Re: making a dos boot cd... how??

On Tue, 09 Aug 2005 19:47:48 -0500, Wildman <wildman@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>> <snip>
>
>Nero and CDRWin (and others) can create a bootable cd. First
>create a boot floppy with the needed utilities and the files for
>cd-rom support. With config.sys and autoexec.bat files to load
>the cd-rom support. The dos version should be the same as
>what you intend to install. Select "create bootable cd" in the
>burning program. Nero wants to read the floppy direct and
>CDRWin ask for a floppy image. Then the process is the
>same as making a data cd. You include the dos files and
>whatever else you want on the cd.
>
>When you boot from the cd, the BIOS sets up the floppy boot
>image as a virtual floppy drive, read only of course. It is usually
>drive A:. The cd-rom support is needed to access the data part
>of the cd in the same way as you would in windows.

This is quite interesting. Does this mean a computer can boot from CD
using this system, even if CD boot support is not programmed into the
BIOS?

I have the comp version of Nero that came with my CD drive and indeed
it creates a wonderful DOS boot CD that can also include USB drivers
and is very useful. You can take the bootable .img from a bootable
floppy or else use the DR-DOS supplied w/Nero, but I don't think you
can re-install that version of DOS to the HDD because of copy
protections.
>
>If you look at the cd with a file manager, you will not see the
>boot image. The method the burning programs uses is the
>same that MS uses for their bootable cd's.
>
>BTW no version of ms-dos will install from a cd. The setup
>program does several checks to make sure it is running from
>a floppy. The install will have to done manually. Have fun
>expanding all those files.
>
I don't know anything about the MS installer for DOS. I made a CD
with a batch file that makes the C drive bootable and then unzips my
chosen components to a directory called C:\DOS.

sys c:
md c:\dos
pkunzip dosprogs.zip c:\dos
copy autoexec.ba_ config.sy_ c:\
ren c:\autoexec.ba_ autoexec.bat
ren c:\config.sy_ config.sys

I think that is roughly how it goes.

This is MS DOS 7.10, done with the comp Nero mentioned above. Remove
the CD, reset the machine, and there is DOS with the desired
configuration.

But I have never tried it on a machine that doesn't have CD boot
support written into the BIOS.

Charlie
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Unable to startup/boot
    ... file system is not suiteable for running ms dos and sindows applications. ... > If you have a floppy disk drive you could download the Windows XP boot disks ... Run the application and it will create 6 floppy ... Can I boot up from a DOS promt al all? ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics)
  • Re: DOS and Harddrive Capacity
    ... But having it installed so that it will boot from the hard drive, ... does not mean that you are "using" XP when you boot from a floppy created ... limited version of Windows 98. ... No, this is not DOS 6.22, but perhaps ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.cmdprompt.admin)
  • Re: Hacked!! no loading into system.
    ... by booting to a DOS or Windows 9x floppy ... or download a DOS boot floppy from www.bootdisk.com and then run a full ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.security)
  • Re: Will not boot to dos for Ghost or Drive Image
    ... GHOST 2003 can be run in two modes, one you execute from within XP, and the ... But, run from a DOS floppy, GHOST should work, even if you have a bad hard ... this assumes that you have the fisrt boot device to be the ... DOS floppy should be able to see it. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: Dual boot with dos on floppy
    ... In fact the reason is quite simple. ... OS than DOS ... My need is to keep the floppy inserted and to let me choose. ... create a XP boot floppy which only works if the file system is mostly ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
Loading