Bootable DOS flash drive - instructions for creating. Creating a bootable USB flash drive with DOS

The update program, together with the latest firmware, takes 1 156 258 byte. And the BIOS itself does not have the ability to self-update. The motherboard developer's website says that to update the BIOS you need to boot from a boot floppy Windows 95 or Windows 98...Jokers...

To make everything completely clear, three files from DOS (COMMAND .COM, IO.SYS, MSDOS .SYS) take up space 316 400 bytes on a floppy disk with a capacity 1 457 664 byte. It turns out that all this equipment simply cannot fit on one floppy disk! Of course, it was possible to make a DOS floppy disk with support for a CD drive... But, as it turned out, the BIOS firmware program for this motherboard does not work if the additional (extended memory) and HMA memory driver for the MS-DOS operating system is used, which provides support for additional memory ( extended or expanded). So-called HIMEM.SYS. This driver is required to load CD drive drivers. I just needed more space on the boot device than a 1.44 floppy disk! Having scoured the Internet, I found a wonderful utility from Hewlett-Packard to create bootable flash drives - . This was my salvation!

Archive USB_boot_Flash.zip, and unzip to any location on your disk. Go to the unzipped folder USB_boot_Flash and run the installation file for the utility to create bootable flash drives hp_usb_tool.exe.

Click Next >.

Accept the terms of the license agreement and click Next >.

In the next window, click Next >.

Accept another license agreement by clicking Yes.

At this stage, you can change the destination folder for the installed program by clicking the button Browse… or continue installation to the default folder c:\DriveKey by pressing Next >.

In the last window, complete the installation of the utility by clicking Finish.

On your desktop you will find a shortcut for the installed utility HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool.

Warning: In the process of creating a bootable flash drive, all information from it will be deleted!!!

Run the utility HP Windows Format Utility for USB Drive Key or DiskOnKey using this shortcut.

Up in the field Device indicate the device on which your flash drive is located. Place a check mark opposite Create a DOS startup Disk, celebrate using DOS system files located at and indicate the path to the DOS folder in the folder where you unpacked the archive downloaded from my website USB_boot_Flash.zip(in my case this is the folder C:\USB_boot_Flash\dos). In field File System indicate FAT32, in field Volume label you can specify the label of the future bootable flash drive. We start the process of creating it by clicking Start.

In the warning window that appears that all information located on the flash drive will be destroyed, click Yes.

In the next window you will see the status of the process of creating a bootable USB flash drive.

At the end of the creation process, you will see an information window about the status of your flash drive. Finish the process with the button OK.

Returning to the previous window, close it by clicking Close.

All we have to do is copy the entire contents of the folder C:\USB_boot_Flash\USB to your flash drive. You can also copy the programs needed to run from DOS there; in my case, I copied the program for updating the BIOS and the new firmware itself (there is now more than enough space!)

All that remains is to go into the BIOS and in the boot method settings, select boot from our newly created USB flash drive as the first item. When you boot from it, you will see a clean DOS with a file manager running Volkov Commander.

Finally, for those who may need a boot floppy Windows 98 With the ability to access a CD drive, I offer a utility that creates such a floppy disk. Unpack the contents of the archive to your disk and run the file boot98se.exe, who will do all the dirty work for you. During the boot process from it, you can select boot items either with or without CD drive support drivers.

The MS-DOS 6.22 bootable flash drive is quite in demand, judging by the statistics of search queries in Google and Yandex. At the same time, almost 99% of responses to requests are given for articles on installing MS-DOS 7.10 on a flash drive, that is, a version of the operating system that is an integral part of Windows 98 and was not released by Microsoft as an independent operating system. It is recommended to use different versions of HP software USB Storage Tool (HPUSBFW.exe file), Rufus, or UltraIso.

Bootable MS-DOS flash drive.

