.DLL /D:MSCD0001
LASTDRIVE=Z

[windows]
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /NUMHANDLES=128 /TESTMEM:OFF /Q
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\Windows\EMM286.EXE AUTO RAM NOEMS
LASTDRIVE=Z

autoexec.bat

@echo off
prompt $p$g
goto %CONFIG%

:dos
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6
LH C:\Drivers\ctmouse.exe
LH C:\Drivers\SHSUCDN.EXE
LH C:\Drivers\SHSUCDX.EXE /C /D:MSCD0001 /L:DM
goto end

:windows
win
goto end

:end
cls

mem /c/p in DOS enviroment

NAME	Total		Coventional	Upper Memory
------  -------------	-------------	-------------
SYSTEM	18032 (18K) 10480 (10K)  	7552  (7K)
JLOAD	64    (0K)	0 (0K)  	64    (0K)
IFSHLP	2,864 (3K)	0 (0K)		2,864 (3K)
SETVER	832   (1K)	0 (0K)		832   (1K)
COMMAND	7,168 (7K)	0 (0K)		7,168 (7K)
CTMOUSE	3,104 (3K)	0 (0K)		3,104 (3K)
SHSUCDX 11280 (11K)	0 (0K)		11,280(11K)
free 	775,136(757k)	644,608(630k)	130,528(127k)

 

[Lutiana]

When I type "d:\dir" it tells me that "volume in drive d has no label."

I think you mean "dir d:" they way you have it above would run a command called dir that is in the d:\

Windows has my Iomega zip drive as letter D and my CD-ROM drive as letter E. The CD-ROM drive works fine in Windows.

Ahh, so I assume you want the drive letters to match in Dos. To make the CD-Rom come up as e: then change this:

LH C:\Drivers\SHSUCDX.EXE /C /D:MSCD0001 /L:DM

to this

LH C:\Drivers\SHSUCDX.EXE /C /D:MSCD0001 /L:E

.

The /l in SHSUCDX is to set the letter of the CD-Rom drive, or in the case of multiple drives the first one in the series.

As far as the zip drive goes you will need the dos utilities and will most likely need to add this:

 LH guest.exe

to your autoexec.bat just before the CD-Rom Driver. Your need to check out the documentation on how to force it to mount the ZIP drive as the D:

Also I notice you have this in your config.sys:

DEVICE=C:\Windows\EMM286.EXE AUTO RAM NOEMS

shouldn't that be emm386.exe?

 

[Gwb]

I am not too worried not having the zip drive in DOS. I would prefer my CD-ROM drive as letter D in DOS but I can accept it as E.

Typing "dir d:" still tells me "Volume in drive D has no label [next line] Not ready."
Maybe DOS thinks it is a HDD?

shouldn't that be emm386.exe?

Sorry, just a typo!

 

[Lutiana]

Typing "dir d:" still tells me "Volume in drive D has no label [next line] Not ready."
Maybe DOS thinks it is a HDD?

This is because you have the SHUCDX setting the CD-Rom drive as D and the not ready indicates that either there is no CD in the CD-Rom or for some reason it is unreadable.

 

[Gwb]

If I try to run setup from the disc, I usually just type "install.exe" or "install" and that has worked before. The disc is in mint condition and I have used it before both in Windows and DOS environments.

 

[Lutiana]

this is a long shot, but try and take out

 LH C:\Drivers\SHSUCDN.EXE

from the autoexec.bat

 

[Gwb]

Didn't do anything . I'll go back over the files later on and see if I made any errors.

 

[barythrin]

Just to clarify, what's your current statement in autoexec.bat for loading the cdrom?

LH C:\DRIVERS\SHSUCDX.EXE /C /D:MSCD0001 /L:D?

As lutiana pointed out, your drive letter will be whatever you put for the /L: argument so e: would be /L:E or D: would be

/L:D

I'm not 100% sure you'd need the dos4gw stuff, that was to allow extended memory access to dos games but most games that required it came with it and install it automatically then give you a bat file or something to run the game with that loads dos4gw, the game, quits the game and closes dos4gw.

Also not a proper fix but does the game actually need the cdrom or does it install all of itself to the hard drive? You could probably install it under Windows 95 then just run the installed game under it's dos shell, or IIRC Windows would detect a non-windowsPE file (pre-Windows 95) and opt to drop you to that dos boot before running the game anyway.

