Multi-Booting with MS-DOS

[White Phoenix]

Because I had a folder in the root of one of my drives, Mint Install and Boot Repair kept adding MS-DOS to the boot list. All the folder had in it was an old DOS graphics viewer/converter (the only thing that will read Japanese MAG image files). No systems files at all.

So, I started thinking why not do it with real MS-DOS. So, I renamed the folder DOS Programs and now its ignored and created a partition alongside the partition for Windows. I installed MS-DOS 5.0 into that. I labeled the partition DOS since that seemed to trigger listing MS-DOS. Nope. Despite actually having MS-DOS in a bootable MBR partition, it is completely ignored.

Is there any way to get a bootable version of MS-DOS to work along side Window 7 and Linux 17.3?

[xenopeek]

I'm not sure what the use of it would be over using DOSBox or running your MS-DOS in VirtualBox, but I think you will have to edit your /etc/grub.d/40_custom file manually to add a boot option in GRUB. I don't know how to do that for MS-DOS but for FreeDOS (which I suggest you use instead) there is an example https://wiki.debian.org/DualBoot/FreeDOS.

[kukamuumuka]

MS-DOS does not understand modern hard drives (too large for MS-DOS), so multibooting can be difficult.

[White Phoenix]

Well, I put a DOS folder in my partition and it was discovered. I am having difficulties with another matter and the live disc of 17.3 is crapping out on me. I think I will need to burn a fresh one. As for editing the grub, I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, but there is a KDE grub2 configuration editor. Why only for the KDE desktop I don’t know. It has glowing reports in the feedback.

I am using Boot Repair now. Lately, every install the grub has to be repaired to get the menu. Apparently last time the kernel didn’t get installed properly. Boot Repair is taking a very long time replacing it. I may have to try another install and hope it completes properly this time. Any way I put MS-DOS on a 3GiB partition (3GB according to MS measurements). The start up guide I still have says it will accept up to 2 GB. Boot Repair complained that it didn’t have a lot of space left (it takes up about 2 GiB). I guess, by Linux standards, that would be a problem.

CORRECTION: The manual states up to 2.8 MB. I made a DOS partition of 3 MB. Only 2 GB are being used.

Good install! Booted into MS-DOS and came up with “BOOTMGR is missing”. It’s been a long time since I’ve had DOS. What is bootmgr? It isn’t in the ISO I downloaded, nor on the list of files that are supposed to be in the boot / root folder that I found on the Internet. I’m thinking it has something to do with the BIOS.

Yes, on the initial splash screen is “F12 for Boot Manager”. This brought up the Boot Menu.
Boot Menu
1. CD/DVD
2. USB
3. HDD/SSD

I read an article that if a CD is in the tray it would boot to there instead of DOS. I considered there might be a conflict since Boot Repair tends to put “grub” on all USB drives, and I have made one thumbdrive bootable in case of emergencies. So I disconnected the USB drives and even took out the SD card and the blank CD from the tray. I still get the error message.

[lostfarmer]

Good install! Booted into MS-DOS and came up with “BOOTMGR is missing”

The boot record (first sector of partition) is looking or BOOTMGR the MS WIndows boot file for Vista and above, while you need IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS for Win98 and below . ( WIndows XP,2000 needs for NTLDR)

added: you must use the correct format command, not sure just what it would be.

http://thestarman.pcministry.com/asm/mbr/DOS50FDB.htm

What format did you use, it looks like it must be fat16, dos5 does not read fat32 nor ntfs. What is the start sector of your msdos partition ? What I have read the partition MUST be the first partition (?) and it will only read the first 8.4 GB of a hard disk.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-DOS

[White Phoenix]

What format did you use, it looks like it must be fat16, dos5 does not read fat32 nor ntfs. What is the start sector of your msdos partition ? What I have read the partition MUST be the first partition (?) and it will only read the first 8.4 GB of a hard disk.

