If you dont know DOS,
you dont know Windows...

Some features of MS-DOS 8.0

• Since September 2000, the latest version 4.90.3000 Windows 98, more commonly known as Windows Millennium Edition ME with removal  native mode / real / true / pure MS-DOS mode of booting from the hard disk. The last standalone version MS - DOS 7 from Microsoft.   Microsoft has confirmed Windows Millennium Edition (Me) runs only on MS-DOS 8.00 (kb 274297). On the Internet has a patch - Real DOS-Mode Patch for Windows ME v1.3 This removes a deliberate error in the last version of Microsoft MS-DOS 8.0 shipped embedded in Windows Me. A subset is included with 32-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista. For booting from C: drive IO.SYS and COMMAND.COM can be modified by replacing byte 75 by byte EB at hex offset 00006510 in COMMAND.COM and 000003AA for IO.SYS

• MS-DOS 8.0 Patch:
  IO.SYS 000003AA          75 -> EB
  COMMAND.COM 00006510 75 -> EB
  You can remove version check by replace byte sequence 3D 08 00 74 ->90 90 90 EB in all external commands for full compatibility with version 7.10

• Another Russian patch for    COMMAND.COM by  mamaich turn off any checks
  12 8B 16 08 -->> 44 8B 16 08

•  New Real DOS-mode Patch for MS-DOS 8.0 by replacing in IO.SYS first 2048 bytes from original Windows Me OEM CD IO.SYS

•   README.TXT -  Contents boot disk MS-DOS Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 deleted file restored from an image extracted from diskcopy.dll Windows XP SP3.  Format a floppy disk by using My Computer, select the Create an MS-DOS startup disk option. The size of OS Kernel from Windows XP - IO.SYS 116,736.
  In this subset Microsoft cut startup message from OS kernel "Starting Windows Millennium Emergency Boot ... " to "Starting..."
  The latest version of the MS-DOS 8.0 IO.SYS kernel is dated 2005 doesn't show splash screen. The starting message "Starting..." instead of "Starting Windows Millennium Emergency Boot..." indicates that MS-DOS 8.0 is separate from Windows Millennium Edition.
  
   

• Merged real mode drivers in Io.sys. Services such as HIMEM and SMARTDRV(smartdrv only for io.sys hard disk version, size110 080 msdos,sys or winboot.ini boot performance parameter BootPerf=1 ), which are separate files in Windows 98 that must be loaded during boot, are now built into the Windows Me Io.sys file. This improves read performance of the hard disk during boot. Io.sys is compressed, which reduces disk size and makes it faster to load. Microsoft: Improving "Cold Boot" Time for System Manufacturers Updated: December 4, 2001

• DOS is always loaded in the HMA

• The Decompressor for IO.SYS Version 8 by Rudolph R. Loew will take an Unmodified Compressed version 8 IO.SYS File and create an Uncompressed IO.SYS File that can be used to Boot DOS 8

• Uncompressed with The Decompressor for IO.SYS Version 8 by Rudolph R. Loew, IO.SYS file size is 280064 bytes

• Disable create C:\BOOTLOG.TXT &  C:\BOOTLOG.PRV files on drive C: by replacinng with string "NUL:        "  in the uncompressed IO.SYS
  Change IO.SYS the Default environment variables settings without msdos.sys(winboot.ini):
  :\windows ==>> c:\  in hex 00 3A 5C 57 49 4E 44 4F 57 53 ==>> 43 3A 5C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

  Old	New
  PATH= PROMPT=$P$G COMSPEC=C:\COMMAND.COM	TMP=C:\TEMP  TEMP=C:\TEMP  PROMPT=$p$g  winbootdir=C:  PATH=C:\  COMSPEC=C:\COMMAND.COM

  
  
  This patch can also be applied to the MS-DOS 7.10 IO.SYS (© V. Ashumov)

• IO.SYS can be reduced by stripping the bitmap with any hex-editor.The bitmap starts at 'BM' but ends at 0x44005 ()

