# Is it possible to open DOS on PC without windows?



## Becca (24 Feb 2007)

Is it possible to open DOS on a pc which has no operating system (such as windows) installed on the hard drive?

If it is, how do I do this?  Is it possible to open DOS from the bios?

Thanks!


----------



## Sn@kebite (24 Feb 2007)

Yes, www.bootdisk.com
just burn to disk or flash drive & boot the disk from the startup menu.

I've never tried it but it does work.

You may need more info from ppl who have tried it..sorry


----------



## zag (24 Feb 2007)

The 'os' in DOS stands for operating system, so technically you can't run it from a disk that doesn't have any operating system.

DOS isn't part of a BIOS, so you can't run it from there either.

I'm not sure what you are trying to do, but snakebite is pointing you in the correct direction.  If there is no OS on the hard drive then you will need to boot some OS from somewhere and the most logical way to do this is download a bootable image, write it to CD and boot from it.

z


----------



## Sn@kebite (24 Feb 2007)

In relation to my previous post: 

There's an example of a "DOS" bootableCD. You really need to know what your doing.

Brouse the _Hiren's_ Website it's supposed to be really good.


If u like i can upload my own one and it's DOS an BootitNG. (but that's a USB flash device i used, so might not work) But i don't know what you want to do. Are you trying to install an OS like XP or what? If you could explain to me what you're trying to do then i could help more, because i've done some of this myself in the past.


----------



## Becca (24 Feb 2007)

Hi, thanks Sn@kebite.

I went to the Bootdisk site and downloaded the DOS 6.22 onto diskette. I then went into the bios and amended it so it would boot from the diskette containing DOS 6.22 but it didn't work.

Unfortunately I'm not able to burn onto CD.

The hard drive I have is empty and I'm trying to load Windows 98 onto it, but when I go into the bios and change it so it boots from the hard drive, and I have the Windows 98 CD in the CD drive, I get the following message...


_Setup is preparing to install Windows. Please wait while setup initializes. Windows Setup requires 'largest executable program size' to be at least 442368 bytes to run. Please remove any floppy disks from your drives and press any key to restart your system._


I then remove the floppy disk and press a key, but it just repeats the same message.

I googled the above message and I found many references to it such as this...
[broken link removed]

which mention using fdisk to partition the drive.

I was thinking maybe if I had DOS working that I'd be able to operate fdisk...


----------



## Sn@kebite (25 Feb 2007)

Basically, you should be able to boot ANY pc from a floppy diskette for maintenance. Most pcs are able to boot from the cd-rom drive, provided you have a bootable cd-rom disc inserted and your BIOS is configured to do so.

But before I say more, I really need to know more about what you are trying to accomplish. There is no point in me explaining how to install windows 98 if you are only doing that to get easy access to your hard drive! (ie maintenance), becuase there are already other ways of doing this - for example, there are so-called 'LiveCD's that allow you to run windows 98 from RAM so you can recover files from your hard drive, and so on.

I'll quote some of the things you said in your last post and try to undertand what really happened. 



Becca said:


> I went to the Bootdisk site and downloaded the DOS 6.22 onto diskette. I then went into the bios and amended it so it would boot from the diskette containing DOS 6.22 but it didn't work.



What exactly did you do here? I don't know how much you know about computers - the idea was to put a blank floppy diskette in your floppy drive, and then run the bootdisk .exe file. It then copies files onto your floppy, which make it bootable from 'outside' windows. You then configure your bios to boot from the floppy drive and (with the floppy in the drive) it will startup DOS, and then type 'fdisk' you should be able to configure (partition) your harddrive.



Becca said:


> Unfortunately I'm not able to burn onto CD.


Well, if you are able to boot from a floppy, there is no need to burn anything to cd. The program BootIt Next Generation (BootIt NG) from http://www.terabyteunlimited.com can be installed on a floppy (and then you boot from this floppy), and is much easier to use than Fdisk in my opinion. It can also be burned to a cdrom, which you then boot from, and i prefer this as floppies are just unreliable. It's up to you. People just generally use Fdisk because it's quicker to use becuase it's usually included with dos on a windows floppy disk and/or the windows 98 installation cd.[/QUOTE]



Becca said:


> The hard drive I have is empty and I'm trying to load Windows 98 onto it, but when I go into the bios and change it so it boots from the hard drive, and I have the Windows 98 CD in the CD drive, I get the following message...


