Volkov Commander bootable flash drive. MS-DOS boot disk
One of the ways to flash the BIOS of a motherboard or laptop is update via USB flash drive. Almost all modern laptops and motherboards support booting from USB devices. The safest way to flash the I/O firmware is from DOS. Reduces the likelihood of your computer freezing during an update. And using a flash drive in this case is the best option for flashing the BIOS. Moreover, laptops and new computer models simply no longer have a floppy drive included, which already precludes the use of good old 3.5” floppy disks for these purposes. And the size of today's BIOS has long been larger than the size of a floppy disk.
For example, if you have an Asus motherboard, then simply copy the BIOS file to a flash drive under a certain name (indicated in the motherboard manual), restart the computer and immediately press the key combination Alt+F2. The built-in utility will launch Asus EZ Flash, with which you can easily update the BIOS.
But what if the motherboard or laptop does not have built-in utilities for updating the firmware? To do this, you need to create a bootable USB flash drive and copy the BIOS and the update utility from the manufacturer onto it.
How to create a bootable USB flash drive
To create a flash drive with which you can boot into DOS mode, you need to download the BOOT_USB_utility.ZIP archive (1.79Mb).Inside this archive:
– a utility from Hewlett-Packard for creating a bootable flash drive;
USB DOS– a DOS image with the files necessary to work in it.
Installing HP Windows Format Utility for USB Drive Key or DiskOnKey
To write a BOOT flash drive, you must first install the program. The installation is very simple and will not cause any difficulties. Run the file HPUSBFormatter_2.00.006.exe, wait for the first window and click Next
Agree to the License Agreement by clicking the button Yes
Specify the folder to install the program, click Next
We are waiting for the installation of the program to complete
After the program is installed, you can begin creating a bootable USB flash drive.
Burning a bootable USB flash drive
Unzip from folder USB DOS to any folder of the DOS image, for example in C:/usbdos/.Launch the utility using the shortcut on Desktop or via button Start
Connect the USB flash drive to the computer and wait for it to be recognized by the operating system. After the flash drive is recognized, in the list Device indicate your USB drive
In chapter Format options check the box using DOS system files located at and click on the button
Point to the folder with DOS files ( C:/usbdos/)
Once the folder with the DOS shell command files has been specified, you can begin formatting the flash drive.
Attention! All files from the flash drive will be erased, make copies of them in advance!
Click the button Start
A warning will appear stating that the USB drive will be formatted and all data on it will be lost. If you agree with this, click the button Yes (Yes)
The process of formatting the USB flash drive and creating a bootable area on it will begin.
Wait for it to finish successfully
All that’s left is to copy the necessary files to the USB flash drive, reboot and enter the BIOS. You should set the BIOS to boot from USB devices, save the changes and reboot.
If you did everything correctly, then after loading DOS you will see the command line
Here you can already enter the command you need.
The most interesting thing is that HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool can also be successfully used for any USB memory device. Be it a memory card from a camera, or a regular laptop hard drive in a USB chassis. Therefore, instead of a regular USB flash drive, you can use the card reader built into the laptop, if loading from it is supported.
You can copy useful utilities and programs to the bootable USB flash drive created in this way. You can supplement it with a file manager Norton Commander or FAR; you can copy the utility to check RAM, etc.
MS-DOS (MicroSoft Disk Operating System) is a platform that Microsoft released before the development of the Windows family of operating systems. In the 80-90s, the system worked on most computers that were compatible with the IBM PC, and was even used to boot the first versions of “windows”. And this OS appeared in 1981. Initially, MS-DOS did not have a graphical interface, and to control the computer you had to manually enter commands: when the system booted, a blinking white input field cursor appeared on a black background. The two-column shells (file managers) of this system continued to exist in products such as FAR or Total Commander, which are still used today.
A little history:
As a historical excursion, we note that initially MS-DOS supported the FAT12 file system, and only in 1988 it began to support FAT 16. At the same time, the first Russified release of the operating system was released. Back in 1983, it could work with a hard drive with a capacity of only 10 MB, and already in 1988 this figure could reach 2 GB.
