DOS mode,if Win98SE fails

Tips and Information Section: Computer

How to run DOS mode, if Windows 98SE fails?

If Windows crashed it is useful to have some basic knowledge about DOS, the disk operating system, which is inside Windows.
DOS can still functioning even the Windows operating system has crashed.
With DOS you can do some basic operations such as reading text files, copy files, or print out files.
How to start DOS in a case when Windows don't want to start?
A) Start with an empty floppy disk drive and no CD in your CD-ROM drive.
Directly after you switched on your computer ( during the booting of the operating system ) press the key "Ctrl" and hold it down until the "Startup Menu" appears.
Then select "5. Command prompt only" from the menu and press "Enter".
The C prompt ( C:\> ) should appear, if the floppy disk drive was empty. You can change it to A prompt ( A:\> ) if you now insert a floppy disk into the disk drive and type
A:\>
directly behind the C prompt and then press "Enter".
From the C prompt ( C:\> ) or A prompt ( A:\> ) you can start your DOS commands or start the text editor "edit.com".

B) Start with a "Startup disk" ( in case the procedure described under A) don't works ( depending on the damages which made Windows crashed ).
You can start with a floppy disk in the floppy disk drive. It should be a " Startup disk for Windows 98 ". Hopefully you had prepared a "Startup disk" before Windows crashed.
In the following way you can get the DOS mode with the "Startup disk ":
Insert the "Startup disk" into floppy disk drive A. Then switch on the computer and press the "Ctrl" key until the "Startup Menu" appears.
Select "5. Command prompt only" and press "ENTER".
On the next following menu select Pos. 2 ( Start Computer without CD-ROM support; leave your CD-ROM drive empty ) .
Then press "Enter". Drivers and other startup files will be installed by the computer. Finally, after one minute ( more or less), the A prompt ( A:\> ) appears on the screen.
From this A prompt you can start your DOS commands or run the text editor "edit.com".

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Last update of this web page: 14 January, 2002