Trying to install DOS app from floppies on system with no A: drive
Wednesday, May 6, 2009 at 10:50 am
Windows 98 Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by gewg_
(3936 messages posted)
Aun wrote:
|I have recently installed windows 98 se on an old laptop
|because i really need to use a DOS program.
|
As DOS doesn't use the Windoze Registry
and doesn't (as a rule) scatter files all over the place, this *should* be easy
--but not directly to **your** system.
(Thanks, BillG for pushing to deprecate the floppy drive into oblivion.)
|The problem is that it has no floppy drive
|but still shows me drive "A:" in "My Computer".
|
The disk controller inside has a (legacy) Floppy Controller section.
*That* is what is being detected.
|I'm using an external floppy drive which is detected as drive E:
|
Forget that.
The software is written to look at a device connected to the Floppy Controller.
|The program that i need has to be installed from multiple floppy drives
|
...reflecting the limited world of 1985.
|but when i insert the second floppy it [tries] reading from A:
|and ignores the E: drive.
|
Welcome to 1985.
|For some reason i cant browse to my external floppy drive E:
|when i restart in DOS prompt.
|
...because USB wasn't around in 1985.[1]
Metaphorically look around you and see the limited world of old M$ software
where support is discontinued when the *next* new product is for sale.
{Insert Linux/DOSbox/FreeDOS fanboy spiel here.}
|So basically i need to make E: my A: drive
|
Forget that. Start thinking like it's 1985:
Install this on a machine that DOES have an A: drive
then copy the directory where it installs onto removable media.
(Check CONFIG.SYS to see if the install made any changes there;
if applicable, make a copy of those changes as well.)[3]
Now copy the directory to the machine where you want to run the DOS app
and alter CONFIG.SYS if necessary.
That wasn't so hard. Was it?
[1] Interestingly, FreeDOS[2] **does** do USB out of the box
--while M$ DOS doesn't
(though that wouldn't appease the installer software from 1985 either).
[2] Again, Free Software (gratis and libre) whips M$'s sorry butt.
[3] Obviously, this is easier if you made a copy of CONFIG.SYS *before* starting.
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 |  | Trying to install DOS app from floppies on system with no A: drive (gewg_: Wed, May 6, 2009, 10:50 am) |
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