Where is MS-DOS located?

[Gizmo]

Hey guys,

I was just reading through the BYOPC section and during my reading I was starting to ask this:-

Where is DOS located?

I ask this because when you build a computer, you need to format a HD before loading the OS and you do this by using a DOS command. I always thought that DOS was located in the OS itself, but then I figured this can't be possible because there's no OS on the HD in the first place before formatting. So where is MS-DOS actually located in the computer? Is there a DOS chip somewhere on the motherboard?

TIA...

[doctorgonzo]

No, there is no DOS chip. These days, everything is pretty much taken care of by the OS installation disk. For example, if you have a completely new HD, and you want to install Windows XP, all you do is put the CD in the drive and reboot. The installer will allow you to partition and format the hard drive before copying the OS over.

In the old days, you would make a boot floppy with FDISK and FORMAT on them, and that would allow you to boot from the floppy and partition and format the drive. But those days have pretty much vanished, although you can still do it that way if you want.

[RJ]

DOS used to be an operating system, and Win9x was based on DOS.

However, DOS is gone. Windows NT, 2K and XP have no more DOS inside.

I ask this because when you build a computer, you need to format a HD before loading the OS and you do this by using a DOS command.

You think so ? Well, you're wrong. You don't need DOS for that.

RJ

[Gizmo]

Lol ok. So, where do all the commands come from? I know there's COMMAND.COM. This is all on the OS then?

EDIT:

However, DOS is gone. Windows NT, 2K and XP have no more DOS inside.

The next thing I was going to say was that when I go into my command prompt and type in COMMAND.COM at the C:\ prompt, it says Microsoft DOS. Or is this different?

[doctorgonzo]

COMMAND.COM is the command interpreter. It reads the console input and decides what to do. The other commands are in other files, like FORMAT.COM.

In the old days of DOS, these would be in the DOS directory. Windows XP doesn't have DOS at all. Windows commands are located in various directories, like Windows\System32. Windows is far more complicated than DOS.

[Gizmo]

Argh! Lol, doctorgonzo you beat to it before I edited my post. Take a look at what I said in the edit part.

[doctorgonzo]

What OS are you using? If you are using XP and you open the run box and type "command", it will look like you are running DOS, but trust me, you aren't. It's just a fake DOS emulator that XP uses. XP is fundamentally different from DOS and earlier versions of Windows. Earlier versions of Windows basically ran on top of DOS as a pretty graphical interface. XP does not do this in any way.

[Gizmo]

I'm running on XP at the moment. Yeah, like you said, when I type command in and hit enter, it says Microsoft DOS. But I'll take it as fake as to what you said

[doctorgonzo]

It's easy to see that it isn't real DOS. Just do a DIR, and notice that all the filenames are the long filenames that Windows XP supports. DOS did not natively support filenames longer than the 8.3 standard. That's just one clue.

[ThePoor]

in 2K, XP at run type cmd not command..

[doctorgonzo]

Originally posted by ThePoor in 2K, XP at run type cmd not command..

XP has both. CMD.EXE is the native command interpreter, but COMMAND.COM is supposed to be more compatible with DOS programs. You can use either.