Aha! You have hit the nail on the head. I used NTFS, but I had a feeling it should have been FAT16. I just figured a different error message specifically saying so. I forgot that Microsoft was notorious for misleading error messages. Example: The one that claimed the modem was not working, even if you weren’t using dial-up. MS used it as a default message when no other message was appropriate.

That part will be easy to fix now. Thanks¸ lostfarmer. As for the first part of the hard drive, well Microsoft considers partitions as individual drives. So it should still work. If not, I will have to clear the Windows side and reinstall. Actually. after I was finished I realized I had an opportunity to put DOS in the first partition to match the drive letter I gave it (A). i may have to do this anyway.

At least now I know that in order to get Windows to install in the partition I want I need to disconnect all external hard drives first. Also may as well re-install Linux to finally (I hope) get rid of the black screen problem, since I don’t know specifically which file in the /home/<user> is causing the problem.

UPDATE: As it turns out, between Disks and gParted, the DOS wound up using FAT12 contents (gParted doesn’t have FAT12, so it reports FAT16) and the paritition type is Windows 95 FAT32, instead of bootable, it is LBA. As I added above, the partition isn’t 3 GiB, but 3 MiB. It only takes 1.4 MiB of that. The startup manual that I still have states it needs at least 2.8 MB (JEDEC units) which is actually 2.8 MiB. Windows 7 still complained about the size of its partition being too small despite having more than the minimum amount of room. I checked and found the suggested size it needed which was about four times the minimum and still way less than the 100MiB there was. That was before I disconnected the USB drives while installing Windows. If DOS is the same then that would mean the recommendation is about 11.2 MiB. I can always shrink the System Reserved partition (since it really does nothing) to expand the DOS partition to 10 MB if needed.

[White Phoenix]

Another update. I am still having trouble finding a program that will make the CD boot at system startup. I did set the partition so it is active | bootable, but still nothing happens. I have tried Windows and Linux applications to no effect. Burn Aware turned out to be a security threat. AShampoo finally made a CD to the specifications, but it doesn’t work. Brasero did okay, but still no boot. I even have the partition formatted already. Still no setup screen. Just an empty screen with a blinking cursor.

Searching the web brings up how to make the partition bootable or how to install, but not how to create the disk specifically. However, there is plenty of articles on how to create bootable install USB sticks. So I guess I will break down and try that. Once I get the programs expanded and moved to the hard drive partition, I won’t need to mess with it anymore. Just back up the uncompressed files and restore as needed. Actually, if I could find something that would decompress the install files, it really isn’t difficult to figure out where everything goes. Only four or five files go in the DOS root. The rest go in a folder called DOS.

One thing extra I did find out. A generic CD driver is needed for 6.22 which was never included in the install package. However, the driver needed is on the Windows 98 DOS boot disk. So all you need to do is copy the good old oakcdrom.sys file (I remember this one fondly) to the files that are extracted from the three image (.img) files of the install disks. Theoretically, whatever is checked and bootable first is assumed by DOS to be the A drive. It doesn’t care just as long as the required files are there. You don’t need to worry about the files being on one disk instead of three. Just lie and press enter. DOS won’t know the difference. It just looks for the files it needs.

It’s like when you are told by any OS to remove the disk, close the tray and press enter. If you don’t remove the disk, the OS doesn’t check and just reboots/shuts down anyway.

But something is missing. The partition is a system/active/bootable partition. FAT12. The CD is bootable. The CD driver is on the disk. Theoretically, it should work.

Virtual machines are useless, VMware just creates a virtual CD drive even when you specify the real one. Virtual Box doesn’t even try to reach outside the VM. Wine is Windows. You can’t install the DOS to the hard drive there. It would be like trying to install DOS on a drive that already has Windows on it from inside Windows. Not going to end well.

Wait a minute. Isn’t 7Zip supposed to handle the MS compressed file format? At least the Windows version of 7Zip? We will see.

[jimallyn]

OK, I'm not getting something here. Why not just install FreeDOS in VirtualBox? I just downloaded it, installed it in VirtualBox, and it seems to run just fine. I gave it 32 MB of RAM and 1 GB of hard drive, which is more than I ever had in any "real" DOS installation. What's wrong with that?