It seems that you are making some kind of mistake here in configuring your bios. If you are not, which is probably the case, then the system will keep on booting from the next available bootable device depending on the order you have set in the bios. Because your harddrive is not bootable (you said it is empty!) the bios then looks to see is your floppy or cd-rom drive bootable. That's why you keep getting the message below, as windows keeps trying to install!:



Becca said:


> _Setup is preparing to install Windows. Please wait while setup initializes. Windows Setup requires 'largest executable program size' to be at least 442368 bytes to run. Please remove any floppy disks from your drives and press any key to restart your system._






Becca said:


> I then remove the floppy disk and press a key, but it just repeats the same message.


Again, this is because you must have the cdrom set to boot after the harddrive, or in any case it boots before the floppy. 



Becca said:


> I googled the above message and I found many references to it such as this...
> [broken link removed] which mention using fdisk to partition the drive.


You don't need to worry about this, with FDisk or BootIt NG you have to make a partition on your harddrive and make it 'active'. It must be FAT-16 and can only be up to 2048MB in size. I haven't used FDISK for ages but I can probably help you with it. I would know how to use BootIt NG though, and I would recommend it as it has a nice GUI which is easier to use than FDisk in my opinion.



Becca said:


> I was thinking maybe if I had DOS working that I'd be able to operate fdisk...


If you have BootIt NG you don't need dos to use this, as it boots up straight from floppy! But if you insist on using fdisk, then use the bootdisk program to make a bootable floppy and then boot from this. Make sure in your bios though that the floppy boot before the cd-rom, or take out the windows 98 cd before booting otherwise the computer will boot depending on the order you have set things to boot in the system BIOS!

Hope this helps - if you have any more info, or need more help, pass it on.


----------



## Becca (25 Feb 2007)

Sn@kebite said:


> But before I say more, I really need to know more about what you are trying to accomplish.


Thanks again for the detailed info!  I'm really just trying to load windows 98 from the CD onto the empty hard drive.



Sn@kebite said:


> What exactly did you do here? I don't know how much you know about computers - the idea was to put a blank floppy diskette in your floppy drive, and then run the bootdisk .exe file. It then copies files onto your floppy, which make it bootable from 'outside' windows. You then configure your bios to boot from the floppy drive and (with the floppy in the drive) it will startup DOS, and then type 'fdisk' you should be able to configure (partition) your harddrive.



I saved the DOS 6.22 from the bootdisk.com website onto a diskette, using another pc with internet connection and windows installed. Not using the pc I’m trying to load windows onto.

I then placed this diskette in the pc into which I’m trying to install windows. I then changed the bios so it would boot from the diskette.

But maybe this isn’t required anyhow as I was just trying this as a possible way of achieving the objective of installing windows. So discount this if not relevant!

To be honest, I don’t know that much about this sort of thing!



Sn@kebite said:


> It seems that you are making some kind of mistake here in configuring your bios. If you are not, which is probably the case, then the system will keep on booting from the next available bootable device depending on the order you have set in the bios. Because your harddrive is not bootable (you said it is empty!) the bios then looks to see is your floppy or cd-rom drive bootable. That's why you keep getting the message below, as windows keeps trying to install!



What I was doing was going to the bios changing it so it would boot from the CD-drive, then with the windows CD in the drive I switched on the pc in the hope it would start loading windows. Though when I do this it just states the message, “Setup is preparing to install Windows. Please wait while setup initializes. Windows Setup requires 'largest executable program size' to be at least 442368 bytes to run. Please remove any floppy disks from your drives and press any key to restart your system.”

So should I save the program BootIt Next Generation (BootIt NG) from http://www.terabyteunlimited.com onto a diskette, then set the bios to boot from the diskette?


----------



## Sn@kebite (25 Feb 2007)

Becca said:


> Thanks again for the detailed info!  I'm really just trying to load windows 98 from the CD onto the empty hard drive.


Okay, well now I know that you want to install windows 98 onto your computer!



Becca said:


> I saved the DOS 6.22 from the bootdisk.com website onto a diskette, using another pc with internet connection and windows installed. Not using the pc I’m trying to load windows onto.


You don't just copy the .exe file onto a floppy!!! You have to run the exe file by double-clicking on it (from within windows on whatever pc you have windows already on), and you will be prompted to put a floppy disk in the drive. The exe file makes a bootable floppy for you! Then you will be able to boot from the floppy.