The boot disk we offer contains MS-DOS versions 6.0 and 6.22. The display of this OS is divided into two parts with directories; navigation in them and the entire process of using the system was carried out by moving the cursor (initially with the keyboard arrows, and then with the mouse) and a set of hotkey combinations. Among the graphical shells developed for the system, the most popular were Norton Commander, DOS Navigator and Volkov Commander. In the countries of the former USSR, Norton Commander was more popular, on the basis of which Volkov Commander was created. The latter began to support long file names and was less demanding on the permanent and operational resources of the system. DOS Navigator was also copied from Norton Commander. The last shell had a window interface, allowing you to perform many tasks simultaneously, as well as connect plugins.
Like modern computers, MS-DOS machines were susceptible to a wide variety of viruses. Many interesting games and various applications have been written for them. But, due to the large difference in speed between computers of that time and modern ones, they cannot be directly used on machines currently produced. For this, special emulators like DOSBox are used.
A detailed description of how to create a bootable USB flash drive with the DOS operating system for updating the BIOS, checking the hard drive or RAM for errors, working with files on the hard drive, and also for running many other utilities.
Why do you need a bootable USB flash drive with DOS?
This article will talk about creating a bootable USB flash drive with DOS. It would seem, who needs a flash drive with a very ancient operating system, which has neither a normal interface nor support for various devices?
In fact, such a flash drive is sometimes very necessary. First of all, it is necessary to update the BIOS. This may seem strange, but BIOS firmware from DOS is much safer than that in Windows. The fact is that DOS has a minimum of factors that can interfere with the update. These include many background processes, errors in various drivers and other factors. Any of these could break the BIOS update process. As a result, you will most likely have to contact a specialized service center to restore it. In DOS, there are orders of magnitude fewer such factors that can affect updating the BIOS. Issues related to BIOS are discussed in this topic: .
Also, bootable flash drives with DOS are useful when the system does not boot, but you need to access files on the hard drive. In such cases, file managers like Volkov Commander, which also work under DOS.
As you can see, a flash drive with DOS is a useful thing. Let's now move on to the process of creating it.
First you need to download the archive with the necessary utilities from the links: /. We launch it, specify the folder for unpacking. In this example, this is the folder D:\DOS:
Next, we connect the flash drive and copy all the important information from it. It will be formatted during the preparation process. After that we run the file hp_usb_tool.exe to install the utility HP Format Tool. Once the installation is complete, run it as Administrator:
The program window will open:
At the top in the selection window, indicate your flash drive, put a tick next to the item Create a DOS startup disk and specify the path to the folder dos the archive you downloaded earlier. To start formatting, click Start and agree with the warning:
We wait a bit:
When formatting is complete, a report will appear:
After this you need to copy all the files from the subfolder USB archive on a flash drive:
As a result, the flash drive should contain the following files and folders:
In addition to them, the flash drive must contain two hidden files: COMMAND.COM And IO.SYS, which are designed for full DOS operation.
That's all, the flash drive has been created. Now you can write the necessary utilities to it. Let's now consider what to do with it and how to launch it.
Booting from a flash drive with DOS operating system
First you need to set the BIOS to boot from a flash drive. How this is done is shown in detail in the manuals:, and. Everything is described there in detail.
Boot from a flash drive. If you did everything correctly, DOS should start:
To start the file manager, enter the command boot\dn\vc.com:
In the same way, you can run any other application from a flash drive or hard drive. You can also perform various manipulations with files there.
That's all. Thank you for your attention.
You can make all comments and suggestions regarding the article itself through this contact form: Please note that if something doesn’t work out for you, then you should only ask. These types of emails will be ignored.
The time of floppy disks is irrevocably a thing of the past, and with it the unique opportunity to boot your computer from them. Global corporations failed to revive this magnetic storage medium, despite the fact that a number of attempts were made to increase its capacity. Flash memory has won on all fronts, and even software is already offered by some manufacturers on USB drives and memory cards.