• IO.SYS can start Windows 3x only in standard mode without any patch

• COMMAND.COM FIX  original fix by John Augustine
  Show files in hidden sub-directories
  D4 B9 10 00 B4 ==>> D4 B9 16 00 B4
  FC B9 10 00 B4 ==>> FC B9 16 00 B4

• Himem.sys, Emm386.exe and Smartdrv.exe versions that are included with Windows Millennium Edition are the best, and work fine under MS-DOS 7.10. Windows Me does not support loading Emm386.exe from the Startup disk(kb 275423).   Xmsmmgr.exe(HIMEM: DOS XMS Driver, Version 3.07 - 02/14/92): This file is a TSR (terminate-and-stay-resident) version of HIMEM.SYS(Windows XMS Driver Version 3.95). It is run from the source directory when Setup has determined that there is not an XMS provider loaded in memory. 

• Restore emm386.exe loading  The built-in XMS driver can be disabled or  HIMEM.SYS can not be loaded. It will hang the system if your try. Also the system will freeze without loading the XMS manager
  The HIMEMX.EXE open source or XMGR.SYS, can be loaded normally. The EMM386.EXE can be loaded with HIMEMX.EXE for use EMS memory, or UMBPCI.SYS for Upper Memory Blocks.

        Change in unpacked IO.SYS with IO8DCOMP by Rloew 
        2001 116736 ==>> 280576
        9A 9D 02 CE 1E ==>> EB 0D 90 90 90

        2005 116736 ==>> 280064
        9A 9D 02 AC 1E ==>> EB 0D 90 90 90

                                                  or

    Can HIMEM.SYS be disabled in Windows ME’s IO.SYS?

          20 50 04 70  ==>> 20 FF FF 70
          C3 1E 66 50 ==>>  C3 CB 66 50

         XMS memory with his  patch disabled but HMA is available and DOS=High

        Another way to load the emm386.exe driver is to use the io8emmok.sys driver by Dr. Pufeng Du.
        Though this driver does not disable or remove the built-in XMS driver, it converts it to a normal-behaved.
        It does not require you to decompress Windows Me's IO.SYS.

         XMS restrictor(xmsres.exe)  by Japheth included in Sound blaster emulation for HDA (High Definition Audio)
         with io8emmok.sys driver by Dr. Pufeng Du allows you to run Windows 3.1 from MS-DOS 8.0 in 386 Enhanced Mode on real hardware.

• Dblbuff.sys device driver to perform double buffering. Double buffering provides compatibility for certain hard-disk controllers that cannot work with memory provided by EMM386(kb 135485)

• IO.SYS from the floppy image Windows ME OEM CD load automatically DBLBUFF.SYS and IFSHLP.SYS. Startup message: Now preparing to start your new computer.
  Startup menu does not have any differences with the Startup menu Windows 98 SE, except for startup of previous version of MS-DOS

Restart your computer. Press and hold down CTRL until the  Startup Menu appears. This menu appears only   from the floppy image Windows ME OEM Bootable CD IO.SYS.

The previous version of MS-DOS does not appear in the boot menu, but io.sys of MS-DOS 8.00 can boot MS-DOS 6.22 as well as io.sys MS-DOS 7.10 on Windows 98SE(kb 121963). Copy the renamed MS-DOS 6.22 system files io.dos, msdos.dos, command.dos to the root folder of the FAT16/FAT12 formatted boot media (USB Flash, real floppy or boot image).
Add the following line to the [Options] section of the file winboot.ini or msdos.sys, if the line does not already exist:
BootMenu=1
BootMulti=1
BootWin=0
Now  you have Dual-Booting MS-DOS 6.22 - Normal(Enter)  and MS-DOS 8.00 - Command prompt(Shift-F5).

