Boot to DOS

[gerr1931]

How does one go about getting a computer boot to DOS?

Specifically, a Toshiba Satelliite 105CS, originally running Win95. Need to boot to DOS, 4DOS or DRDOS, so that WordPerfect 6.x, FAX, and, ideally an e-mail can be used.

Win95 ain't desirable---rather run the machine at the command-line level.

[glc]

From Windows:

Start
Shut Down
Restart Computer in MS-DOS Mode

From cold boot:

Start tapping F8 for the boot menu
Command Prompt Only

To make the boot menu come up automatically:

http://malektips.com/95wdo0011.html

[edfair]

If you go the menuing method GLC is pointing to you might also add:

BootMenuDefault=2
BootMenuDelay=5

The default of 2 gives the bootlog option, you can choose any of the possibilities
The delay of 5 gives enough time to hit a key to hold the menu but not enough to bore you.

[gerr1931]

when I turn my computer on. I do not want Windows.

Which file(s) need to be modified?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[glc]

Follow my link, edit the msdos.sys file as directed, and review edfair's post - use the correct number for "Command Prompt Only" in the BootMenuDefault line.

I do NOT recommend you totally disable Windows. If you edit the msdos.sys file properly, the boot menu will appear, and if you do nothing, it will boot to the C prompt after the number of seconds you specify in the BootMenuDelay line.

Both those lines go in the [options] section.

You will need to edit your config.sys and autoexec.bat accordingly to give programs such as Word Perfect enough conventional memory to run and to enable extended memory - you will need to use a memory manager just like you would with pure DOS - yes, you need himem.sys and emm386.exe, etc. You will be running in MS-DOS 7.0.

The c:\windows\command directory contains most of the system files that would be contained in c:\dos on a dos-only machine. Look there and in c:\windows, include them both in your path statement.