[lostfarmer]

But something is missing. The partition is a system/active/bootable partition. FAT12. The CD is bootable. The CD driver is on the disk. Theoretically, it should work.

Just because you have a fat12 partition , does not make it bootable. It may be missing the correct boot code. You can verify using ' sudo dd if=/dev/xxx count=1 bs=512 | xxd ' (xxx=device name/ partition name --sda1) . look at site I posted earlier http://thestarman.pcministry.com/asm/mbr/DOS50FDB.htm , the last 2 lines MUST have ( ...IO SY , SMSDOS SYS ). The 2 files IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS must be on the root of said partition.

Not sure if partition needs to be fat12 or fat16, do not know the differences

http://averstak.tripod.com/fatdox/bootsec.htm fat12-max partition size= 510.75MB.

[White Phoenix]

Just because you have a fat12 partition , does not make it bootable.

I activated it to be bootable using the Disk Manager in Windows. The partition on the hard drive is empty since the DOS has not been installed yet. If it would install, then all the files would be in there correct place.

Now all of the files are on the CD. The CD is bootable. The BIOS is set to check CD, USB and then the hard drive. When the CD is in place, and the system is turned on, it detects the CD, but doesn’t do anything. It does not accept any input. The cursor just sits there slowly flashing, but there is no longer a message that it cannot find an active system partition, so the partition is bootable.

It may be missing the correct boot code.

Now that part makes sense. Even if I had Windows 7 Disk Manger make the drive bootable, doesn’t mean it used the correct boot code for version 6.22.

Code: Select all

whitephoenix@BookOfShadows ~/Desktop $ sudo dd if=/dev/sda1 count=1 bs=512 | xxd[sudo] password for whitephoenix: 
0000000: eb3c 904d 5344 4f53 352e 3000 0208 0800  .<.MSDOS5.0.....
0000010: 0200 0200 50f8 0800 3f00 ff00 0008 0000  ....P...?.......
0000020: 0000 0000 8000 29a8 e2a1 884e 4f20 4e41  ......)....NO NA
0000030: 4d45 2020 2020 4641 5431 3220 2020 33c9  ME    FAT12   3.
0000040: 8ed1 bcf0 7b8e d9b8 0020 8ec0 fcbd 007c  ....{.... .....|
0000050: 384e 247d 248b c199 e83c 0172 1c83 eb3a  8N$}$....<.r...:
0000060: 66a1 1c7c 2666 3b07 268a 57fc 7506 80ca  f..|&f;.&.W.u...
0000070: 0288 5602 80c3 1073 eb33 c98a 4610 98f7  ..V....s.3..F...
0000080: 6616 0346 1c13 561e 0346 0e13 d18b 7611  f..F..V..F....v.
0000090: 6089 46fc 8956 feb8 2000 f7e6 8b5e 0b03  `.F..V.. ....^..
00000a0: c348 f7f3 0146 fc11 4efe 61bf 0000 e8e6  .H...F..N.a.....
00000b0: 0072 3926 382d 7417 60b1 0bbe a17d f3a6  .r9&8-t.`....}..
00000c0: 6174 324e 7409 83c7 203b fb72 e6eb dca0  at2Nt... ;.r....
00000d0: fb7d b47d 8bf0 ac98 4074 0c48 7413 b40e  .}.}....@t.Ht...
00000e0: bb07 00cd 10eb efa0 fd7d ebe6 a0fc 7deb  .........}....}.
00000f0: e1cd 16cd 1926 8b55 1a52 b001 bb00 00e8  .....&.U.R......
0000100: 3b00 72e8 5b8a 5624 be0b 7c8b fcc7 46f0  ;.r.[.V$..|...F.
0000110: 3d7d c746 f429 7d8c d989 4ef2 894e f6c6  =}.F.)}...N..N..
0000120: 0696 7dcb ea03 0000 200f b6c8 668b 46f8  ..}..... ...f.F.
0000130: 6603 461c 668b d066 c1ea 10eb 5e0f b6c8  f.F.f..f....^...
0000140: 4a4a 8a46 0d32 e4f7 e203 46fc 1356 feeb  JJ.F.2....F..V..
0000150: 4a52 5006 536a 016a 1091 8b46 1896 9233  JRP.Sj.j...F...3
0000160: d2f7 f691 f7f6 4287 caf7 761a 8af2 8ae8  ......B...v.....
0000170: c0cc 020a ccb8 0102 807e 020e 7504 b442  .........~..u..B
0000180: 8bf4 8a56 24cd 1361 6172 0b40 7501 4203  ...V$..aar.@u.B.
0000190: 5e0b 4975 06f8 c341 bb00 0060 666a 00eb  ^.Iu...A...`fj..
00001a0: b042 4f4f 544d 4752 2020 2020 0d0a 5265  .BOOTMGR    ..Re
00001b0: 6d6f 7665 2064 6973 6b73 206f 7220 6f74  move disks or ot
00001c0: 6865 7220 6d65 6469 612e ff0d 0a44 6973  her media....Dis
00001d0: 6b20 6572 726f 72ff 0d0a 5072 6573 7320  k error...Press 
00001e0: 616e 7920 6b65 7920 746f 2072 6573 7461  any key to resta
00001f0: 7274 0d0a 0000 0000 0000 00ac cbd8 55aa  rt............U.
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
512 bytes (512 B) copied, 0.0237054 s, 21.6 kB/s