Becca said:


> I then placed this diskette in the pc into which I’m trying to install windows. I then changed the bios so it would boot from the diskette.


Be careful with the BIOS settings. If you don't know about how windows 98 setup happens, you might end up going around in a circle when installing, depending 1) on your BIOS settings and 2) whether you have a cd or floppy in their drives.
For example, let's say you are in your BIOS. In the list for boot devices, I assume you must have something like



> 1 CD-ROM
> 2 Floppy
> 3 Hard Drive* (assuming it is bootable, ie does it have an OS already installed?)


If you then restart, the BIOS will do the following: first, it will look at the CD-Rom drive, and check for a bootable cd. If one exists, it will boot from it.
If there is no cd in the drive or it is not a bootable cd (ie maybe it is an audio cd or something), the bios will then check the floppy drive. If there is a bootable floppy in the drive, it will boot from it.
If there was no floppy in the drive, or the floppy wasn't a bootable one, the BIOS will then check the harddrive. If it is bootable, it will boot from it.
As you can see, each step is dependent on the previous one! 

*In your case, because your Harddrive is not formatted and doesn't have a boot sector (ie there is no OS installed on it), the BIOS keeps checking the CDROM instead and booting from that. As long as you haven't formatted the drive you keep getting that error, and when the system restarts, you have the same thing happening over and over again.



Becca said:


> But maybe this isn’t required anyhow as I was just trying this as a possible way of achieving the objective of installing windows. So discount this if not relevant!


It's only necessary to boot from a floppy for the first stage of the installation of windows 98, if your hard drive isn't properly prepared for windows 98 setup. In your case, you _will_ have to boot from a floppy to format your hard drive properly.



Becca said:


> What I was doing was going to the bios changing it so it would boot from the CD-drive, then with the windows CD in the drive I switched on the pc in the hope it would start loading windows. Though when I do this it just states the message, “Setup is preparing to install Windows. Please wait while setup initializes. Windows Setup requires 'largest executable program size' to be at least 442368 bytes to run. Please remove any floppy disks from your drives and press any key to restart your system.”
> 
> So should I save the program BootIt Next Generation (BootIt NG) from http://www.terabyteunlimited.com onto a diskette, then set the bios to boot from the diskette?


You can use either! But I would always go for Bootit NG. And again, you don't just put the zip file you download from the website onto the floppy, and expect it to boot from that! You have to extract this zip file to some folder anywhere on your computer, and then run the exe program!

Then configure your BIOS to boot from the floppy and use BootIt NG to format your drive with one partition as FAT-16 at a size no larger than 2048MB.

Btw, you don't need to keep changing your BIOS settings to boot from the floppy or CDROM - you can just take out the bootable disk that is in the drive, and the BIOS will move to the next item in the boot device list.

If you need any other help let me know!


----------



## zag (25 Feb 2007)

You're almost there, but if you had said you were trying to install 98 from CD at the start you could have saved a good bit of time.

Key point, but you may already know this - the 98 CD isn't bootable.

What you need to do is use a DOS (or Win98) boot floppy with CD drivers.  I can't remember the two files you need in addition to a standard DOS boot floppy, but one of them is MSCDEX.EXE.  Google for 'dos boot floppy CD' and see what comes back.

When I spent more time messing with computers than I should have I used to always have one of these with me as an essential part of my toolkit.

So, you boot from the DOS floppy with the CD drivers and end up with a C:\ DOS prompt.  Change to the CD drive (more than likely D:\) and run setup.exe and away you go . . .

z


----------



## Becca (27 Feb 2007)

Thanks zag, I'll try the BootIt NG  option first and if I can't get this working I'll then try the DOS option.

 Sn@kebite I managed to download the BootIt NG then I ran the exe file and it requested a diskette which I placed in the drive.

 I then transferred this to the pc I'm trying to boot and the BootIt NG software transferred onto the hard drive of the other pc.  So I now have BootIt NG on the hard drive of the other pc now!

 Should I configure the bios to boot from the HD now?

 In BootIt NG there is an icon named '_Partition Work_' so I'm guessing this is the icon I should click on as as you mentioned that I should use BootIt NG to format the hard drive with one partition as FAT-16 at a size no larger than 2048MB.

 When I click on the icon 'Partition Work' it states...

_NO NAME-O  Partition  1034 MB  FAT-32_

 I'm not too sure what to do now.  There are several on-screen buttons down the right hand side.  One button is named '_Create'_ but it is not active.


