MS-DOS 3.3 Installation

[Newbie]

This is a question for all you old school techies. I need help installing MS-DOS 3.3. I have an old computer that I want to experiment with just to see what the old days were like but I need help installing MS-DOS 3.3 to add Windows 1.01. Don't need help with Windows 1.01 just need help installing DOS to get Windows on. Does anyone know how I go about this?

[magicdanw]

Do you have the floppy disk(s)? Just put in the first one, boot up, and let us know if you hit any brick walls...

[Newbie]

Yeah I have the floppy disks. I read somewhere that I cannot have a partition bigger than 32MB. I left it at 30MB, because it was either that or 37MB with the weird formatting. I also read that I need to copy the boot files to the hard drive with the command "sys.com c:" I tried that and I get a message saying that their is not enough storage available to do it.

Edit: the EXACT error: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/57730

Well the "solution" does not work and honestly I wasn't expecting it too.

Another Edit: My hard drive is partitioned with a 29.5 MB Primary Dos partition and the rest is left untouched (80GB total hard drive) and obviously there is nothing on the partition.

I also need help with what the commands of MS-DOS 3.3 are. I don't know where to find a list of commands and their parameters.


Um found this: "DOS 3.3 introduced in 1987. Adds support for 1.44MB diskettes and multiple 32MB disk partitions." from HERE

I've tried 64 mb partition before already assuming it might be able to do that, but anything over 32mb it doesn't even recognize the partition anymore. (Well the Windows 98SE boot disk does just not DOS 3.3) I think because it's primary and Microsoft said it has to be extended for anything over 32 but it has to be primary to boot from the hard disk so I don't know.

[benryves]

Can't you find DOS 6.22? That would make life a lot easier. One of the most useful features of 6.22 is the ability to define custom boot menus, which lets you choose between different configurations to make the most of your memory without mucking around with boot floppies.

As for a list of commands: HELP?

[Newbie]

Yeah I have 6.22 but Windows 1.01 does not work with MS-DOS 6.22 and no "help" is not a command in 3.3.

[benryves]

Sorry, I just tried and that seems to be the case; it displays a screen of junk then ignores keyboard and mouse input when it's launched the MS-DOS Executive; Windows 2 works fine under DOS 6 of course. :-)

Which commands are you after? There's not a huge variation in DOS commands between versions. Maybe this is of use?

You may have better luck with your drive if you install EZ-BIOS on it (this worked for me; I used to run DOS on a 40GB drive on a system that could only see 4GB drives normally) but bear in mind that EZ-BIOS can be difficult to remove.

[Newbie]

The commands I am after are the ones needed to install MS-DOS 3.3 to the hard drive.

[benryves]

This is a complete guess, but may work. Type A: to select the floppy drive, then FORMAT C: /S to reformat C as a bootable system disk. Now type COPY *.* C: to move all the files from A: to C:, remove the floppy and reboot.

[Newbie]

Sounds like it should have worked, but it just hangs and does nothing when I enter that command. I get no error messages or anything.

[benryves]

Can DOS 3.3 see C (Does typing C: do anything?)

[Newbie]

Yeah it switches over to the C: drive.

[benryves]

Hrm, I'm not sure then. Does your BIOS support such a massive hard disk drive?

[Newbie]

Well it was seen in the bios and Windows and other boot disks were able to partition it so I would say yes.

[benryves]

Windows does its own thing (and will usually be able to see drives the BIOS flatly refuses to acknowledge). Did you FDISK the drive from MS-DOS 3.3? (If not, repartition it using FDISK on MS-DOS 3.3).