Russian programmer  fps 2001-07-30  posted: And in WinME it appears is normal DOS :

"It is not necessary any and patches.
MS about all took care itself, but from users it far away hid
We unpack c distributive CD WinME:
\Tools\NetTools\FAC\cbs.dta\winboot.sys
We replace with it C:\IO.sys
\Tools\NetTools\FAC\ltools.dta\command.com
We replace with it C:\command.com and C: \% windir %\command.com
All!
"Command Prompt Only" is present, Autoexec+Config.sys Are processed"

No cracks and patches.
The following files are only on the Windows Me OEM bootable CD - OEM Preinstallation Kit (OPK) for Windows Millennium
Tools\NetTools\FAC\cbs.dta\winboot.sys (118784)
Tools\NetTools\FAC\ltools.dta\command.com (92992)
 

MaxEd May 18, 2003 But there is a MICROSOFT way to get Real DOS-Mode in ME. ME distribution should contain this files:
\Tools\NetTools\FAC\cbs.dta
\Tools\NetTools\FAC\ltools.dta
which are CAB archives. One of them contains io.sys and other - command.com with MS Real DOS-Mode support.

This command.com no have Strange Instructions Built Into COMMAND.COM as noted in  the article by Micho Durdevich RIPLing Windows Millennium Edition From OS/2 Warp Server 
Appendix A: Enabling Real-Mode DOS Support in Windows Millennium Edition "Our main idea is to replace the file VMM32.VXD by the appropriate command interpreter. The simplest solution would be to use the standard COMMAND.COM. However, a slight technical problem appears here, because of a funny mistake in the standard command interpreter COMMAND.COM  Appendix B: Weird Changes in Design of Windows Millennium
If you copy any normal DOS executable over VMM32.VXD, it should start without problems, as a part of WinME "boot". The only ME-runnable program I know that does not start properly is the command interpreter COMMAND.COM

 WARNING: MS-DOS Does Not Properly Process Hard Disk Hardware Errors(kb 311561). Microsoft updated ms-dos kernel files both version 7.10 & 8.0

Microsoft REMOVED the display of the Startup Menu from Windows ME & MS-DOS 8.0 startup disk from Windows XP , Vista, Seven.

• Last  update: With Windows Vista the files on the startup disk are dated 18th April 2005 but are otherwise unchanged,
  Io.sys file size is 116736 bytes

• Kernel loading  menu minimal - Normal, the remaining modes by hot keys.. For  Safe mode command prompt only, without implementation of the configuration files config autoexec hold shift during loading. Existing options configuration of  msdos.sys or winboot.ini with higher priority (Winboot. Ini is an interim version Msdos.sys file created during installation Win9x): Logo = 0 not display a logo for loading; DisableLog = 1 not to log bootlog.txt ; SystemReg = 0 not preload the system registry; BootGUI = 1 parameter is not working. Windows will not automatically loaded when Windows folder have command.com.  If command.com only source drive and the path to  Windows folder true specified in the msdos.sys and config.sys added line FAT32 support driver  device=ifshlp.sys, then Windows will load automatically. There is no need to set anything in the autoexec.bat.

• Disable the  F8  startup menu in Uncompressed  IO.SYS by Dencorso
  1) Search for B4 02 CD 16 A8 07 74 and patch the red 74 to EB
  2) Search for 36 01 B4 01 CD 16 75 :
  you'll find it to be 36 01 B4 01 CD 16 75 XX , where XX is any value.
  Patch this to become 36 01 B4 01 CD 16 90 90

• ScanDisk cannot process on a FAT32 drive, if the volume size more 127.53 gigabytes (kb 184006). 