But with the introduction of “memory key fobs”, as well as the cessation of supplies of cases equipped with 3.5-inch floppy drives, which are now being replaced by “all-in-one” card readers, ordinary users were faced with questions: how to boot, how to make a bootable USB flash drive if the OS suddenly out of order? This also applies to fashionable and inexpensive netbooks. You can buy a USB optical drive and forget about the problem. But its cost has recently increased greatly (the average price exceeds 3,500 rubles), and even if you purchase it, the mobility of a netbook is greatly reduced.
Tool selection
What remains is the USB drive (or flash card). It would be easier if the image of a bootable flash drive could be
download from the Internet, “deploy” it on your own media and don’t rack your brains over making it yourself. But due to technological features, flash media does not have a boot sector, and to write it you need an emulator program. This means that you will not be able to use the ISO image.
Let's start making a bootable flash drive ourselves. Having studied all the methods, we chose the simplest, most effective and also with support for FAT32, which will make it possible to work with long file names. It is based on creating a boot partition on the drive using the free HP Usb Disk Storage Format Tool.
Additionally, most computers today have hard drive partitions on the NTFS file system. Therefore, in order to see the computer’s hard drives after booting from a USB flash drive, you need to install an NTFS driver. After a long search for free solutions, Paragon came to our aid. In her arsenal she found a suitable driver that allows not only reading, but also writing files to an NTFS disk partition.
So, we will need the following programs:
1. HP Usb Disk Storage Format Tool;
2. Windows 98 boot floppy image;
3. SMARTDRIVE utility;
4. file manager running under DOS (for example, Volcov Commander);
5. Paragon-NTFS-for-DOS, NTFS driver for DOS.
HP USB DISK STORAGE FORMAT TOOL— a program for formatting and creating bootable flash media. Unlike its analogues, it can format them in FAT32.
You will find all these programs on the DVD that comes with the CHIP magazine, with the exception of the Windows 98 boot diskette image. The latter can be easily downloaded from the Internet (for example, at: www.flashboot.ru) - its volume is 1.42 MB.
It is advisable to use a USB flash drive or memory card (SD is more suitable for a standard card reader) with a capacity of 4 GB, since it will be possible to place the installation kit of the required OS on it. In case of data rescue, additional storage space will also not hurt.
BOOT FROM A FLASH DRIVE, you can copy
Windows XP installation kit on hard drive
Practical use
By booting from a USB drive, we have the ability to copy and edit files both from a flash drive to a hard drive and vice versa, which can be useful for rescuing data on an inoperable operating system. In addition, if you connect an external hard drive to another USB port, the volume of saved information will not be limited by the capacity of the drive. If you have a Windows XP distribution, you can copy it to your hard drive to later use for installation. But installing the system on a hard drive will not work, since in this case drive C is a bootable “flash drive”.
________________________________________
The process has begun
So, all the necessary components are at hand - let's get started.
Install the HP Usb Disk Storage Format Tool utility and launch it using the shortcut that appears on the Desktop.
In the window that opens, in the “Device” field, indicate your flash drive, and in the “File system” field, select FAT32. The “Volume label” field can be left empty, but in the “Format option” section, check the “Create a DOS startup disk” option. In the field that opens, specify the address of the directory with the Windows 98 boot floppy image.
Please note that during the subsequent operation the USB drive (or memory card) will be formatted and all files will be destroyed. Therefore, before performing this operation, the program will warn you about this. Confirm the formatting by first copying important data from it. The program will show a format bar and notify you that bootable media has been created.
After the “flash drive” turns into a bootable drive, copy to it the folders with the file manager (in our case this is the \VC folder) and the NTFS driver (you will get it by unpacking the Pargon-NTFS.rar archive from our disk), the SmartDrive file and , if necessary, the directory with the OS installation kit (in the case of Windows XP, this can be the \i386 folder). 
Everything is ready to start
To be able to start the system from a USB drive, you need to set the appropriate parameters in the BIOS of your computer. Reboot it and, after waiting for the BIOS to start loading, press the “Del” key (different devices use different buttons for this). Go to the section where boot device priorities are set and select boot from USB-HDD there. Unfortunately, there is no uniformity among manufacturers, so you will have to experiment.
Save your settings and exit the BIOS setup screen. After this, connect the bootable “flash drive” to any USB port (or a memory card to a card reader) - the computer should start from this media.