----------



## Sn@kebite (27 Feb 2007)

The weird thing is that after reading zag's previous reply, I have also been trying to make a boot floppy that allows access to the cd-rom drive myself!
I have tried various ways to do it and I have looked on the internet but and I followed the instructions - but when I boot from the floppy the cdrom drivers load, but don't give any drive letters! I'll let you know when I find out a method what works!
I also had since forgotten that the Win98 cd is not boot bootable! So if that's the case, I don't know how you managed to get the setup messages you did (ie the bytesize error, etc.)?
Anyway, have a look at this - http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm. I would recommend the Win98SE OEM one, as this is normally what people use (I think!).
But you should download a win98 bootable floppy maker from the list (depending on what version of win98 you have) that should allow you to access your cd drive after boot and to then run 'oemsetup.exe'. But before you boot from this floppy (that you will have to set up by running the exe file you download!), you will need to format your harddrive with BootIt NG.



Becca said:


> Thanks zag, I'll try the BootIt NG  option first and if I can't get this working I'll then try the DOS option.


As it turns out, you will have to use Bootit NG _and_ the dos floppy option, becuase it is required to run win98 setup (as the cd isn't bootable).



Becca said:


> Sn@kebite I managed to download the BootIt NG then I ran the exe file and it requested a diskette which I placed in the drive.
> 
> I then transferred this to the pc I'm trying to boot and the BootIt NG software transferred onto the hard drive of the other pc.  So I now have BootIt NG on the hard drive of the other pc now!
> 
> Should I configure the bios to boot from the HD now?


Yes, if you like you can configure the HD to boot. But as long as there is no floppy in the drive (and no bootable cd in the cdrom drive), the HD should be the only other thing left to boot from (learning how the bios works, yet? ).
Even though the hard drive is booting, it will now boot from the bootit NG partition you just installed to the HD from the floppy. So make sure you don't have the floppy inserted when you boot (unless the BIOS is configured to boot from the HD first!)
[Btw, you didn't have to install Bootit NG to the HD to work with the partitions and so on! You could just have booted from the floppy and when it propmted to continue installation, just press 'Esc' on your keyboard. Then you are using Bootit NG in maintenance mode from the floppy disc!! Just if you wanted to use it like this.  ]



Becca said:


> In BootIt NG there is an icon named '_Partition Work_' so I'm guessing this is the icon I should click on as as you mentioned that I should use BootIt NG to format the hard drive with one partition as FAT-16 at a size no larger than 2048MB.
> 
> When I click on the icon 'Partition Work' it states...
> 
> ...


Now comes the fun part! The 'Create' button is not active because there is already that partition you stated. If you do not see free space below this like 

_NO NAME-O  Partition  1034 MB  FAT-32_
_NO NAME-1  Partition  xMB   Free Space_

..or something like that, then your FAT-32 partition is taking up all the HD space. This is okay - it just means you have to delete this. Btw, you seem to have a very small HD!  

OK, time to delete that partition that you see in the list. Click once on the stated partition, so that it turns blue, and then click 'Delete' from the list on the right. Then you should see

_NO NAME-1  Partition  1034MB(is this the size of your whole HD??) Free Space_

Now, you can *either* double-click, *or* Click once on the free space and then click on the 'Create' button from the list on the right.
You can give the partition a name, like 'Win98' if you like, but if this name part is grayed out, then just leave it as whatever it names itself, it's only a name. In the 'Type' box select FAT-16 - it's around number 14 or so in the list. Then click OK!

So now you have created a partition. If it is the only partition on the HD then
it should automatically be set active.

Now restart the computer, set the BIOS to boot from the floppy drive and with the Win98 CDROM in the drive, boot from the floppy you made above.

Hope this helps!


----------



## Becca (1 Mar 2007)

Thanks for noticing about the small HD size. I hadn't realised that, so I have switched it for a spare one I had.

This other HD now says "Partition 19540 MB Free Space".

I'm at the partition part, and the only two choices which are FAT-16 is...

the 2nd in the list which is _4/4h: FAT-16 (0-32MB)_

and the 4th in the list which is _6/6h: FAT-16_

Which should I select?


----------



## Sn@kebite (2 Mar 2007)

Becca said:


> Thanks for noticing about the small HD size. I hadn't realised that, so I have switched it for a spare one I had.
> 
> This other HD now says "Partition 19540 MB Free Space".
> 
> ...



