From: "..." Message-Id: <200001270207.VAA07711@escape.com> Subject: Re: Using Loader with DRDOS and WIN95 To: opendos AT delorie DOT com Date: Wed, 26 Jan 100 21:07:43 -0500 (EST) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL25] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Reply-To: opendos AT delorie DOT com Apologies for my half-baked earlier msg. (I subscribe to the digest, so if anyone else has already characterized it that way I won't know till tomorrow.) I've found the file I feared was lost, Matthias Paul's response to my own request for help after my failed first attempt to set up win95-dr-dos dual boot. His invaluable instructions explain how to set this up manually, and following them worked for me: ============================================================ Re: dr-dos/win95 dual boot? Tue, 27 Apr 1999 14:46 +0100 From: Matthias Paul To: caldera-opendos AT rim DOT caldera DOT com << Do you use loader successfully to dual boot DR-DOS 7.02/3 and win95? >> -- This is completely independent of MSDOS.SYS settings. While Windows 9x takes precautions not to dual-boot DR-DOS, DR-DOS does dual-boot Windows 9x, if you install LOADER and your C: drive is not FAT32. << I installed win95, then reinstalled DR-DOS (twice), and was so intent on keeping win95 under control I seem to have stifled it entirely. >> 1. Make sure you have deinstalled anti-virus software (disabled MBR protection in the ROM-BIOS setup). To make the following description easier I am assuming you are not running any compression software like STACKER, DBLSPACE, DRVSPACE, etc ... 2. Make Windows 9x bootable by booting it off floppy etc. and run SYS c:. This will rewrite the MBR and Boot Sector. MS-DOS 7 should be able to boot now. Try it! 3. Than boot into DR-DOS from floppy/CD etc. If you're about to run the DR-DOS INSTALL program, exit to the DOS prompt. (INSTALL auto-detects Windows 9x and installs LOADER, but since you seem to have had trouble with this, we're now doing it the manual way ...) 4. Put the LOADER.COM and BOOT.LST files into the C:\ root (should be found in the already installed DR-DOS bits, otherwise get it off the installation floppy disk--if it's compressed, run PNUNPACK/NWUNPACK on the corresponding file.) BOOT.LST should contain the following single line: IBMBIO.COM S [10] Caldera DR-DOS 7.03 whereby 10 is the timeout to auto-select this menu item (F2). Now run LOADER as follows: c:\> LOADER BOOT.LST [RET] It should tell you that it could successfully update the Master Boot Record (MBR). 5. After rebooting the machine you should now see LOADER's menu with F1 = Standard boot F2 = Caldera DR-DOS 7.03 If you press F1, it should launch whatever is loaded by the Boot Sector (and that's Windows 9x in your case). If you press F2, it should launch IBMBIO.COM and thereby fire up DR-DOS. Regarding the files in the root directory: IBMBIO.COM and IBMDOS.COM represent the DR-DOS kernel. IO.SYS/.WIN/.W40 represents the MS-DOS 7 kernel. MSDOS.SYS/.WIN/.W40 is the MS-DOS 7 pre-CONFIG.SYS configuration file. COMMAND.COM you should place the MS-DOS 7 shell here, and the DR-DOS shell in C:\DRDOS\COMMAND.COM. Make sure the SHELL= directive matches. CONFIG.SYS used by MS-DOS 7 AUTOEXEC.BAT depending on CONFIG.SYS SHELL= contents this should be used by MS-DOS 7 COMMAND.COM DCONFIG.SYS "CONFIG.SYS" file for DR-DOS. SHELL= should indicate the changed path to the DR-DOS shell and "AUTOEXEC.BAT" files. SHELL=c:\drdos\command.com c:\drdos /P:autodos7.bat AUTODOS7.BAT "AUTOEXEC.BAT" file for DR-DOS. IO.DOS and MSDOS.DOS represent an older issue of MS-DOS, if present. LOADER (LOADER.COM, BOOT.LST) also stores a various number of files in the root directory, including IBMBIO.LDR, LOADER.SYS. Just don't delete anything with IBMBIO.*, LOADER.