I have absolutely no idea what that means. The partition that I am installing to is 10GiB / 10GB using Windows units. It is formatted as FAT12 and is in sda1. It is completely empty as nothing has been installed.

/dev/sda1 is the partition of interest.

Code: Select all

 whitephoenix@BookOfShadows ~/Desktop $ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00030a1f

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048       22527       10240    1  FAT12
/dev/sda2           22528      309247      143360    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda3          309248   210024447   104857600    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4       210026494   625141759   207557633    5  Extended
/dev/sda5       210026496   210436652      205078+  83  Linux
/dev/sda6       210438144   218826751     4194304   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7       218828800   260771839    20971520   83  Linux
/dev/sda8       260773888   625141759   182183936   83  Linux

fdisk in DOS mode:

Code: Select all

whitephoenix@BookOfShadows ~/Desktop $ sudo fdisk -c=dos -l /dev/sda1
[sudo] password for whitephoenix: 

Disk /dev/sda1: 10 MB, 10485760 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1 cylinders, total 20480 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6f20736b

This doesn't look like a partition table
Probably you selected the wrong device.

     Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1p1   ?   778135908  1919645538   570754815+  72  Unknown
Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
     phys=(357, 116, 40) logical=(48436, 183, 40)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(357, 32, 45) logical=(119492, 104, 7)
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda1p2   ?   168689522  2104717761   968014120   65  Novell Netware 386
Partition 2 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
     phys=(288, 115, 43) logical=(10500, 111, 30)
Partition 2 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(367, 114, 50) logical=(131012, 158, 28)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda1p3   ?  1869881465  3805909656   968014096   79  Unknown
Partition 3 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
     phys=(366, 32, 33) logical=(116394, 188, 12)
Partition 3 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(357, 32, 43) logical=(236906, 234, 25)
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda1p4   ?           0  3637226495  1818613248    d  Unknown
Partition 4 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
     phys=(372, 97, 50) logical=(0, 0, 1)
Partition 4 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(0, 10, 0) logical=(226406, 223, 57)
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Okay, why scan the empty partition when the only files are on the CD disk?
The CD is NOT going to be in FAT. People install from CDs and DVDs. Is the CD burning program supposed to burn the disk using FAT instead of 9660/Joliet?

This is the info from the CD.