Without downplaying the advantages of these programs, it should be noted that they all have a number of significant disadvantages:

HP USB Storage Tool (HPUSBFW.exe file)— a bootable USB flash drive for MS-DOS 7.10 is created (a version of MS-DOS that is part of Windows 98). It is not possible to make a bootable USB flash drive for MS-DOS 6.22, MS-DOS 5.
Rufus - creates a bootable freeDOS flash drive. Old versions (1.6, 1.7) allow you to create a bootable USB flash drive for MS-DOS 7.10, but in a somewhat “dirty” way - linux capabilities (grab) are used for loading, and this is not always appropriate.
UltraIso - requires an ISO image of the installed system, which is not entirely convenient.

Quickly and easily finding a simple and reliable manipulation algorithm on the World Wide Web that will result in a bootable MS-DOS 6.22 flash drive is not as simple as we would like. With our article we will correct this gap.

To determine the version of MS-DOS you need to type the command ver and press "Enter".

As a result of the steps described below, we will get a full-fledged bootable MS-DOS 6.22 flash drive with the Volkov Commander file manager to boot. You can work with it by rebooting the computer and booting from USB Flash. The flash drive will be perceived as a hard drive (HDD) C:\- clean DOS without any problems, extra files and distortions with the download organization!

We will create a bootable dos flash drive using a wonderful set of utilities RMPrepUSB and RMPartUSB (http://www.rmprepusb.com). The archive with the RMPrepUSB program can be downloaded from us (link at the end of the article, MS-DOS USB FLASH.rar file). In the archive: folder RMPrepUSB - the utility itself. A separate directory (!!!MS-DOS-ver.5-7!!!) contains operating systems of various versions. Since we are installing MS-DOS 6.22, we will need the files in the ms-dos6.22-vc-1×1.44 and ms-dos6.22-vc-min-1×1.44 folders.

ms-dos6.22-vc-1×1.44- ms-dos 6.22 + Volkov Commander (VC) - boot floppy disk files + CD-ROM driver (mouse driver). To fit on a floppy disk, delete the folder with VC.

ms-dos6.22-vc-min-1×1.44- ms-dos 6.22 + Volkov Commander (VC) - minimal installation, only the files COMMAND.COM, IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS, HIMEM.SYS, SMARTDRV.EXE, config.sys, autoexec.bat.

By the way, bootable USB flash drive MS-DOS 5.00, 7.00, 7.10, etc. - is created in a similar way. You will find the individual necessary files in the archive.

Algorithm for creating a bootable DOS flash drive.

The settings and sequence of actions are shown in the figure:

Bootable flash drive ms-dos 6.22 - use RMPrepUSB.

Download MS-DOS USB FLASH.rar (link at the end of the article).
Let's unpack.
We insert the flash drive, which we will make bootable. Considering that the FAT 16 file system (MS-DOS 6.22) supports a maximum hard disk size of 2 gigabytes, it is not advisable to use a larger flash drive.
In the RMPrepUSB directory, run RMPREPUSB.exe.
The settings are as in the picture. Check whether the program has correctly identified the flash drive and whether the boot sector is installed correctly in the “File system and options” settings.
Click the “Browse” button from the fifth item in the settings and select the folder with our operating system - ms-dos6.22-vc-1×1.44 or ms-dos6.22-vc-min-1×1.44 (a check mark should appear or appear after the path is announced "Copy system files from the following folder").
We observe the process of creating a flash drive.

The DOS operating system used to be the most common and did not have a graphical shell. It consists only of a shell like a command line into which we enter commands. Since DOS technology is already outdated, few people use it, but it can still be used to solve many problems, for example, flashing . We used floppy disks to boot into DOS, but now we can use a regular flash drive.

In this article I will tell you how to create a bootable USB flash drive with DOS. If you are interested in how to create a bootable USB flash drive for any OS version, here are some links to articles.

How to create a bootable Dos USB flash drive?

There are many programs used to create bootable flash drives, but in this guide we will use the Rufus program, which already has everything you need.

You can download the latest version of the utility from the official website. Now let's move on to the steps that are necessary to create a flash drive.