Once you see “C:\>” on the black screen and a blinking cursor, you can enter DOS commands or launch a file manager by typing “\vc\vc.com.”
Note that drive C in our case is bootable media, not the computer’s hard drive.
The next important step is to launch the NTFS driver, which will allow you to work with hard drives, or rather with their NTFS format partitions. Go to the \ntfs-paragon folder and run the mount.bat file. After this, all disks will be available.
You may find this information useful:
We believe that in any home you can find tools such as a screwdriver or scissors - useful and necessary things in the household. In the same way, anyone who deals with computer hardware will definitely have at hand (in addition to the same Phillips-head screwdriver) a couple of media that are aptly dubbed “reanimators” by the people. These media are bootable disks or flash drives with recorded software intended for testing and restoring system operation. Live distributions of various operating systems, most often based on Linux, are used as such a “saving” independent environment.
The question “Where can I get a resuscitator?” can be solved in different ways. For some it is easier to download an image of such media from the Internet, while another user will prefer their own assembly, compiling a collection of the necessary software and drivers for a specific configuration. Well, of course, the second option is more attractive, since it makes it possible to get an ideal tool in all respects for checking the functionality of individual computer units and restoring the system. However, not everyone has the free time and desire to experiment with creating such a tool. It is for such users that this article is intended. In it we will tell and show how to create a “saving” bootable USB flash drive in a matter of minutes.
Developers of LiveCD distributions often include a special utility that can be used to burn their version of Linux to a USB drive. However, in most cases, such software does not provide the ability to work with any images of other systems, and besides this, the number of functions in such utilities is limited. That is why it makes sense to use universal tools for creating bootable flash drives. We will look at some of them in this review.
⇡ MultiBoot USB 2.1.5.1
- Developer: Pen Drive Linux
- Distribution: free
- Russian interface: no
To prepare a bootable USB flash drive, you need to download a LiveCD boot disk image from the Internet in advance. When a user just starts experimenting with recording various Linux builds, it is difficult for him to “hit the mark” the first time and guess the best version of the operating system. Therefore, before settling on any particular distribution, you have to spend time searching for images, downloading them, recording them on media and analyzing their performance. With MultiBoot USB this task is greatly simplified.
Sometimes, for some reason, a certain LiveCD does not start or starts incorrectly. The reason for this may be either the specific configuration of the computer or errors in the assembly itself. To reduce the likelihood of failure to launch the “emergency system”, you can create a multiboot flash drive image that will simultaneously include several boot disk images. For example, you can put Ubuntu, Windows PE, Kaspersky Rescue Disk, KNOPPIX, Jolicloud, and so on on one drive.
MultiBoot USB works very simply. After launching the application, the letter to which the flash drive is currently attached is indicated. After that, from the long list of supported distributions, you select the name of the Linux assembly that should be written to the media. The number of images recorded on one flash drive is limited only by the storage capacity. When selecting the desired distribution, you can check the box next to the "Download the ISO" option. In this case, MultiBoot USB will automatically download the image of the selected disk from the Internet, or rather, open a direct download link in the browser. Since the direct download link address may change, after selecting the desired LiveCD from the list, a link appears in the program window to go to the official project page.
You can only add one OS to a flash drive at a time. At the end of the process of copying and unpacking files, MultiBoot USB will ask whether to complete the procedure for writing a multiboot flash drive. If you answer in the affirmative, the program will close, otherwise the procedure for adding the next image to the USB drive will be the same as the first time.
The multiboot flash drive menu is based on a modified GRUB4DOS bootloader. The principle of its preparation is so universal and simple that you can add one that is not in the general list to the menu of supported distributions. To do this, just select the Try an Unlisted ISO option and specify the path to the distribution on your hard drive. The configuration files that MultiBoot USB copies to a flash drive can be easily edited, for example, changing the order of systems in the menu, item titles, and so on.
By default, the menu with selected LiveCD images is designed in a classic style: a black background and a penguin with a USB drive.
If desired, you can change this design to your own. To do this, you need to prepare an image with a resolution of 640x480 in advance. Because this uses a low-color (4-bit) graphics mode, “cartoon-like” images, such as vector drawings with a limited number of colors, will look best.