Select the 4th in the list which is _6/6h: FAT-16_. Then in the size box, enter '2048' - that'll be in megabytes. If you put in anything greater than this number, you'll see a warning to the right of the size box saying 'windows 2k/xp only!' or something to that effect. So don't put anything larger than 2048MB in the box!

When you have done this, restart your pc and boot from a floppy disk i said to make above, and make sure you have your windows 98 cdrom inserted in the drive. But make sure the computer boots from the floppy disk first.

Good luck!


----------



## Becca (3 Mar 2007)

Ok I have the partition part done, I chose the _6/6h: FAT-16_ option and then placed 2048 in the size box.  All seemed to go smoothly.

 I chose the Win98SE OEM option from the bootdisk website as I have the Win98SE disk.

 I ran the exe file from this and it asked me to insert a diskette which I did and it downloaded onto this diskette.

I placed this diskette in the A: drive with the Win98 disc in drive D: with the bios set to boot from the A: drive, then rebooted the pc.

 The screen now states...

_The diagnostic tools were successfully loaded to drive D.

A:\>

_I'm not too sure what to do now.  Has the 'oemsetup.exe' which you mentioned now been activated?


----------



## Sn@kebite (3 Mar 2007)

Becca said:


> The screen now states...
> 
> _The diagnostic tools were successfully loaded to drive D.
> 
> ...




Somewhere before the text

_The diagnostic tools were successfully loaded to drive D.

A:\>_

you should see a drive letter for your cd-rom drive. Drive D: is a virtual drive in the pc's memory that was made when you booted from your floppy, and can be accessed by typing D: after the prompt. The prompt is some drive letter followed by >. In this case it is the text A:\> above.
So you need to access your CD-Rom drive from the dos prompt. Obviously it is not drive D:\, because it says this drive has diagnostic tools on it. So your cd-rom drive should have been loaded as E:\ You should see somewhere above A:\>, a message that tells you your CD-ROM drive's letter was loaded as. Try typing E: after the prompt, as follows:

A:\>E:

and then hit enter. If all is well, you should then see

E:\>

and this means you are ready to go. Put in your win98se cd if it isn't in the drive, and type

E:\>*oemsetup.exe*

after E:\. That is, only type the bold text! Don't type E:\> again after itself. Just to be clear, you should _not_ see

E:\>E:\>oemsetup.exe on the screen!

Setup will then run, and should work this time. Let me know what messages you get if there are errors!

Hope it works for you...


----------



## Becca (3 Mar 2007)

I tried again and there is a reference to the E drive onscreen.

 It states...

_MSCDEX  Version 2.25
Drive E: Driver MSCD001 unit 0
_

 At the _ A:\> _prompt I typed in E: and pressed the enter key, then the prompt changed to the E:\> prompt.

 I then typed in _oemsetup.exe_ and pressed enter.  It now states...

_Bad command or file name.
E:\>_


----------



## Sn@kebite (4 Mar 2007)

Well it's been a while since I've used win98! Try typing

E:\>dir

after the E:\> prompt as shown and this will give you a list of the files and directories on the win98 cdrom. you should see a folder called 'win98'. it should appear as [win98]  - names in brackets are folders.

Anyway, after a little googling, i found this:
[broken link removed]
it basically is all you need to know for installing win98 in your current situation.
All you have to remember is your drive letter, E: in this case. And also, drive C: should be the new partition you made with bootit ng. What they suggest on the above link is to copy your win98 folder from the cdrom onto your harddrive and then install win98 from there. This would be a faster install than installing from the cdrom.
So you could type

E:\>C:

and press enter to change to the harddrive on your computer. Yuo should then see

C:\>

just to make sure it exists! Btw, you don't have to keep changing back to E:\> just to change drive, you just type the drive letter after the prompt that looks like > .

If you think what is suggested at the link above is a bit difficult, and you would prefer to install directly from the cdrom, change to the E: drive if you aren't there already and type

E:\>cd win98
E:\win98>setup.exe

and then setup should start from the cdrom.

Hope this works!


----------



## Becca (5 Mar 2007)

Thanks Sn@kebite!

I tried the simpler way of...
_
E:>cd win98
E:>win98>setup.exe
_
though it now states...

_Windows Setup requires 'largest executable program size' to be at least 442368 bytes to run
E:\WIN98>
_
Does this mean it is not partitioned correctly, as it said something similar to this before I partitioned it?

Maybe I should try the other way mentioned in the thread you linked to...?