You need to have a flash drive, having previously formatted it, do not forget to move important data to another medium before doing this;

Insert the USB flash drive into your computer and launch Rufus. In point "Device" We select our flash drive, usually it is detected automatically. Select the file system FAT32. Now select the checkbox "Create a boot disk", and in the drop-down menu select the option "FreeDOS", or "MS-DOS".

Leave everything else as it was and press the button "Start". Confirm all windows that appear with the OK button.

After a short process, the flash drive with DOS will be ready and you can boot from it. When you access a flash drive with regular Windows, you may find some files that I do not recommend touching, otherwise you will not be able to boot from MS DOS. But you can throw other files there, at least when I moved extraneous files to the flash drive, loading from the flash drive worked.

This is interesting:

If you need to perform some actions through DOS, for example, flashing the BIOS, then you need to put certain files on the flash drive, and then, using special commands in DOS, you can do all this. But I have already said more than once that this is a dangerous matter and it is better not to do anything without special knowledge.

Instructions

Buy a floppy disk, choose a good manufacturer, since this floppy disk will serve as a resuscitator of your system. Remove copy protection (open the checkbox at the bottom left of the floppy disk). Perform the following sequence of operations if you have the Windows 98 operating system installed: click the “Start” button in the lower left corner of the screen, and left-click on the “Settings” line. Then select “Control Panel”, in the window that appears, click on the “Add or Remove Programs” task and in the tab that appears, click on the “Boot floppy” button.

Perform the following sequence of operations if you have the Windows XP operating system installed: right-click on the “My Computer” icon, and in the menu that opens, select the “Open” tab with the left mouse button. In the dialog box that opens, find the line “3.5’’ disk” and right-click on it. In the list of operations that appears, left-click on the line “Format” and check the box “Create a system disk”, then click on the “Start” button. The operating system will open a dialog box warning you that all data on the disk will be destroyed. In this window, click the "OK" button.

After this, the formatting process will begin, do not interrupt it. At the end of the operation, the following set of files will be written to your floppy disk: autoexec.bat, ms-dos, io.sys, config.sys, command.com. Files are written to disk by the operating system, some of them will be hidden. Do not try to rewrite them to another floppy disk, it is impossible. If your operating system does not (does not boot) or the operating system is not installed, boot your computer using the Dos installation floppy disk you created.

In the practice of users of operating systems of the Windows family, situations often arose in which the system did not want to boot completely, going into the reboot phase or displaying simple phrases in white on a black background. To restore operation, emergency floppy disks were often used, from which it was possible to boot.

You will need

Operating system Windows XP.

Instructions

Recovery using boot floppy disks was carried out until the release of Windows 2000. It was this system that marked the beginning of a radical change in the structure of systems. The boot floppy disk was used extremely rarely, but could not completely disappear, like an atavism.

More and more often, IT specialists recommend using a distribution kit as a recovery disk, i.e. installation disk from which you can update lost system files. It was also a good idea to use different boot methods, for example, “Safe Mode” or “Load Last Known Known Configuration”. To do this, when loading, you need to press the F8 key after the motherboard BIOS has loaded and the coveted system logo appears.

But there are times when loading even these modes is impossible; here it is necessary to create a boot floppy disk. Therefore, initially prepare a working floppy disk and insert it into the floppy drive (3.5 A). It needs to be formatted, but not as a bootable one, but in the standard way. To do this, open File Explorer or double-click the left mouse button on the My Computer icon.

In the window that opens, find the floppy drive, right-click on it and select “Format”. In the window that opens, click the “Start” button.

Next, go to the “C:” drive. If Explorer displays a warning “Show the contents of this folder,” feel free to click on this inscription. You need to copy some system files from the system disk to a floppy disk, which are most likely hidden from prying eyes.

To display hidden files, go to the top “Tools” menu and select “Folder Options”. In the window that opens, go to the “View” tab and check the box next to “Show hidden files and folders”, and the box next to “Hide protected system files” must be unchecked. When the warning appears, respond positively, then click the “OK” button.

