oh, wrong paste:
should be:

1IF EXIST R:\START.BAT call R:\START.BAT

I found little tool called DREADY.COM in REMOVED:

DREADY <drive> [/W] Version 2.2 (c) 1997, Horst Schaeffer option /W tests: READY to WRITE? errorlevel 0:ready, 1:read only (/W), […]
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DREADY <drive> [/W]
Version 2.2 (c) 1997, Horst Schaeffer
option /W tests: READY to WRITE?
errorlevel 0:ready, 1:read only (/W), 2:not ready, 255:invalid

but unfortunately this code:

1DREADY R:
2if ERRORLEVEL 0 GOTO AUTOSTARTCD
3if ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO AUTOSTARTCD
4GOTO END
5:AUTOSTARTCD
6echo autostart
7IF EXIST R:\START.BAT call R:\START.BAT>NUL

always jumps to :AUTOSTARTCD which gives me Abort-Retry-Fail if drive not inserted

JediSword wrote on 2024-06-21, 14:42:

I found little tool called DREADY.COM in REMOVED: […]
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I found little tool called DREADY.COM in REMOVED:

DREADY <drive> [/W] Version 2.2 (c) 1997, Horst Schaeffer option /W tests: READY to WRITE? errorlevel 0:ready, 1:read only (/W), […]
Show full quote

DREADY <drive> [/W]
Version 2.2 (c) 1997, Horst Schaeffer
option /W tests: READY to WRITE?
errorlevel 0:ready, 1:read only (/W), 2:not ready, 255:invalid

but unfortunately this code:

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1DREADY R:
2if ERRORLEVEL 0 GOTO AUTOSTARTCD
3if ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO AUTOSTARTCD
4GOTO END
5:AUTOSTARTCD
6echo autostart
7IF EXIST R:\START.BAT call R:\START.BAT>NUL

always jumps to :AUTOSTARTCD which gives me Abort-Retry-Fail if drive not inserted

if ERRORLEVEL value ....
performs ... if ERRORLEVEL is >= value

so your IF are out of order - the first one will go if ERROELVEL==1
but even that won't work - ERRORLEVEL will always be >= 0
so the GOTO will always get taken.

I think you want something like: (not tested)

DREADY R:
if ERRORLEVEL 2 goto end
echo AutoStart
if exists R:\START.BAT call R:\START.BAT
:end

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

If Wikipedia is to be believed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abort,_Retry,_F … #Modern_systems)
you should be able to put shell=command.com /p /f in config.sys, and the undocumented /f installs a critical error handler to avoid the Abort/Retry/Fail prompt

DaveDDS wrote on 2024-06-21, 14:59:

if ERRORLEVEL value .... performs ... if ERRORLEVEL is >= value […]
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JediSword wrote on 2024-06-21, 14:42:

I found little tool called DREADY.COM in REMOVED: […]
Show full quote

I found little tool called DREADY.COM in REMOVED:

DREADY <drive> [/W] Version 2.2 (c) 1997, Horst Schaeffer option /W tests: READY to WRITE? errorlevel 0:ready, 1:read only (/W), […]
Show full quote

DREADY <drive> [/W]
Version 2.2 (c) 1997, Horst Schaeffer
option /W tests: READY to WRITE?
errorlevel 0:ready, 1:read only (/W), 2:not ready, 255:invalid

but unfortunately this code:

Copy code to clipboard

1DREADY R:
2if ERRORLEVEL 0 GOTO AUTOSTARTCD
3if ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO AUTOSTARTCD
4GOTO END
5:AUTOSTARTCD
6echo autostart
7IF EXIST R:\START.BAT call R:\START.BAT>NUL

always jumps to :AUTOSTARTCD which gives me Abort-Retry-Fail if drive not inserted

if ERRORLEVEL value ....
performs ... if ERRORLEVEL is >= value

so your IF are out of order - the first one will go if ERROELVEL==1
but even that won't work - ERRORLEVEL will always be >= 0
so the GOTO will always get taken.

I think you want something like: (not tested)

DREADY R:
if ERRORLEVEL 2 goto end
echo AutoStart
if exists R:\START.BAT call R:\START.BAT
:end

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

No. The original script is correct.
The dready command just isn't working properly.

Op
Try manually from c:
Dready r:
What happens?

If it works try if errorlevel 0 echo blah
What happens?

>>if ERRORLEVEL value ....
>>performs ... if ERRORLEVEL is >= value

>No. The original script is correct.
>The dready command just isn't working properly.

Using this little program to set ERRORLEVEL: ERR.C
#include <stdio.h>
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
if(argc == 2) exit(atoi(argv[1]));
}
and this batch file: TST.BAT
@echo OFF
ERR %1
if errorlevel 5 echo 5
if errorlevel 4 echo 4
if errorlevel 3 echo 3
if errorlevel 2 echo 2
if errorlevel 1 echo 1
if errorlevel 0 echo 0
-- I get these resulte --
R:\> TST 0
0
R:\> TST 1
1
0
R:\> TST 3
3
2
1
0
R:\> TST 5
5
4
3
2
1
0
R:\>

As you can see, "if ERRORLEVEL" works as I described, and "echo 0" is
performed in EVERY case... So I don't see how the original code:

>>>DREADY R:
>>>if ERRORLEVEL 0 GOTO AUTOSTARTCD
>>>if ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO AUTOSTARTCD

could go anywhere BUT AUTOSTARTCD

Above tested under DOS5 and DosBox (same output)

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

Oh, right. I forgot how much of a pita errorlevels are.

If i write script.bat like that

1@echo off
2dready r:
3if errorlevel 2 echo E2
4if errorlevel 0 echo E0

I get:
when cd is ejected: E2 & E0
and when cd inserted: only E0

it's working correctly now, I think.

This is code I put in AUTOEXEC.BAT (on floppy image)

1DREADY R:\
2if ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO END
3IF EXIST R:\START.BAT call R:\START.BAT

And START.BAT can be like this (I'd like autoreboot when program exit, but keep ability to stay in DOS)

1IF EXIST R:\PROGRAM.EXE call "R:\PROGRAM.EXE
2ECHO Reboot in 3s (C=stay in DOS)
3CHOICE /C:yc /T:y,03 /N
4IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO SKIP
5if ERRORLEVEL 0 CALL FDAPM COLDBOOT
6:SKIP
7ECHO Welcome to MS-DOS
8:END

FDAPM - power management tool from FreeDOS (this is only method I found to do full reboot. Other tools only restarts DOS and skips BIOS)
Also usefull with

1LH=A:\DOSDRV\FDAPM.COM ADV:REG

in autoexec which limit CPU usage by DOS

Then CD can be created with ImgBurn