How Do You Use Dos?

Captain Kirk

Captain Kirk

Member
Hello Folks,

I know how to use Dos Computer language commands by typing them in and what commands are in the language. But I just went into Dos, and tried some Dos commands, but they were unsuccessful, and so I was just wondering what was going on. I tried "Fdisk" and "Format" and the computer returned the error message, "'fdisk is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file". And I know this is one of the Dos language commands:confused:

Is it because I have to copy the system files to hd/partition/drive? Would they be in the OS folder?
 
Goto to dos and type help. that will give the commands, flags etc. something i used years ago. Windows does it now mostly now. Sorry, read again. dont think i answered it right. I read again.
 
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What operating system are you using? If you are using a command prompt in windows XP or above a lot of the commands don't work anymore as its not a true dos environment like it was with windows 95, 98, and ME.
 
There are dos commands that are part of the command interpreter, therefore referred to as internal commands, and dos commands that are not part of the command interpreter and referred to as external commands. The command interpreter is loaded whenever you are at a dos prompt. When you type a command that is NOT part of the command interpreter, such as fdisk or format, the path is searched for the bat, exe or com file with the same name. Internal dos commands are those such as DIR, PATH, DATE, CLS, CD, etc... There is no program such as dir.com, dir.bat or dir.exe or cls.com, cls.exe, cls.bat because those commands are part of the command interpreter.

If you are running windows, use Windows explorer to look in the system32 folder and sort on the TYPE column. Scroll down the TYPE column until you see the type "MS-DOS Application". You will see commands such as mode.com, format.com, diskcomp.com, diskcopy.com, etc... These are external dos commands that are present in windows.

If you are running dos in a VM or from disk (booted to a dos prompt), then only the external commands that dos can find in the path can be executed from the command prompt but the internal commands can be executed as long as you are at a dos prompt. A bootable dos disk only requires 3 files to be present io.sys, msdos.sys (both are hidden files) and command.com. Command.com is the command interpreter. If your bootable disk has only these 3 files on it, then you will only be able to execute the dos internal commands.
 
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tremmor,
Hello bud, good to meet ya!
I like your icon picture, that's pretty cool.

"help"
I forgot about that. Didn't you used to be able to also type "?". I tried it, but returned an error.

johnb35,
"Malware and Spam Assassin"
Cool, is that what you do? We need more people like you.

XP
Didn't see the command "Fdisk" in the Help list
Only good for W95, W98, or ME, huh?

strollin,
Well you may just be strolling, but your strolling along with Level 8.
And for someone who is only level 8, you sound pretty knowledgable.
Looks like DOS is right up your alley.

Fdisk is the only way that I know of to erase the MBR. I am still testing on my second hard drive, and so Fdisk would be a whole heck of a lot faster than the 12 hour process that a killdisk takes. Last time, inorder to erase the MBR from another FAILED install, it took 17 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Captain Kirk
 
Do you know of any way to erase the MBR?

Hello,

Dude, Xcopy only "copies":confused:

Anyways, do you know of any way to erase the MBR [since you are going to do a format the OS is of no consequence]

If you are running XP, how would you Fdisk?

Level 25?:D
XP

Captain Kirk
 
To repair/replace the MBR in XP, you would boot the XP install disk to the Repair Console then issue the command "fixmbr [device_name]" The device_name parameter is not needed if there is only 1 disk in the system as it will default to the boot device.

Read more about fixmbr here: XP- fixmbr
 
voyagerfan99,
I've formatted it and the MBR is still there.
Format doesn't get rid of the MBR.
At least for the DOS 7.1 program.
After a format to the DOS 7.1 install, I still recieved the same error message on the screen:
"Invalid System Disk" ::press a key and then--
"Non System Disk or Disk Error" even when no CD is in the drive ::press a key and then--

Keeps switching back and forth between these two error messages when you press a key.
Anyways, I had to use a 17 hour Killdisk just to get rid of this error message [MBR]!!!!!!!!!

tremmor,
I am trying to fix my computer and need to install DOS. I went with 7.1 because it is the newest
version of DOS that I know of, but I may end up using 6.2 or another one instead because of these
difficulties.

I "installed" DOS 7.1, but on reboot, or any other time before reboot for that matter, it did not
work; nor could I get to a Dos Prompt. I need to be able to get to Dos prompt to be able to fix
my computer.