Code: Select all

whitephoenix@BookOfShadows ~/Desktop $ sudo dd if=/dev/sr0 count=1 bs=512 | xxd1+0 records in
1+0 records out
512 bytes (512 B) copied0000000: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
0000010: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
0000020: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
, 5.6549e-05 s, 9.1 MB/s
0000030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
0000040: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
0000050: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
0000060: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
0000070: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
0000080: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
0000090: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
00000a0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
00000b0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
00000c0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
00000d0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
00000e0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
00000f0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
0000100: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
0000110: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
0000120: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
0000130: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
0000140: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
0000150: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
0000160: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
0000170: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
0000180: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
0000190: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
00001a0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
00001b0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
00001c0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
00001d0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
00001e0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
00001f0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................

Here is a list of contents on the CD.

Code: Select all

whitephoenix@BookOfShadows /media/cdrom $ ls -la
total 3981
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root   8192 Mar 16 02:10 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root   4096 Mar 16 03:00 ..
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   6261 May 31  1994 ANSI.SY_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   7467 May 31  1994 APPEND.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  11208 May 31  1994 ATTRIB.EXE
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root     37 May 31  1994 AUTOEXEC.BAT
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  12241 May 31  1994 CHKDSK.EXE
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  16770 May 31  1994 CHKSTATE.SY_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   1754 May 31  1994 CHOICE.COM
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  54645 May 31  1994 COMMAND.COM
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root     13 May 31  1994 CONFIG.SYS
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  26936 May 31  1994 COUNTRY.SYS
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   5241 May 31  1994 COUNTRY.TX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   5087 May 31  1994 DBLWIN.HL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  15718 May 31  1994 DEBUG.EXE
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  79065 May 31  1994 DEFRAG.EXE
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   4284 May 31  1994 DEFRAG.HL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   7249 May 31  1994 DELTREE.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   6762 May 31  1994 DISKCOMP.CO_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   8306 May 31  1994 DISKCOPY.CO_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   9797 May 31  1994 DISPLAY.SY_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   2576 May 31  1994 DOSHELP.HL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   4213 May 31  1994 DOSKEY.CO_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   3114 May 31  1994 DOSSETUP.INI
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   4032 May 31  1994 DRIVER.SY_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  66294 May 31  1994 DRVSPACE.BIN
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 181840 May 31  1994 DRVSPACE.EXE
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  28521 May 31  1994 DRVSPACE.HL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   1272 May 31  1994 DRVSPACE.IN_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   8518 May 31  1994 DRVSPACE.SY_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  13210 May 31  1994 DRVSPACE.TX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root    413 May 31  1994 EDIT.COM
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  15709 May 31  1994 EDIT.HL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  19049 May 31  1994 EGA2.CP_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  15558 May 31  1994 EGA3.CP_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  18340 May 31  1994 EGA.CP_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  50058 May 31  1994 EMM386.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  16129 May 31  1994 EXPAND.EXE
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   7539 May 31  1994 FASTHELP.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   7829 May 31  1994 FASTOPEN.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  12065 May 31  1994 FC.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  29336 May 31  1994 FDISK.EXE
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   4879 May 31  1994 FIND.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  22974 May 31  1994 FORMAT.COM
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  11376 May 31  1994 GRAPHICS.CO_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   3883 May 31  1994 GRAPHICS.PR_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root    413 May 31  1994 HELP.COM
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 270925 May 31  1994 HELP.HL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  10064 May 31  1994 HIMEM.SY_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  10720 May 31  1994 INTERLNK.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  26446 May 31  1994 INTERSVR.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  40774 May 31  1994 IO.SYS