• Sys.com version 8.0 is functionally limited, using sys.com version 7.10 is included in Windows 98SE and put  it to the table version setver.exe from boot disk Windows ME, as a driver (line device = setver.exe in config.sys ), you can remove the restrictions functionality of MS-DOS 8.0. Instead  of file setver.exe  can use  deversioned  sys.com version 7.10  (3D 0A 07 74->90 90 90 EB)

• Disable creating msdos.sys file on drive c: in sys.com  by replace msdos.sys with nul:
   00 3A 5C 4D 53 44 4F 53 2E 53 59 53 ==>>4E 55 4C 3A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 by  V.Ashumov

• Windows XP Professional operating system CD contains a modified file format.com  - Oformat.com. Run Oformat on the versions of MS–DOS in Windows Millennium Edition or Windows XP. Oformat does not prompt for confirmation before formatting a disk. Oformat creates a FAT32 volume with clusters that are aligned in an optimal way for when the volume is later converted to NTFS file system format. Oformat does not force sector verification at the first disk format. As a result, you can do a Quick Format immediately after creating a new partition, which is significantly faster in the manufacturing environment than using the conventional Format.You cannot format a volume larger than 32 gigabytes (GB) in size using the FAT32 file system during the Windows XP installation process. File Systems

• DOS version of scandisk.exe from Win ME  does NOT look at the backup File Allocation Table

• SYS.COM, FORMAT.COM, OFORMAT.COM Fix (original path by  Petr Soucek)
  Modify boot record code from 75 06 to B2 0E at specific location
  This modification causes using INT 13 Extensions(LBA addressing) regardless on partition or media type.
  FC 75 06 -> FC B2 0E
  WARNING: This fix is not intended for computers that do not have support for Int13h extensions!

•  SYS.COM, FORMAT.COM, OFORMAT.COM check OEM System Name (MSWIN4.1; sometimes called the "OEM ID") is the eight-byte ASCII string that identifies the system that formatted the disk. Many floppy disks have the letters IHC in their OEM ID field.The whole string begins with five pseudo-random hex bytes, and always ends with the characters IHC. (Jonathan de Boyne Pollard  &  Daniel B. Sedory a.k.a. TheStarman ). You can replace the OEM string in SYS.COM, FORMAT.COM, OFORMAT.COM from MSWIN4.1 to MSDOS8.0

• Fdisk.exe is  a simple boot manager, if you hard drive have more than one primary partition -use Set active partition option to select bootable partition. IDE hard disks larger than 128 GB using the 48-Bit logical block addressing (LBA). If installed on your computer BIOS does not support 48-Bit LBA, disk space outside the boundaries of 128 GB not specified. Windows ME's FDISK an entry : "MS-DOS Version 8 (C) Copyright 1981-1999." FDISK  may create more than one primary partition, if you after the first primary partition make it hidden by third-party. Fdisk.exe Unable to Partition Drives Larger Than 512 Gigabytes(kb 280737). Maximum Sizes on FAT32 Volumes is 127.53 GB Maximum file size is 4 GB. NTFS compared to FAT and FAT32

• You can install  MS-DOS 8.0 on FAT32 partition  as second OS to boot.ini.

Unofficial standalone Full  installation MS-DOS 8.0 Live CD  ISO image

MS-DOS 8.0 Files without real-mode network drivers
All binary files with strings   "MS-DOS Version 8 (C)Copyright 1981-1999" or "Microsoft"

Contents of the Windows XP SP3 & Windows 7 MS-DOS startup disk extracted by XPBTDSK.EXE from DISKCOPY.DLL.

The MS-DOS startup disk only allows the system to boot into an MS-DOS prompt. The disk contains no additional tools.
 

Contents of the Ebd.cab File recovered from  Windows XP MS-DOS startup disk

DOS Files from Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition OEM CD

DOS Files from Windows XP Service Pack 3 Deployment Tools

DOS Files from  Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 SP1

DOS Files from Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition

DOS Files from Windows XP Embedded SP1 Tools

DOS Files from Windows CE Embedded Tools

DOS Files from IBM PC-DOS

Some features of MS-DOS 8.0 by V. Ashumov is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.multiboot.ru.

MS-DOS Version 8 (C)Copyright 1981-1999 Microsoft Corp Licensed Material - Property of Microsoft All rights reserved.

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