Can't all programs?

Well technically anything can happen, it just seemed that you had something imparticular in mind. Did I get the wrong impression?

Yes.

mount c c:\
format c:\

windows is gone... need i say more?

EDIT: 🤣 i didnt see a second page.

/me can't find the delete post button..

Really? I didn't realize that there were so little restrictions. of course I would never format the drive on accident, delete one thing while you think you're in another maybe, but I think I get what you're saying. There's no safety net, somethings gone, it's gone.

Is there anything else I should know?

Well format can't do anything as this kind of disk access is not allowed
by dosbox (with the exception of disk images).

But the general rule that "anything can happen" is true, just think of those
old dos virii (you don't want to know what happens when they find your
system directory).
And there's no guarantee that it can't happen that a dosbox bug lets some
regular program go crazy, with similar effects to the files on your hard disk
IF and only IF you did something like mount c c:\

bad example is mounting c:\ on Windows and then install windows 3.x in the default location.

Wouldn't that be a good example? 😀

and somewhere else someone gave an example of using the del command to erase your windows dir.

he he, right, good example of something bad happening 😀

sarcasm??

me? no I was answering DosFreaks correction to my example. Sorry for not pointing that out.

thanks... and sorry.

marker0077 wrote:

Really? I didn't realize that there were so little restrictions. of course I would never format the drive on accident, delete one thing while you think you're in another maybe, but I think I get what you're saying. There's no safety net, somethings gone, it's gone.

Is there anything else I should know?

Naaah, there're just a bunch of zealots here that want to advocate the Proper Way of Doing Things(TM) 😀. Of course, it's good policy to warn newbies, but since you are an experienced DOS user, you can't do much wrong. If you want to get rid of the irritating warning message about mounting your drive as C:\, just mount it as something like "C:\TEMP\..". That'll do the trick without the warning.

JAL

> but since you are an experienced DOS user, you can't do much wrong

The point of this thread is that this is WRONG. There is no guarantee that
some program deletes something, by a dosbox bug or whatever. If you
do that, nobody will care about when you're missing files, get corrupt
system directories etc.

wd wrote:

> but since you are an experienced DOS user, you can't do much wrong […]
Show full quote

> but since you are an experienced DOS user, you can't do much wrong

The point of this thread is that this is WRONG. There is no guarantee that
some program deletes something, by a dosbox bug or whatever. If you
do that, nobody will care about when you're missing files, get corrupt
system directories etc.

Don't forget the (TM) after the WRONG! 😀 No, seriously, I really do not think there's a 'wrong' here, as long as you know what you're doing. Sure, some files may get deleted, but then again, any Windows app could mess up your computer as well (not to mention any user, who of us has never done a rm -r * in the wrong dir?).

So yes, I think it is a Good Thing (TM) to warn (especially inexperienced) users against mounting your root as C:, but to classify that as WRONG (TM) is a bit zealous, as I already stated, in my ever so humble opinion.

JAL

FYI, I tried the second solution & it didn't work either, but that's okay, it isn't worth all this hassle. Thanks anyways.

jal
If you want to get rid of the irritating warning message about mounting your drive as C:\, just mount it as something like "C:\TEMP\..". That'll do the trick without the warning.

Hey thanks alot, that works fantastic!

Dude, the point of this thread was to get DOSBox running from a "Command Prompt Here" option on the folder sub-menu but still have all root dives mounted, then go to whatever folder. If you always mount temp, you're not accomplishing this goal.

wd
The point of this thread is that this is WRONG. There is no guarantee that some program deletes something, by a dosbox bug or whatever. If you do that, nobody will care about when you're missing files, get corrupt system directories etc

Right. I see what you guys are saying now & you're right. I may not even type in "delete whatever.file" & DOSBox deletes something else due to an unknown bug. The "command prompt here" is a cool tool but not worth rolling the dice with the system with.

One thing I'd like to point out though, if everyone is so worried about DOSBox trashing the system, why not say it's not a good idea off the bat (meaning at or before post 4)? I mean, granted the first solution does work regardless if it only mounts whatever folder & not any of the roots, you can still damage whatever files are in the folder it is you're into via DOSBox, especially if that folder is Windows. See what I'm saying?

Also, why not say "back up all of your DOS files before using DOSBox to play your DOS games"?

jal
Sure, some files may get deleted, but then again, any Windows app could mess up your computer as well (not to mention any user, who of us has never done a rm -r * in the wrong dir?).

What he's saying is the odds are higher as far as bugs go in DOSBox than other apps. That's the point, you may not even tell DOSBox to delete something & it does. It's doing something it's not supposed to be doing, hence why it's called a bug (obviously) - that's the point their trying to make.

jal
So yes, I think it is a Good Thing (TM) to warn (especially inexperienced) users against mounting your root as C:, but to classify that as WRONG (TM) is a bit zealous, as I already stated, in my ever so humble opinion.

Oh zealous, before you said zealots, I thought that was some point of referance to Battlestar Galactica & I figured I just didn't get it because I don't watch the show. DOH!

> you can still damage whatever files are in the folder it is you're into via DOSBox

Yes, but you won't damage your system files then.

> Also, why not say "back up all of your DOS files before using DOSBox to play your DOS games"?

Because dos games are no critical resource, you surely got
them all on disks/cds, don't you? Ok.

> I may not even type in "delete whatever.file" & DOSBox deletes something
> else due to an unknown bug.

It never happened to me, but there's NO guarantee that it
can't happen. That's why you should not make the whole
system-harddisk available to dos-programs inside dosbox. Ok?

and we didn't really mean that DosBox itself may delete a file but that any program you start within DosBox may delete one or overwrite one.