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  15240 May 31  1994 ISO.CP_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  15750 May 31  1994 KEYB.COM
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  34598 May 31  1994 KEYBOARD.SYS
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  11759 May 31  1994 KEYBRD2.SY_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   6176 May 31  1994 LABEL.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root    649 May 31  1994 LOADFIX.CO_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  19512 May 31  1994 MEM.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 119557 May 31  1994 MEMMAKER.EXE
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   6017 May 31  1994 MEMMAKER.HL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   1306 May 31  1994 MEMMAKER.IN_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  14899 May 31  1994 MODE.CO_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root    950 May 31  1994 MONOUMB.38_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   2545 May 31  1994 MORE.COM
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  11957 May 31  1994 MOVE.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 172198 May 31  1994 MSAV.EXE
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  17796 May 31  1994 MSAVHELP.OV_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  12230 May 31  1994 MSAV.HL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  11473 May 31  1994 MSAVIRUS.LS_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  63994 May 31  1994 MSBACKDB.OVL
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  68074 May 31  1994 MSBACKDR.OVL
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  69530 May 31  1994 MSBACKFB.OVL
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  73706 May 31  1994 MSBACKFR.OVL
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   2487 May 31  1994 MSBACKUP.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 112396 May 31  1994 MSBACKUP.HL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 133936 May 31  1994 MSBACKUP.OVL
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  18549 May 31  1994 MSBCONFG.HL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  47210 May 31  1994 MSBCONFG.OVL
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  25361 May 31  1994 MSCDEX.EXE
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 165864 May 31  1994 MSD.EXE
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  38138 May 31  1994 MSDOS.SYS
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   8665 May 31  1994 MSTOOLS.DL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  23085 May 31  1994 MWAVABSI.DL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  10232 May 31  1994 MWAVDLG.DL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  19702 May 31  1994 MWAVDOSL.DL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   4219 May 31  1994 MWAVDRVL.DL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  65629 May 31  1994 MWAV.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  12070 May 31  1994 MWAV.HL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   9569 May 31  1994 MWAVMGR.DL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  70797 May 31  1994 MWAVSCAN.DL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   3983 May 31  1994 MWAVSOS.DL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   8445 May 31  1994 MWAVTSR.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   6956 May 31  1994 MWBACKF.DL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  30406 May 31  1994 MWBACKR.DL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 159943 May 31  1994 MWBACKUP.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 141281 May 31  1994 MWBACKUP.HL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  18094 May 31  1994 MWGRAFIC.DL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  66012 May 31  1994 MWUNDEL.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  17458 May 31  1994 MWUNDEL.HL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  17465 May 31  1994 NETWORKS.TXT
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   7036 May 31  1994 NLSFUNC.EXE
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  41302 Mar 16 00:28 OAKCDROM.SYS
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   6237 May 31  1994 PACKING.LST
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   5549 May 31  1994 POWER.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   9618 May 31  1994 PRINT.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 194309 May 31  1994 QBASIC.EXE
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 113105 May 31  1994 QBASIC.HL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   3282 May 31  1994 RAMDRIVE.SY_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  60646 May 31  1994 README.TXT
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  12835 May 31  1994 REPLACE.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  23380 May 31  1994 RESTORE.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 124262 May 31  1994 SCANDISK.EXE
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   6920 May 31  1994 SCANDISK.INI
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  72842 May 31  1994 SETUP.EXE
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   1830 May 31  1994 SETUP.MSG
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   6617 May 31  1994 SETVER.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   8120 May 31  1994 SHARE.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   4136 May 31  1994 SIZER.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  15480 May 31  1994 SMARTDRV.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  13747 May 31  1994 SMARTMON.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   7319 May 31  1994 SMARTMON.HL_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   4360 May 31  1994 SORT.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  12741 May 31  1994 SUBST.EX_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   9432 May 31  1994 SYS.COM
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   4795 May 31  1994 TREE.CO_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  26416 May 31  1994 UNDELETE.EXE
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  12738 May 31  1994 UNFORMAT.COM
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   1289 May 31  1994 VFINTD.38_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  33046 May 31  1994 VSAFE.CO_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   2661 May 31  1994 WINA20.38_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   1071 May 31  1994 WNTOOLS.GR_
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  11093 May 31  1994 XCOPY.EX_