- John

 

[Gwb]

Just to clarify, what's your current statement in autoexec.bat for loading the cdrom?

LH C:\DRIVERS\SHSUCDX.EXE /C /D:MSCD0001 /L:D?

As lutiana pointed out, your drive letter will be whatever you put for the /L: argument so e: would be /L:E or D: would be

/L:D

Correct. I have the cdrom to be my D drive but it's still giving me problems. Another thing I noticed is when you are booting up DOS it says
"SHSUCDX Installed
Drives Assigned
Drive Driver Unit
D: MSCD001 0
Label not found"

I'm not 100% sure you'd need the dos4gw stuff, that was to allow extended memory access to dos games but most games that required it came with it and install it automatically then give you a bat file or something to run the game with that loads dos4gw, the game, quits the game and closes dos4gw.

When I try to run Warcraft "C:\Warcraft\War" it's giving me the error
"Stub exec failed:
dos4gw.exe
No such file or directory"
The dos4gw.exe is in the Warcraft folder and I've even tried putting it in my autoexec.bat file as a LH command and it still did not work. I am thinking that I am getting problems because this is a Windows compatible game- not a game designed strictly (pre Windows) for DOS.

Also not a proper fix but does the game actually need the cdrom or does it install all of itself to the hard drive? You could probably install it under Windows 95 then just run the installed game under it's dos shell, or IIRC Windows would detect a non-windowsPE file (pre-Windows 95) and opt to drop you to that dos boot before running the game anyway.

- John

I chose the option to do a full install of the game. If you attempt to install it in Win95, it uses its own DOS shell and runs the game in a DOS shell without any problems. The problems occur in my DOS environment I have set up (or attempted to).

 

[Lutiana]

Correct. I have the cdrom to be my D drive but it's still giving me problems. Another thing I noticed is when you are booting up DOS it says
"SHSUCDX Installed
Drives Assigned
Drive Driver Unit
D: MSCD001 0
Label not found"

Hmm, try this. Rename the CD-Rom to just CD (ie /d:CD) in both the autoexec.bat and config.sys and see if that fixes it.

When I try to run Warcraft "C:\Warcraft\War" it's giving me the error
"Stub exec failed:
dos4gw.exe
No such file or directory"
The dos4gw.exe is in the Warcraft folder and I've even tried putting it in my autoexec.bat file as a LH command and it still did not work. I am thinking that I am getting problems because this is a Windows compatible game- not a game designed strictly (pre Windows) for DOS.

IIRC Warcraft is a DOS game, and was ported to windows at some point (but its not a true windows game). What this error says to me is that the game for some reason cannot find DOS4GW.

When you execute war.exe it then looks for and runs DOS4GW. Based on what your saying I am guessing that you are not running the game in the Warcraft folder instead you run the game by typing:

c:\>c:\Warcraft\war <return>

If this is correct then that may be your problem, war.exe is most likely looking for DOS4GW in the current folder, and in my example above the current folder would be c:\. Try changing to the warcraft folder and running war from inside there.

 

[Gwb]

Hmm, try this. Rename the CD-Rom to just CD (ie /d:CD) in both the autoexec.bat and config.sys and see if that fixes it.

Still does not work

IIRC Warcraft is a DOS game, and was ported to windows at some point (but its not a true windows game). What this error says to me is that the game for some reason cannot find DOS4GW.

When you execute war.exe it then looks for and runs DOS4GW. Based on what your saying I am guessing that you are not running the game in the Warcraft folder instead you run the game by typing:

c:\>c:\Warcraft\war <return>

If this is correct then that may be your problem, war.exe is most likely looking for DOS4GW in the current folder, and in my example above the current folder would be c:\. Try changing to the warcraft folder and running war from inside there.

Works great! I feel like an idiot now

 

[Lutiana]

Still does not work

But it works in Windows? Is it an IDE (ATAPI) CD-Rom?

So to clarify, in your config sys you have:

DEVICEHIGH=C:\Drivers\jload.exe C:\Drivers\XCDROM32.DLL /D:CD

and in the autoexec.bat it is:

LH C:\Drivers\SHSUCDX.EXE /C /D:CD /L:D

That should work just fine with an IDE (atapi) cd-rom. Can you post the exact error (word of word) and any error numbers that it gives you?

Works great! I feel like an idiot now

Nah, we've all been there.