From the root of the system disk, copy the files boot.ini, ntdetect.com and ntldr and paste them onto the floppy disk. After you remove it, it is recommended to set write protection by sliding the switch on the front side of the floppy disk. It would be nice if you signed it with something appropriate, for example, “Boot floppy disk”.

Now go back to Folder Options and on the View tab, restore the defaults, then click OK.

Reinsert the floppy disk and restart the computer, ending all applications. Check the operation of the boot floppy disk.

Video on the topic

To format floppy disk, you don't have to read a bunch of literature. All you have to do is paste floppy disk into the floppy drive and perform some manipulations with it.

You will need

Computer, floppy disk.

Instructions

Once purchased from a store, you need to format it before you can write certain information to the device. Before you paste floppy disk in , make sure that the window is open (in the lower corner of the floppy disk). If the window is , just open it and insert the device into the drive.

Nothing will happen the first time you open the floppy disk. You need to complete it. To do this, you need to perform the following sequence of actions. Launch “My Computer” from your desktop. In the window that opens, you will see a shortcut to the connected drive (by default the drive is set by the system as “3.5 A drive”). Right-click on the floppy reader shortcut.

The drive A menu will open. Among all the options for possible operations, you need to select the function of formatting the floppy disk (indicated as “Format”). In the window that appears, set the necessary parameters and start the process.

Typically formatting does not take much time (1-10 seconds). Once this operation is completed, you will be able to record to floppy disk necessary information. The main thing is the fact that they are extremely small and short-lived when actively used.

Video on the topic

On many modern computers it is not possible to open floppy disk. This is due to the fact that floppy disks are an outdated storage medium, and almost few people use them these days.

Instructions

To open a floppy disk, it is necessary that there is a special hole in the system unit into which floppy disk insert. There is an arrow on the floppy disk that indicates which side it should be inserted into. During this process, you should hear a click indicating that the media is inserted all the way.

Go to “My Computer,” usually located on the desktop or in the Start menu. Double-click on the “Disk 3.5” icon (A) and the contents of the floppy disk will become available.
If the computer does not have a slot, then use a removable one, you can find it in a store (but they are rare) or order it on the World Wide Web.

But it happens that the floppy disk is not formatted, but only a message appears stating that it is not formatted. If you decline the offer to format it, the floppy disk will not open, and if you agree, the floppy disk will lose all data. What ? Format floppy disk. After that, it will open, but there will be no data on it. In fact, data that is in the process of formatting can be used with the help of a special data recovery program.

An example of such a program is EasyRecovery Professional (Ontrack Data Recovery Inc.). Install EasyRecovery Professional and launch. There shouldn't be any further problems with recovery - everything is perfect, just follow the program's instructions.

The step-by-step recovery looks like this:
“Data recovery” (in the menu of the main program window) – scans the system and warns that the recovered data needs to be copied to another disk.
Click OK - in the window that appears, select Floppy Disk A - FAT 12 and Next - select files to restore.

A floppy disk is a storage medium that is practically no longer used in the modern world. However, many people still have floppy disks. If exposed to sudden temperature changes, demagnetization and dust, the floppy disk may become unusable. How can you check it?

Instructions

Paste floppy disk into the disk drive. note that floppy disk If it has been exposed to frost, you cannot immediately insert it - let the condensation evaporate. Do not open files from a floppy disk directly - they may contain harmful viruses. First, check the floppy disk for errors or unwanted programs using an antivirus.

Click "Start" and select "My Computer" from the main menu. A window will appear on the screen that will contain information about all disk devices on the computer. Find the disk drive icon and right-click on it. As a result of the actions, a context menu will appear. In it, select “Properties”. The computer will display a window with the properties of disk 3.5 (A:), i.e. floppy disks.

Select the "General" tab. Check the type, file system, and capacity of the storage media. Data on capacity will be displayed in two forms - numerical with the display of units of measurement of information volumes in bytes and megabytes and diagrammatic, where the ratio of occupied and free disk space will be clearly presented.