If you look at the contents of a multiboot flash drive prepared using MultiBoot USB, you will see that the splash.xpm.gz archive is present on the disk. This archive contains an image that will serve as a background when a menu with a choice of download options is displayed. This picture is saved in *.xpm format. You can get an image in this format in different ways. For example, this can be conveniently done using the Total Commander file manager and the installed additional module Imagine, designed for viewing and working with graphics. Select the image you are going to use for the multiboot menu and press Ctrl+Q. Now right-click on the image and from the Imagine menu change the color depth of the image by selecting Image > Change color depth. In the menu that appears, specify 16 colors (4 bits) and save a new file called splash.xpm by selecting File > Save as from the same context menu. Overwrite the old image in the archive with a new file and you can check the result by rebooting from the USB drive.
Another convenient way to convert an image to *.xpm format is using the free online service ImageMagick Studio. Using it, you can load an image from your hard drive or specify its location on the Internet, then click the View button and on the Colormap tab, specify in the parameter field the number of colors used in the image (up to sixteen). After this, you can export the image using the Output tab settings (after selecting the xpm file format and setting the Storage Type switch to Single file). To save a picture, click on the thumbnail in the ImageMagick window. You can also use other tools of this service, for example, to resize a picture, apply effects to the original image, add a border, text, etc.
To create your own splash screen, you can also use graphic editors that allow you to save the image in XPM format, say, the same Gimp.
⇡ LinuxLive USB Creator 2.6.9
- Developer: Thibaut Lauzière
- Distribution: free
- Russian interface: yes
The creator of the program affectionately calls it LiLi, after the first letters of its full name. This utility has several advantages over similar applications for preparing a bootable USB flash drive. Firstly, the program has a rather unusual interface, bright and memorable.
Secondly, LinuxLive USB Creator supports the “great and mighty” Russian language. Unfortunately, for some of our users, English is such an insurmountable problem that in the absence of a Russian version, the program simply ceases to exist for them. Therefore, this feature of LinuxLive USB Creator may be a decisive factor in choosing software for some.
LinuxLive USB Creator is designed as a step-by-step wizard, however, unlike the usual wizards, all stages of creating a bootable flash drive are shown at once - they are placed in separate settings blocks.
In the corner of each block you can see a traffic light icon. Until the settings for a particular stage of preparing the recording media are determined, this icon will show red, and as soon as the user specifies the required parameters, green will “light up”.
The first item indicates the type of media used. Next, you need to enter the location of the LiveCD image. As the source of the Linux distribution you are using, you can use an image on your hard drive or specify an optical drive with a recorded LiveCD, from which you want to create a copy on a flash drive. In addition, the utility allows you to automatically download images of supported operating systems from the Internet. In this case, the user must indicate the name of the distribution, selecting it from a long list, and also decide on the boot mode - automatic or manual. In the first case, the program will search for mirrors, determine the highest speed of the source and quickly download the desired image. In the second case, LinuxLive USB Creator will show statistics of working and broken links, after which you can copy the appropriate link and use your browser or download manager to get the file.
LinuxLive USB Creator is capable of not only compiling the contents of a bootable flash drive, but can also check the distribution used for errors. If any are detected, the program will offer a choice: re-download the disk image or try using the “wrong” image.
The next step in preparing a bootable flash drive is defining the settings file. At this stage, you can see the advantage of a LiveUSB disk over a regular LiveCD. LinuxLive USB Creator allows you to specify the size of the settings file. Since the flash drive is a rewritable medium, it would be convenient to use this for full work in the Linux environment. When the system boots from a CD or DVD, the user is forced to work in the configuration that was prepared before recording to the disk. When using a flash drive, you can use the persistence function (turned on automatically when you specify the size of the settings file). The settings file will allow you to perform some actions with files in the Live system, as if the system was installed on a hard drive.
If the system is not used very actively, the volume of this file can be selected up to 300 megabytes, but if active work with a bootable flash drive is expected, the volume can be increased to a gigabyte or higher.