QUESTION
Do you know how to install/configure Dos 7.1?
[So that it will boot to a Dos Prompt when I reboot like an OS -- it is a OS.
When I installed it, I included the checked box for also install "add-ons".
There are a couple of other selections that can be made in the install process.
The first time I installed it I selected the wrong one with the "only install
the Dos commands".
The Dos 7.1 that I have is one for the one disk install, though a two disk install
is also available, but I don't know how to get this.

I don't know why DOS 7.1 would need two CD's when the program is only like 9 MB's????????

strollin,
Yes, I have used the "FixBoot" and FixMBR" command with XP in the repair console, and it WAS
successful.
HOWEVER, I am not running XP on the problem laptop [C#2]. The hd is currently formatted.laptop [C#1] is running XP, though I am still trying to recover from a deleted partition on that
one. But I just want to focus on one problem at a time because this is difficult enough.

Captain Kirk
 
How are you attempting to format the disk? Are you doing it from a command prompt?

Did you use fdisk before the format to see if you could delete the existing partition and create a new partition?

When you did the format, did you specify the /s parameter to add the system files to the boot disk? IE "format C: /s"

If you didn't include the /s parameter then you can use the command "sys c:" to transfer the system files to the disk.

Where did you get your copy of DOS 7.1? Not sure about the 1-disk vs 2-disk install.
 
Strollin,
What's Up?

I have formatted with Partition Magic AND with Puppy, for a total of 4 formats.
I haven't been able to use Fdisk, as this command is only W95,W98,ME specific
I am running XP on C#1
And on C#2, I can't GET to a DOS prompt, but that is what I have been trying to do for a long time.

NOTE C#2 is formatted
Yes, I would love to do the format /s command to save the system files instead of just a regular format, but this is not a valid command in XP!!!!!!! Apparently this command can only be used in W95,W98,ME to I am guessing. In fact, this was the very question that I was going to ask of the computer nerds to figure out why it was returning an error on a real Dos Command!! It doesn't make sense. I am assuming microsoft did away with several Dos commands in the transition to XP...

That's funny that you say that, and I have to admit, a brilliant idea, but again, I am not running W95/98, and so I am UNABLE to proceed with that plan. I have already thought of that idea.

I am not sure where I got the Dos 7.1

Captain Kirk
 
I don't know about the rest of the people here but I confess that you have me totally confused. I think it's because you keep jumping between the two machines. For instance, you ask a question about XP, I give an answer and you reply that you aren't running XP. Now in your last post you say you can't do a format /s because that command isn't available in XP! (That's true because /s and the sys command only work for true DOS).

Why don't we stick with one machine at a time, get one of them working, then work on the other?

If you have an XP install disk, you can boot that to the Repair Console and that will give you a command prompt where you can run the fdisk command. It's true that you can't run the format /s command from an XP prompt because XP was one of MS' first real OS with it's own boot files and such. Win 3.1, Win 95 & Win 98 were simply GUI front ends that ran DOS underneath which is why the format /s command works there.
 
Strollin,
Hello.

Okay, lets stick to one machine. The Compaq C#2:

Formatted hd.

Okay, so I ran a MemTest. So here are the results: [Memtest 4.0]

I selected option 2, Memtest 3.5, and the program ran.

"Unexpected Interrupt - Halting CPU0"
Errors: 0
Ecc Err: 0
Pass: 0
Pass 0%
Test 57%
Time = 01 sec

::100% of time same results #Boots: 4

Captain Kirk
 
OK, computer #2. Why are you running memtest? Is the problem you are trying to solve the fact that it won't run memtest or is there another reason why you are trying to run memtest?

Did you boot the system from the memtest CD before running the test?
 
The DOS commands you are looking for are separate .exe commands. You have to download it from your DOS disks. (if you have them)
 
How are you?

I was not able to install any OS on C#2, except Dos 7.1
I did a full install. But when booted, it would not run and ran into a black screen and error. I formatted 4 times. I thought that it was the MBR that wasn't letting me be able to install Dos 7.1 again, so that is why I needed the Dos "Fdisk" command [now diskpart, not sure how it works, haven't used it yet, and it is a new command -- just learned about it].

I ran a Killdisk, and this solved the issue.

Then I found out that if you have no RAM that you can't install any programs. That's why I was not able to install any OS's [except Dos 7.1]; therefore, I ran a Memtest. I have bad RAM.

And it cannot be fixed until my order of RAM arrives.

P.s.
The question on my threads page was not highlighted, so I assumed that no one had replied. I accidently clicked on it and found out that this was not the case. I don't understand what the highlighted ones mean.

QUESTION
How do I know if I got a reply on a thread?
 
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