----------



## Sn@kebite (5 Mar 2007)

Dunno why you are still getting that message, considering you have now made a partition on your hard disk. Did you make sure it is FAT-16? Is it below or equal to 2048MB in size? Is the partition active (it should be if it is the only one you created)?

You might as well go ahead and try copying the win98 folder to C: and then running setup from C:\win98. Nothing to lose if you do!

Some links I found related to the error message.
[broken link removed] - may or may not help running 

setup.exe /is 

Also, [broken link removed] has a few pointers. You may need to edit your autoexec.bat for things to work. I don't know myself yet what to do, but I'll let you know if you still have rouble by then!

But [broken link removed] may be the solution. You can try deleting the dblspace.bin or drivespace.bin or (whatever it is called) from your floppy startup disk. Then try running setup again and it should work. You will get an error mentioning loading this file failed, but you should be able to start windows setup. Try this before the method of copying the win98 folder to your hard disk. Also on the link above it says they deleted dblspace.bin from their hard drive, maybe this is what they mean to do - but only do this after you have tried deleting the one on the floppy disk and booting from it again to see will setup run this time.


----------



## Sn@kebite (5 Mar 2007)

Okay, I figured doing this might solve the setup error. Yuo might want to do this on pc with an os, preferably the one you are posting to this forum with.

If you can't see either of the next files, it's because they're hidden. Go into (on any explorer window) Tools -> Folder Options and select the 'View' tab. Scroll down and uncheck 'Hide protected operating system files'. Also, you will have to right click on each one of the files below and select 'properties'. Then make sure the 'Read Only' box is unchecked. 

Open the autoexec.bat file on your startup floppy disk. (Right click it and choose 'Edit'.) Delete everything in it and then paste in the following text:



> @ECHO OFF
> cls
> set comspec=a:\command.com
> path=a:\;%CDROM%:\
> ...



Then save the file and close it. Now open the file config.sys on the floppy with Notepad, and then delete all the text as before. Now paste in the following text:



> [menu]
> menuitem=CD, Start computer with CD-ROM support.
> menuitem=NOCD, Start computer without CD-ROM support.
> menudefault=CD,30
> ...



Now save the file, and close it. Now boot from the floppy, and select 'Start computer with CD-ROM support'. Now put in the Win98 Cdrom and run setup as before. I will be very surprised if you get the same error message!


----------



## Becca (6 Mar 2007)

Sn@kebite said:


> If you can't see either of the next files, it's because they're hidden. Go into (on any explorer window) Tools -> Folder Options and select the 'View' tab. Scroll down and uncheck 'Hide protected operating system files'. Also, you will have to right click on each one of the files below and select 'properties'. Then make sure the 'Read Only' box is unchecked.



I used the 'search' facility to search the Win98SE OEM bootdisk which I downloaded from the bootdisk website for autoexec.bat and config.sys but it does not appear to have them.

So using the pc I'm posting with I launched IE (I also have Firefox) and went to Tools, there is an option there called 'Internet Options' I looked here but can't see a 'View' option. 

On the top bar to the left of 'Tools' there are options 'Favorites', and to the left 'View'. Maybe this is the 'view' I should open? I looked in there but can't see 'Hide protected operating system files'.

Am I doing something wrong...?


----------



## Sn@kebite (7 Mar 2007)

Yeah, that's wrong. I don't mean you should open any internet explorer window, but a windows explorer window. For example, you could open 'My Computer'. That's a windows explorer window. Then at the top of this you will see 'Tools' and so on.

Edit the files on the WIN98 SE floppy startup disk like i said, and you should be ok!


----------



## Becca (7 Mar 2007)

Sn@kebite said:


> Yeah, that's wrong. I don't mean you should open any internet explorer window, but a windows explorer window. For example, you could open 'My Computer'. That's a windows explorer window. Then at the top of this you will see 'Tools' and so on.


Ok – I know what you mean, I found the 'Hide protected operating system files' box and unticked it, then clicked ‘Apply’ and ‘OK’

So I think what I have to do now is find _autoexec.bat_ file and the _config.sys_ file on the WIN98 SE boot disk which I downloaded from bootdisk.com

I used the search facility (by clicking on start, then search) to search for both _autoexec_ and _config_ on the diskette but it didn't locate them.

Maybe I have to switch the pc off and on again for the unchecked the 'Hide protected operating system files' to take effect…

What have I done wrong now…?


