At present there is only one answer:
Install either Windows-95B (OSR2) OR Windows-98
Use its MSDOS mode or the command prompt if the program doesn't like
Windows
This of course requires MSDOS
mode to be set up properly
Given what I sense is the upcoming
trend at Microsoft, I can foresee the day when users may well install
Windows-98 on their machines for the sole purpose of running DOS
software and dual-booting to a more stable version of Windows (e.g.
2000) to run Windows software (Linux users will point out that
they can also run Windows software under the WINE emulator, and I've heard
rumblings about a project to broaden OS/2's capabilities so that it can run
32-bit Windows applications).
At any rate, there is the strong
temptation to do a DOS-only installation of Windows-98 (or 95-B).
ONLY DO THIS IF YOU'RE SURE YOU WILL NEVER WANT TO USE
WINDOWS 9X FOR ANYTHING WHATSOEVER EXCEPT DOS AND
JUST WANT TO RECLAIM DISK SPACE. OTHERWISE JUST OPTIMIZE YOUR MSDOS MODE PER THIS LINK
Install 98 or 95-B normally.
Click on My Computer | View |
Options | View | Show All Files
Set up its
MSDOS mode properly
Copy the contents of the DOSSTART.BAT
file in C:\Windows to the end of C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT
Create an emergency
startup disk for Windows-98 or 95-B
Create a directory C:\WINRECOV
and copy all the files on your emergency startup disk (including hidden files)
to it.
After all the above is done and tested, insert the lines
BootMenu=1
BootMenuDefault=6
in your MSDOS.SYS file if they are not
there already (first undo the read-only attribute).
Be sure
you have no device drivers referenced to in your CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT or
DOSSTART.BAT files in the C:\PROGRA~1 directory -- if you do, first copy the
appropriate directory to a C:\DRIVERS directory which you will create and then
fix the lines in your startup files to reflect the changes and test the system
in DOS mode
From Windows delete the Program Files directory
and any others that use long file names
Reboot the computer and use
Command Prompt only
Delete all subdirectories of Windows except
Windows\command
Rename the WIN.COM file in C:\Windows to
WIN.OLD
Boot to the other OS and burn a CD image of the C:
drive.
At this point you will have a means of restoration (FOR THIS
COMPUTER ONLY) without a complete reinstall of Windows. You just boot to a
system floppy, execute SYS C: and copy the CD (from your other OS) to drive C:
Then reinstall your programs. And if your boot floppy goes bad, you can create
one for any MSDOS or Windows-9x, and copy the files from your WINRECOV
directory to it.
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