# dos install for 3.1



## XSkylerX (Feb 10, 2007)

i need to get dos on a pc so that i can put windows 3.1 on it. i tried the supplementary dos 6.22 disk, but no matter whether the disk is ibm formatted, windows 98 formatted or xp formatted, it comes up with an "invalid system disk. replace the disk then press any key to continue". im not old enough to know how this stuff works so if anyone could please help me that would great. thanks bunches!


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

You need a full version of DOS 6.22. I'm not familiar with a supplementary version of DOS, but I know you need a full version. Windows 3.11 is not a stand-alone operating system. It sits on top of DOS.

Can I ask why you want to install Windows 3.11? Short of having to run a very, very, very old application, I can't think of a good reason.


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## XSkylerX (Feb 10, 2007)

ohhh okay, thanks. ive been wondering why nothing is working right! im glad you asked about why =D im 14 years old, and i built my computer from the trash. im more of a hardware person but id like to get more into my computer, and i couldnt think of a better way then to start with 3.1


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

While I think it's interesting that someone starting out learning about computers wants to start with some history, in this case, I don't see the point. I can't think of a situation where you'll need Windows 3.11 knowledge. You may need to know "DOS" commands known now as command line commands. You can learn that in Windows 2000 and Windows XP. I wouldn't waste any more time on Windows 3.11.


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## XSkylerX (Feb 10, 2007)

lol, yeah. its definitely better than doing my english homework though. windows 3.1, i dont think ill ever use that knowledge either, but this is just for the hell of it. can you buy a version of ms-dos from microsoft?


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

No, you can't. Microsoft doesn't provide such an old OS anymore. They don't even support Windows 98. You might try eBay, but I really wouldn't hold out much hope. Since you're eager to learn, focus on the stuff that is useful. Learn command line commands in Windows 2000 and XP. Learn assembly language. Learn as many versions of Linux as you can. There are so many places to focus your time and energy.


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## XSkylerX (Feb 10, 2007)

that computer that im trying to get 3.1 on, a P3 550mhz 192MB of RAM, 10GB HD, 8MB Rage 128, I'm going to put linux on here really soon. I've got so many 10 and 6 gig hds that it'd be really easy to to just swap hds since I never change anything in it. ive been wanting to learn commands for quite some time, but all i know is ipconfig/release and ipconfig/renew. would FreeDos work for 3.1?


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## Frank4d (Sep 10, 2006)

No, you need MS-Dos installed first, preferably version 5.0 or higher. But if you want to learn some Dos commands, just use the ones that are available in XP.


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## XSkylerX (Feb 10, 2007)

how can i get version 5.0 though? im just messin around with this old OS for fun, I'm definitely going to start learning commands in xp.


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## guitar (Jan 15, 2006)

get it here http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

guitar, those are boot disks, not the full operating system.

XSkylerX, if you want DOS 5 or higher, go to eBay and buy it. You can't download it anywhere. It's not free since it's still a licensed OS.


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## XSkylerX (Feb 10, 2007)

ok, so today i got dos 6.22 full and i installed 3.1 and it worked! now i need help setting up things like a cd drive, if you would be so kind =]


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Here's a generic CD-ROM driver, you'll need one of those. http://www.computerhope.com/download/hardware/oakcdrom.sys

The help page with examples is: http://www.computerhope.com/cdromd.htm

If you check the examples there, they'll show you the line for CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT to enable the CD-ROM. Basically, you need to load the driver in CONFIG.SYS:

*DEVICE=C:\CD-ROM\OAKCDROM.SYS /D:MSCD001*

And load the CD-ROM handler in AUTOEXEC.BAT

*C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001*

The examples page has DEVICEHIGH and LOADHIGH, you can configure EMM386 to use upper memory and give MS-DOS more room.


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## XSkylerX (Feb 10, 2007)

thanx, and how would i set up my sound card? also, how exactly do i set up those drivers, that teacher showed me how but i cant remember...first time for me with dos =] thank you!!


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## zergpc208 (Jan 15, 2006)

No one uses DOS or command line prompts now even computer tech guys don't use it.

You can't get any OS like Windows 3.1 or DOS even if it is old and no one uses it.And there is no such thing like free software .Now every software Microsoft makes is not free .

There may be some computer clubs that use old OS like Windows 3.1 , DOS , or commodore computers some people like old stuff just like some like old cars.

I think there is a DOS command that you type and it gives you a list of all the DOS commands


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## XSkylerX (Feb 10, 2007)

ok i think ive figured this out but i want to be sure. i copy the driver file somewhere on my hard drive. then i edit the "config.sys" file and add the line "DEVICEHIGH=(location of driver) /D:MSCD001" correct? then i edit the autoexec.bat file and add the line "C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE (or C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE) /D:MSCD001" right? im going to attemt it here after i backup these 3.1 installation disks so if i dont get any word not to...im going to do that


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

zergpc208 said:


> No one uses DOS or command line prompts now even computer tech guys don't use it.