----------



## Sn@kebite (8 Mar 2007)

If the files aren't there, create them. (And you don't have to restart the pc for the protected files to take effect.)

Create a new config.sys file, and a new autoexec.bat file, and paste the text i gave in an earlier post into these respective files and save them. They should be there though - maybe you see the files as 'config' and 'autoexec', if file extensions aren't enabled? Just above the protected files checkbox you should see 'hidden files and folders' - make sure you select 'show hidden files and folders' and also make sure 'Hide extensions for known file types' is unchecked! Something I forgot - it's easy to overlook. Hope it finally works for you this time!


----------



## Becca (10 Mar 2007)

As well as finding the  '_Hide protected operating system files_' box and unticking it, I also selected '_show hidden files and folders_' and made sure '_Hide extensions for known file types_' was unchecked.

I used the search facility on the boot disk by just clicking on ‘Search’ so that it brought up everything on the boot diskette.

This is what it brought up…

_SETRAMD.BAT
ASPI2DOS.SYS
ASPI4DOS.SYS
ASPI8DOS.SYS
ASPI8U2.SYS
ASPICD.SYS
BTCDROM.SYS
BTCDROM.SYS
BTDOSM.SYS
DRVSPACE.BIN
EBD.CAB
EXTRACT.EXE
FDISK.EXE
FINDRAMD.EXE
FLASHPT.SYS
HIMEM.SYS
OAKCDROM.SYS
RAMDRIVE.SYS
README.TXT_


So the _autoexec.bat_ and the _config.sys_ files do not appear to be there. 

How do I create them?


----------



## Sn@kebite (12 Mar 2007)

Just use notepad! But make sure that when you create the files they have the proper extension, you don't want them to be called autoexec.bat.txt and so on.

Btw, you should first try booting from just the cdrom - I read somewhere someone said it's not bootable but I think it might be if you downloaded it recently. Anyway I don't see why it wouldn't boot...


----------



## Becca (12 Mar 2007)

I was using the "search" facility and wasn't able to locate the autoexec.bat and config.sys files.

 I just went to "file" in firefox then "open file" and located both of them on the boot disk.  So they were there after all...!

I installed those two new files on the boot diskette and tried to boot from the boot disk, by copying them from notepad and pasting them into the old file locations on the boot diskette.

When I try to boot from the boot-disk the screen now states...

_The following file is missing or corrupted 
EMM386.EXE

There is an error in your CONFIG.SYS file on line 9

The following file is missing or corrupted
GCDROM.SYS

There is an error in your CONFIG.SYS file on line 9_

I then deleted the DRVSPACE.BIN from the boot diskette which you mentioned previously and tried again but it still states the above.

I also tried booting from the CD but it just gives the _Windows Setup requires 'largest executable program size' to be at least 442368 bytes to run _message.


----------



## Sn@kebite (13 Mar 2007)

At this stage you might as well just dump your win98 cdrom in the bin. Dunno why we are both wasting our time with this! If I were you I'd try installing WinXP lite (or TinyXP) which is a version of xp with all selected components ripped out that make it run faster. You can get it around the forum at . That must be a pretty old computer you are trying to install win98 onto!

If you must have win98, then try downloading other versions of the floppy startup disk, like the win98 OEM setup disk from bootdisk.com and so on. I obviously don't know that much about how to setup dos to have enough memory to start windows setup! You could also try using fdisk (which is on any of the startup floppies) to partition your hard drive like before, instead of using BootitNG. Anything I ever wanted to do with my pc I've always had to figure out using trial and error, because nothing that anyone else suggested ever worked straight away - so keep trying! It was also a great learning process for me, as I started to depend on myself more to figure things out. 

If worse comes to the worst, I'm still around if you have any questions!

Good luck!


----------



## Becca (13 Mar 2007)

Do you think there might be something wrong with the windows 98 CD?

Windows 98 does everything I need which is why I wanted to use it as I have the licence for this cd as I purchased it about 5 years ago.  That's about how old the pc is, but does everthing I need.  Will save me having to purchase the more recent windows.

I tried that website but the TinyXP appears to be no longer available.



I'll maybe try fdisk to partition the HD.


----------



## Sn@kebite (14 Mar 2007)

Becca said:


> I'll maybe try fdisk to partition the HD.



Do that, but don't forget to also download and try the other win98 startup floppy images from bootdisk.com. One of them just might work!

Also, check your PM for a special link I've given you and more details.


----------