What is supposed to happen is this:
Start up system.
MS-DOS detected on CD-ROM disk and Setup.EXE is started.
The file oakcdrom.sys is also loaded.
DOS accepts the CD as drive A.
I am asked to format the “C drive” before installing. I enter format c: /s
It formats the disk to the maximum size allowed, using the default file system for DOS 6.22 and begins installation. The /s tells it to transfer the system files to the hard drive.
DOS thinks the CD is A: and /dev/sda1 is C:. It has no way to know any different.
It then prompts for my location and language. US, English is the default.
It then prompts for the name of the system file folder. The default is DOS.
It installs all of the Disk 1 files from the CD.
It prompts for Disk 2 and to press ENTER when ready. I press ENTER.
It installs the Disk 2 files from the CD.
It prompts for Disk 3 and to press ENTER when ready. I press ENTER.
It installs the Disk 3 files from the CD and finishes the install.
All of the boot files should be expanded and put into the root of sda1 by the install process.
The rest of the folders should be expanded and put in the DOS folder.

I still think there is a problem with the applications that I am using to burn the CD. Ashampoo and Brasero are not doing it correctly. Maybe if I give up on using the CD and use LiveUSB Install that will work. The only thing that is making this difficult is the lack of accurately information on the process and/or lack of knowledge as to what the proper tools are. I could probably afford $10 for a USB floppy drive, but the problem is finding one. Then finding the floppy disks.

[lostfarmer]

we was not on the same page, was thinking you was trying to boot to hdd.

You may find out DOS will not run on a newer comp (?), the video could be a problem (?).

So all you need to do is copy the good old oakcdrom.sys file

Not sure but think there must be a line added to AUTOEXEC.bat file telling the OS to load oakcdrom.sys, been a long time.

Did you just copy the downloaded files to the cd burn program ? If that is all you did, it will not boot. You must make a cd bootable iso file. (iso buster, kiso, or mkisofs) there are likely other programs. You need not only the dos files you downloaded but most important a 'boot image file "contains the boot code" do not know where to download or remember what to do with it'.

I suggest going to below site and downloaded the dos cd iso file , open it with 'iso buster or some other program' and add the other needed files you downloaded . The iso downloaded will not have the install program, you will need to add it and maybe others, then select 'save as' and then burn to cd.

http://www.allbootdisks.com/download/iso.html

Note: I have never installed dos to a comp.

[White Phoenix]

Did you just copy the downloaded files to the cd burn program ? If that is all you did, it will not boot. You must make a cd bootable iso file. (iso buster, kiso, or mkisofs) there are likely other programs. You need not only the dos files you downloaded but most important a 'boot image file "contains the boot code" do not know where to download or remember what to do with it'.

I did at first then I had Ashampoo create a bootable CD. Well, I’m not sure how bootable it is. I will look into the other applications you mentioned. They may work better.

The file I got was from a site where the guy has preserved the original MS-DOS files. Now that I’m back online and everything important is put back to normal, I was going to contact him for advice.

BTW, about why not use a virtual machine? It isn’t the same. Virtual machines just do not run like real computers. There are glitches and inconsistencies that are inherent to being essentially a software program running on another OS. The same thing applies to DOSBox and Wine. It just doesn’t have the same ‘feel’.

[kukamuumuka]

Did you just copy the downloaded files to the cd burn program ? If that is all you did, it will not boot. You must make a cd bootable iso file. (iso buster, kiso, or mkisofs) there are likely other programs. You need not only the dos files you downloaded but most important a 'boot image file "contains the boot code" do not know where to download or remember what to do with it'.

I did at first then I had Ashampoo create a bootable CD. Well, I’m not sure how bootable it is. I will look into the other applications you mentioned. They may work better.

The file I got was from a site where the guy has preserved the original MS-DOS files. Now that I’m back online and everything important is put back to normal, I was going to contact him for advice.

BTW, about why not use a virtual machine? It isn’t the same. Virtual machines just do not run like real computers. There are glitches and inconsistencies that are inherent to being essentially a software program running on another OS. The same thing applies to DOSBox and Wine. It just doesn’t have the same ‘feel’.

I have Windows 3.1 boot-CD and Windows 3.1 boot-floppy, and I installed Windows 3.1 to one old computer and it worked ok. I installed this windows 3.1 to Virtualbox first and it works ok.

windows 3.1.png