* in there. [...] --Matthias Matthias Paul http://www.rhrz.uni-bonn.de/~uzs180/mpdokeng.html Ubierstrasse 28, D-50321 Bruehl, Germany ============================================================ In my next msg I listed the relevant files in my root dir after my successful set-up: ============================================================ After I--as you suggested--sys'd C: from a win95 boot floppy, rebooted from a DR-DOS 7.02 boot floppy, and executed a "loader boot.lst" command, loader added the support files that had been absent before: rs--h- 512 4-28-99 4:29p c:ibmbio.ldr rs--h- 527 4-28-99 4:29p c:loader.sav rs--h- 5,376 4-28-99 4:29p c:loader.sys You ask which files are present in my C:\ root. In addition to those just cited: --a--- 8,138 2-20-98 7:02a c:loader.com [DR-DOS] --a--- 37 2-20-98 7:02a c:boot.lst [DR-DOS] --a--- 72 7-31-98 7:02a c:dconfig.sys [DR-DOS] --a--- 250 7-31-98 7:02a c:autodos7.bat [DR-DOS] rsa-h- 24,749 10-07-98 7:02a c:ibmbio.com [DR-DOS] rsa-h- 30,896 10-08-98 7:02a c:ibmdos.com [DR-DOS] --a--- 66,657 7-31-98 7:02a c:command.dr7 [DR-DOS] --a-h- 4,768 2-27-98 7:02a c:drdos.386 [DR-DOS] r----- 92,870 12-31-95 9:50a c:command.com [win95] rs--h- 223,148 12-31-95 9:50a c:io.sys [win95] -sa-h- 1,694 7-11-95 9:50a c:msdos.sys [win95] ... and the usual other win95 suspects--bootlog.txt, bootlog.prv, detlog.old, detlog.txt, netlog.txt, setuplog.txt, suhdlog.dat, system.1st. So that's a listing of a *working* dual boot installation. (win95 didn't make a config.sys and autoexec.bat, nor have I yet.) ============================================================ Matthias subsequently explained: ============================================================ LOADER.SYS contains the code that generates the LOADER menu, and it is loaded by the MBR installed by running "LOADER.COM boot.lst". IBMBIO.LDR and LOADER.SAV are (backup) sectors. None of these files should be physically moved in case of disk defragmentation (e.g. PC Tools COMPRESS, OPTIMIZR, etc.). DR-DOS DISKOPT does not move any system files, hence it's safe. <<--a--- 8,138 2-20-98 7:02a c:loader.com [DR-DOS] >> LOADER installer and help: Run LOADER /? for details. <<--a--- 37 2-20-98 7:02a c:boot.lst [DR-DOS] >> The LOADER configuration file << [...] More's the pity those files should stay where they are (Norton Utils SpeedDisk leaves them alone too). loader seems to have placed them well into my drive, where I need contiguous blank space. Oh, well. >> Alright, you can move them, but you'll need to re-install LOADER afterwards. If the LOADER MBR (BTW called "NEWLDR", since there has been an older loader in ancient CP/M, MP/M, DOS Plus times) can t find its things, it will display a warning and continue booting the standard boot sector, so you'll find yourself in MS-DOS 7 then. All you need to do afterwards is run "LOADER boot.lst" again, and the system files should be placed at the beginning of your free disk space then. However, its better to actually de-install LOADER (LOADER /U) before running a disk defragmenter. << I've kept COMMAND.COM in my DR-DOS subdir for years, but I like having a copy in the root dir for old times' sake. >> Thinking about it again, I now think its even BETTER to place the DR-DOS COMMAND.COM in the root! So forget about what I said in my last reply. MS-DOS COMMAND.COM up to 6.22 only displays a "Wrong version" error message when erroneously being started by DR-DOS (e.g. with no [D]CONFIG.SYS file). This is harmless, since without a shell DR-DOS IBMBIO.COM generates a minimal prompt by itself, giving you a chance to type in the path+filename to a valid shell (you can also see this minimal built-in prompt, if you do NOT load a primary shell, e.g. by using /K:autodos7.bat instead of /P:autodos7.bat and then press EXIT at the master COMMAND.COM prompt). Unfortunately things have changed with MS-DOS 7, as its shell will just hang in this situation, and without a boot disk at hand you're locked out of the system. Hence, the introduction of the modified [D]CONFIG.SYS parsing rules in F5 mode with DR-OpenDOS 7.02+ (for the benefit of all the DOS gamers who just follow the instructions in the manual to press F5). Even in F5 mode, IBMBIO.COM will still search for a SHELL=line to find the command processor. (While this change works great in general, there's still a chance to lock yourself out, if this SHELL line points to C:\COMMAND.COM and this happens to be the MS-DOS 7 shell. ... Originally I planned to introduce a new F6 mode working similar to the old F5 mode, that is completely ignoring [D]CONFIG.SYS, with the exception of SWITCHES=, but it's still not implemented ...) If you place DR-DOS COMMAND.COM in the root, these nasty things cannot happen, as DR-DOS COMMAND.COM also runs smooth as a shell under any issue of MS-DOS/PC DOS.