Dennis1959 wrote on 2024-07-23, 02:22:

Hello, the main reason I went with dos 6.22 and WFW was for the nostalgia that is basically what my first real computer had, 486 […]
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Jo22 wrote on 2024-07-05, 09:13:

I can relate to this. […]
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darry wrote on 2024-07-05, 01:29:

No more than one OS per disk has been my motyo for decades. I have absolutely no regrets.

I can relate to this.

Personally, I did like the OS/2 mini boot manager but..

Once I've found out how much better HPFS is over FAT, it no longer seemed so great.

The inconsistencies with the long file names was annoying too.
- Because, OS/2 did maintain hidden textfiles on FAT, which held the long file names. Which weren't being updated by pure DOS.

Same goes for Windows 98SE and FAT vs FAT32.
The "boot into previous DOS version" feature did merely work on FAT.

Hello, the main reason I went with dos 6.22 and WFW was for the nostalgia that is basically what my first real computer had, 486sx

I tried installing dos 7.1 a couple different ways and it absolutely will not run, it has a fit over EMM386, so I thought ok this is from China, ill buy win98se and install it, well I am having the same issue iit does not like emm386, and win98 will not boot due to insufficient memory

I keep getting have to shut down computer to prevent damage.

My system I am trying to work with is an HP pc 6000a, 4 sata ports and a boot menu that will let you choose which drive to boot from, win7 no problems, win vista no problems, win xp no problems, dos 6.22/wfw no problems. dos 7.1 major headache it just will not load emm386, and when I rem it, no wiin98 boot up

I have tried emm386.exe ram d=64 min=0 no good emm386.exe noems no good,

What this was all about was getting dos 7.1 for long file names and full use of 120gb drive under wfw but it is now looking like I will putting the old dos 6.22/wfw drive back in and just going from there as dos 7.1 is having a snit over emm386, and win98 just will not load says not enough memory, the thing has 4gb of memory but allocating it seems to be a major issue.

Maybe you could try this instead of emm386

https://www.emsmagic.com/

I've been having the same issue with my own Win98SE tower at my mother's house: I can't get EMS or USBs in Windows mode. 🙁 It seems that Win98SE can't handle the extra RAM or modern BIOSes. I don't know why. All I can have from DOS in Windows mode are DOSKEY and a RAM drive, as I've been having issues with a Windows-based RAM drive. I think I tried EMSMagic, but it didn't work. 🙁 BTW, for those whose DOS in Win98SE mode is working properly and who want more UMB memory, I suggest using "I=B000-B7FF" on EMM386 or QEMM's command line, as my first PC had that argument. This can buy you about 32k UMBs, and this area is almost never used.

I didnt want to start a new thread so I thought I'll post here.

I came across this thread as I want to run an XT-IDE on older systems like 286 / 386 / 486 with large CF cards eg 32GB and I would prefer to have a single large partition vs 10 x 2GB partitions which is DOS 6.22 limitation but under DOS 7.x that should work fine.

Question is, do I install Windows 98 on a 286 just so I get DOS 7.x on that machine ? or is it possible to install DOS 7.x just on its own ? Win 98 is ok on Pentium and later but for 286/386/486 that makes no sense. I just want DOS that can access large drives.

or should I just download this DOS 7.1 , two floppy installer or boot disc ? would this do same as just installing dos 6.22 but also gives me the large partitions I need ?

https://web.archive.org/web/20150202002937/ht … ms-dos7.hit.bg/

Omarkoman wrote on 2025-05-26, 03:32:

I didnt want to start a new thread so I thought I'll post here. […]
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I didnt want to start a new thread so I thought I'll post here.

I came across this thread as I want to run an XT-IDE on older systems like 286 / 386 / 486 with large CF cards eg 32GB and I would prefer to have a single large partition vs 10 x 2GB partitions which is DOS 6.22 limitation but under DOS 7.x that should work fine.

Question is, do I install Windows 98 on a 286 just so I get DOS 7.x on that machine ? or is it possible to install DOS 7.x just on its own ? Win 98 is ok on Pentium and later but for 286/386/486 that makes no sense. I just want DOS that can access large drives.

or should I just download this DOS 7.1 , two floppy installer or boot disc ? would this do same as just installing dos 6.22 but also gives me the large partitions I need ?

https://web.archive.org/web/20150202002937/ht … ms-dos7.hit.bg/

DOS 7.x won't run on less than a 386.

Re: A good FAT32 DOS, MS-DOS 7.1(Windows 98), DR-DOS Enhanced, FreeDOS?
Best OS for a 286?

AFAIK, your remaining potential option for FAT32 and >8.4GB partitions are the following (there may be others):

a) DR-DOS 7.x patch to support FAT32 , assuming that will still run on a 286

https://www.osnews.com/story/5545/the-dr-doso … -fat32-support/
https://web.archive.org/web/20040123233723/ht … dosprojects.de/

b) A 286 build of FreeDOS that supports FAT32, if one exists (286 compatible builds exist and FAT32 capable build exist, not sure about the needed combo existing). I have experienced and also read about some odd bugs/incompatibilites in FreeDOS, so YMMV

c) Later versions of PC-DOS support FAT32 AND purportedly support runnin on a 286. It is unclear to me whether they can do both at once.

d) PTS-DOS seems promising, but I jave not heard much about, let alone tried it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PTS-DOS

That being said, IMHO, 8.4GB split into 2GB partitions/logical drives with FAT16 seems like a huge amount of space for 286. That is possible with DOS 6.22 . If you want more, you will need to research/experiment and/or wait for someone to suggest something that worked for them.