Please note that the settings file in combination with the Live distribution cannot replace a full-fledged operating system for a number of reasons. Firstly, the maximum size of the settings file is limited by the capabilities of the file system of the flash drive - it must be FAT32, which means the maximum size of the settings file should not exceed 4 gigabytes (3950 MB). Secondly, using a persistent system does not allow you to perform some actions. For example, you cannot make changes to the system kernel, you cannot install drivers.
It is very simple to check whether the persistence option is enabled on the flash drive - just load Linux recorded onto the media, and then create a folder on the desktop. Now, the next time the system boots (if the settings file parameters were specified correctly and the procedure for writing data to the flash drive passed without errors), the folder created earlier on the desktop will be displayed.
The last step before creating a flash drive is to specify several additional options. During the process of writing bootable media, the program can format data in FAT32 and hide the created files. And finally, the most interesting option of LinuxLive USB Creator, which makes this program unique in its own way, is the ability to use a bootable flash drive... under Windows. Yes, yes, exactly under Windows, you don’t even have to restart your computer to start working with Linux. If you check the appropriate box in the settings, the program will download a portable version of the free VirtualBox virtual machine from the Internet, and then perform the necessary configuration based on the boot distribution. Thanks to image virtualization, the user receives a flash drive with a virtual machine, which automatically starts when the media is connected.
On the flash drive in the VirtualBox directory you will find two EXE files: Virtualize_This_Key.exe and VirtualBox.exe. The first starts a virtual environment session with bootable Linux, the second opens the VirtualBox interface. True, not all Linux distributions will work correctly on a Windows virtual machine. You will have to figure out which assemblies will function on your own. The version of the VirtualBox program is modified, so you cannot count on official support from Oracle.
⇡ Universal USB Installer 1.8.3.3
- Developer: Pen Drive Linux
- Distribution: free
- Russian interface: no
When looking at Universal-USB-Installer, it may seem that this program completely repeats the MultiBoot USB utility discussed at the beginning of the article, but this is not entirely true. Some similarities are explained by the fact that both Universal-USB-Installer and MultiBoot USB have the same developer. However, the purpose of this utility is somewhat different - it can be used to write only one Live distribution onto a flash drive.
The list of Linux assemblies available for copying to a USB disk is sorted by category - assemblies based on Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Debian, Puppy Linux and others. Please note that the lists of supported distributions for MultiBoot USB and Universal USB Installer are slightly different.
The program is based on the syslinux bootloader, so changing the menu design is even easier than when using MultiBoot USB and the Grub bootloader - it's just a splash.png graphic file.
If a persistent file can be used for the selected distribution, the program will prompt you to specify its size and reserve space on the media for user data. In most cases, user data is stored unencrypted and uncompressed, but these disadvantages are compensated by the ability to access bookmarks, email settings and other important files at any time.
Before writing data to the flash drive, the program will announce the “last Chinese warning” several times that the data will be destroyed and the formatting operation is irreversible. These additional mouse clicks seem unnecessary, but, on the other hand, this is insurance against erroneous actions, because an accidental movement can lead to the wrong choice of the carrier letter, and then - goodbye to the archive with documents and photographs.
⇡ FlashBoot 2.0u
- Developer: Mikhail N. Kupchik
- Distribution: shareware
- Russian interface: no
This program is suitable both for beginners who have never set out to create a bootable USB flash drive before, and for those who regularly engage in similar experiments and study the capabilities of Syslinux and GRUB boot loaders. The program allows you to simply install the bootloader selected in the settings, which will subsequently be used to install the mini-OS. FlashBoot can write to a DOS flash drive and copy information about boot files from other media.
If you already have one working bootable or multiboot USB drive, then using the USB to USB option you can quickly copy all data from one media to another, including the ability to boot from a flash drive. This program allows, if necessary, to turn the media into a regular flash drive, not bootable, by formatting it again.
⇡ Conclusion
It’s worth getting a bootable flash drive with a Live distribution even if you have a vague idea in what situation it might be needed. Such a carrier is not only a life preserver that one has to resort to during force majeure circumstances. This is also an opportunity to have a small private system that no one but you will have access to. By booting from such a flash drive, you can be sure that the personal data stored on it will not be accessible to anyone except you.
