Accessing DOS at startup

Mike G

Mike G

Joined
Jul 15, 2000
Messages
10,027
Ok, guys, I'm stumped.

I need to boot my PC in DOS to run some radio programming software.

How do I start my PC in DOS, and how do I create a disk that will do that?

I cannot use the DOS window in XP; it won't work for what I'm doing.

Help is appreciated!
 
I think you need to press F5 during the boot process, before the "blue screen" when starting up XP.

It'll bring up a series of choices including starting up in Safe Mode, and starting up with the command prompt instead of Windows.
 
I did the F5 at startup, and the only thing I got was command prompt with windows starting in XP. It wouldn't let me access my software.

I need to start my PC in actual DOS, so I can run a program from it directly.

I CAN access the program from a DOS window, but it will not work properly from there. because of port polling. I need a direct DOS connection to the port. I was told I need a DOS startup disk, which I can create once I access DOS on my PC.

I'd appreciate any help!
 
Win XP doesn't actually run on MSDos. It has an emulator that kinda looks and acts like DOS but it ain't.

One thing you might try is emulation mode. Find the folder the program is stored in on your C: drive. Right click the executable icon then click Properties. Click the Emulation tab. Check the "Run in Compatibility Mode" box, then click OK until all the windows are closed. Then give it a try. Other than that I don't know of any way to run it (it sounds like an old program) except to load it onto a machine running an earier version of Windows - one that uses DOS.
 
If you have a floppy drive in that box you could make a DOS boot floppy and boot from that. You'd have to make the boot floppy from DOS or one of the earlier versions of Windows that are just DOS shells. If you don't still have an old boot floppy stored somewhere, probably someone you know does.

If you don't have a floppy drive you should be able to boot from a CD ... it's also possible to set up a dual boot right on your hard drive, but I think that would be doing it the hard way.
 
If the program is not resource hungry you can also run it using DosBOX (dos emulator, freeware).
(Also remember if you will try to boot from floppy, then you won't be able to access your disks (if you use (W2K/WXP default) NTFS file system for your disks/partitions) from DOS (uses FAT file system).
 
Try this

www.bootdisk.com

If your file system is NTFS, you won't be able to access your harddisk and you would need to run your program from another floppy.

If it's FAT32, use a Windows 98 or ME bootdisk.
 
If the problem is accessing hardware via the programming software there is a program called UserPort that will allow a program running under XP to have direct access to things like com and printer ports as in DOS and earlier Windows applications. We use it at work with older PLC programming software that won't communicate when run on an XP machine. I haven't used it much but it seems to work.
 
bama_lou said:
I think you need to press F5 during the boot process, before the "blue screen" when starting up XP.

It'll bring up a series of choices including starting up in Safe Mode, and starting up with the command prompt instead of Windows.
Click to expand...

It is F8 not F5.

Just tap it every 2 seconds as the computer is booting.
 
Thanks, everyone.

I managed to locate a startup disk I made on an older machine that was running Win98.

Worked like a charm. :)
 
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