From a practical point of view, trial and error experimentation might be easier/faster in PCEM or 86Box than on real hardware. Just an idea that might make it easier to test things, if you take that route.

Best of luck!

Omarkoman wrote on 2025-05-26, 03:32:

I didnt want to start a new thread so I thought I'll post here. […]
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I didnt want to start a new thread so I thought I'll post here.

I came across this thread as I want to run an XT-IDE on older systems like 286 / 386 / 486 with large CF cards eg 32GB and I would prefer to have a single large partition vs 10 x 2GB partitions which is DOS 6.22 limitation but under DOS 7.x that should work fine.

Question is, do I install Windows 98 on a 286 just so I get DOS 7.x on that machine ? or is it possible to install DOS 7.x just on its own ? Win 98 is ok on Pentium and later but for 286/386/486 that makes no sense. I just want DOS that can access large drives.

or should I just download this DOS 7.1 , two floppy installer or boot disc ? would this do same as just installing dos 6.22 but also gives me the large partitions I need ?

https://web.archive.org/web/20150202002937/ht … ms-dos7.hit.bg/

Similar to the above answer, I think you might be trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist. I setup a 486 recently, running FAT16 on DOS 6.22. It has around 250 games on a single 2GB partition, and while it covers things from 1980 up to 1996, most of them are on the newer end, covering all the major games of the era, including basically the entire Sierra back catalog, every almost every Scumm engine game, and pretty much everything else in the "top 50" list of DOS titles plus a bunch of other personal favorites. Most DOS titles were shipped on one or two floppies max, and the ones that don't are often CD games which have a similarly small install and run the rest off the disc. It's surprising how small many of the games are. On the other hand, going to FAT32 creates a bunch of problems. There are games and utilities which will have problems with FAT32 partitions. Everything will work with FAT16.

I'd personally setup a primary drive, plan for at least one secondary (IE, set your CD drive to E or F), and start loading games. If you need to, spill over to an extended partition. Use LaunchBox for dos (https://forums.launchbox-app.com/files/file/9 … pecial-edition/) and it won't matter too much which drive the installation lives on.

thanks for the replies ... talkie games can take up 300-400MB though so that alone eats up lot of space. I have done the 8GB CF card with 4 x 2GB partitions but still cant fit all games I'd like, depending which system though.

For 286 I agree, most games that it can play can fit on a 8GB CD card. So thats fine for DOS 6.22.

what issues can I expect with FAT32 and dos games on a 386 and 486? Which games have issues specifically? if its only a very few then that doesnt bother me and I'd rather have larger storage.

Without reading the whole thread, there is a way to "install" dos 6 after 9x.

You copy and rename command.com, io.sys, and msdos.sys to c: command.dos,io.dos,msdos.dos.

Then you edit the 9x msdos.sys and look for the line something along the lines of bootmulti=0 to =1

That should show the option in the f8 boot menu, and get you to a dos6 command prompt.

Then it's just a matter of copying the rest of it into the dos folder, and setting up config.dos/Autoexec.dos

myne wrote on 2025-05-28, 01:57:

Without reading the whole thread, there is a way to "install" dos 6 after 9x. […]
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Without reading the whole thread, there is a way to "install" dos 6 after 9x.

You copy and rename command.com, io.sys, and msdos.sys to c: command.dos,io.dos,msdos.dos.

Then you edit the 9x msdos.sys and look for the line something along the lines of oldmsdos=0 to =1

That should show the option in the f8 boot menu, and get you to a dos6 command prompt.

Then it's just a matter of copying the rest of it into the dos folder, and setting up config.dos/Autoexec.dos

DOS 7.x won't work on a 286, which makes all of that a moot point in this specific case.

Otherwise, this is quite useful for someone wanting both DOS 6.x and 7.x as boot options.

386 and faster it's pretty easy, you just need a Win98 boot disk with fdisk.
1) Boot from the boot disk, run fdisk and partition as you wish.
2) from the command line type: Format C: /s
You now have a bootable copy of "MS Dos 7" on your computer.

You'll need to install drivers, etc. The quick and easy way to get dos files is copy the c:\windows\command folder from another install of Win9x onto this PC.
I'm not aware of any games that don't like Fat32. it was more programs like dos versions of scandisk, defrag, etc that don't understand Fat32.
Main issues is the dos 6.22 version of Sound blaster drivers don't work, instead you need to update to the Win9x dos mode version available here:
https://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=630

I like to No-CD my games which means I've close to 4GB all up, running FAT32 causes no problems.
However I also do a full install of Win95, I find it useful for networking and system management.

On another 486 only running Dos 6.22, I have the CF card reader that takes an ISA slot and 2 identical CF cards, one was my RTS CF card and the second was "other games" and would just swap depending on what I wanted.
Like DivByZero though I always installed games to d:\ leavening the OS for just the OS and any applications. This also means you can reinstall the OS and the games are safe on another drive.

thanks, I'll just try the MS-DOS 7 install disks from here as saves sing win98 disk and copying files around.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150202002937/ht … s7.hit.bg/#mwbd

will give it a go and report back.