Boot to DOS on CD???

[Mel Bishop]

Has anyone created a CD-RW to create a DOS boot CD on CD-ROM?
The reason I ask is that computers are coming out without floppy
drives and sometimes I need to boot to (in this case) DOS 6.2.


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[keith shelton]

Most cd burning programs will allow you to create a bootable cd.
I use NTI CDMaker 2000. If I want to make a bootable disk I check the
make bootable button. It will then ask me where the boot files are,
answer that and click write and away you go.
Keith Shelton

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[John McWilliams]

Try this, it might solve the problem:

http://www.nu2.nu/bootcd/

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mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

[Tom Hanlin]

DOS doesn't have built-in support for CD file systems-- the CD
drivers are loaded after DOS is already up and running, through
entries in CONFIG.SYS and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT. So, you'd be looking
for specialized hardware or, perhaps, software that can get control
before DOS does and pull some fancy footwork.

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Tom Hanlin
PowerBASIC Staff

[keith shelton]

Most new bios's come with an option to boot from a cd. So if the
motherboard was make in the last 5 years he should not have a problem.
At least it works for my son whose computer doesn't have a floppy
drive.
Keith Shelton

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[Tom Hanlin]

I'm not sure that's compatible with DOS, though. Well, keep us informed,
Mel.

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Tom Hanlin
PowerBASIC Staff

[George Bleck]

I create bootable CD's all the time (for imaging PC's) with Roxio (I can recall doing it in EZCD 4.0 as well).

But this is for CDR only not for CDRW.

Typically you create a Win98 Startup floppy (the one from Add Remove Programs, Startup Disk) and then supply this floppy when the buring software requests it.

Hope that helps!


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Every day I try to learn one thing new,
but new things to learn are increasing exponentially.
At this rate I’m becoming an idiot faster and faster !!!
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George W. Bleck
Lead Computer Systems Engineer
KeySpan Corporation

[Mel Bishop]

Originally posted by Tom Hanlin:
I'm not sure that's compatible with DOS, though. Well, keep us informed,
Mel.

Since the newer (including my) PCs come equipped with boot from
CD option in the BIOS, my train of thought was to create a
bootable CD for DOS 6.2. Maybe the CD can be thought of as the
"A:\" drive since (logically at least) it works along the same
lines as booting from floppy. At this point in the boot process,
CD drivers would not be necessary.

Anyway, I copied IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS and COMMAND.COM to a CD-RW
and attrib'd IO and MSDOS to +s +h +r and tried to boot. The
success was somewhat less than spectacular.

Anyway, I am still thinking and if anyone has any additional
thoughts, I would really appreciate it.


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[George Bleck]

Follow the directions I specified. You cannot make a CDRW bootable.

Stick with the CDR and the Win98 Startup Disk method.



------------------
Every day I try to learn one thing new,
but new things to learn are increasing exponentially.
At this rate I’m becoming an idiot faster and faster !!!
------------------
George W. Bleck
Lead Computer Systems Engineer
KeySpan Corporation