I use it. 


> I think there is a DOS command that you type and it gives you a list of all the DOS commands


Try HELP


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

XSkylerX said:


> ok i think ive figured this out but i want to be sure. i copy the driver file somewhere on my hard drive. then i edit the "config.sys" file and add the line "DEVICEHIGH=(location of driver) /D:MSCD001" correct? then i edit the autoexec.bat file and add the line "C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE (or C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE) /D:MSCD001" right? im going to attemt it here after i backup these 3.1 installation disks so if i dont get any word not to...im going to do that


Yep, that's all there should be to it.


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

zergpc208 said:


> No one uses DOS or command line prompts now even computer tech guys don't use it.


Hmmm! I wonder why Microsoft made the PowerShell then. I guess nobody is using that.

Try finding your IP configuration without a cmd prompt in Windows 2000 and XP without installing any 3rd party utilities.


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## jaye944 (Mar 3, 2004)

I think thats great !

ignore thoes people that sayyour wasting your time.

You will learn a lot about building computers, OS's

I loved DOS , 5, win 3.11

great stuff, best part was no-one was writing any nasty virus and stuff.

anyway good luck !

as said got DOS (on about 3 floppy) then get your win 3.11 on about 7 disks

I DID have a copy of 3.11 and DOS, but dont have it anymore, though I will check
(win.3.11 I had the proper disks !

laters



XSkylerX said:


> lol, yeah. its definitely better than doing my english homework though. windows 3.1, i dont think ill ever use that knowledge either, but this is just for the hell of it. can you buy a version of ms-dos from microsoft?


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## Steproy2000 (Mar 1, 2007)

Hey man, don't lisin to zergpc208 saying "No one uses DOS or command line prompts now even computer tech guys don't use it."

Dos is very useful, and i know what i am talking about:up:
I write Batch files which is dos commands that are pre typed so when you excute it it does it all by it self. Plus it is one of the easyist scripting language to learn.

And jaye944, in the old times when dos was THE os there were virus called Batch Virus and other ones to. Achually the first virus every made was in the time were commondor were the computers.


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## XSkylerX (Feb 10, 2007)

ok so theres some use in this, im havin lots of fun too (i must be mental, finding fun in old OS's) but I've installed Doom 2 and I'm trying to figure out how to get drivers for my sound (integrated in a Gateway E-3200). I get sound but all I get is the music. No gun-shot no nothin. I can get sounds to work through Windows 3.1, however, from my understanding, Doom II runs in DOS which means windows is just there, its not doing anything to the game, correct?


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## jaye944 (Mar 3, 2004)

errm yeah eeerrm 

what I ment was that when 3.1 was superceeded, some of the later virus's didnt reaaly effect running 3.1

also when I was using 3.1 (even on the net) I never had any virus probvlems, never had an on-line virus scanner just ran MSAV every now and again, oh and then I had NAV as well.

Now you have webhijackers/keyboard strokes all kinds of isht, dont think any virus's and stuff written for XP/ME would effect 3.1

again if I'm talking sh***te pls ignore me..

only had virus's since I went to 98 !

peace



Steproy2000 said:


> And jaye944, in the old times when dos was THE os there were virus called Batch Virus and other ones to. Achually the first virus every made was in the time were commondor were the computers.


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## jaye944 (Mar 3, 2004)

Doom2, WOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO

I loved a lot of the old DOS games, which a lot now don't work on my existing 98se.

even in dos mode, oir with boot disk

win 3.1 ROCKED



XSkylerX said:


> ok so theres some use in this, im havin lots of fun too (i must be mental, finding fun in old OS's) but I've installed Doom 2 and I'm trying to figure out how to get drivers for my sound (integrated in a Gateway E-3200). I get sound but all I get is the music. No gun-shot no nothin. I can get sounds to work through Windows 3.1, however, from my understanding, Doom II runs in DOS which means windows is just there, its not doing anything to the game, correct?


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## XSkylerX (Feb 10, 2007)

one of the main reasons i got 3.1 was because when i was about 6 i remember my grandpa having 3.1 on an old packard bell with 16mb of ram. later on he put windows 95, but i always loved 3.1 my grandpa wasnt the kind of guy to work on computers, it was mainly for his contracting business. he died when i was 9 and i was so close to him it sucked </3 but 3.1 brings back some good memories! on that p3 550mhz 192mb ram 8mb ati rage, 3.1 loads in about half a second too, makes me laugh when i remember waiting for 30 seconds for that to load up.


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## Dan Penny (Mar 25, 2005)

"Originally Posted by zergpc208
No one uses DOS or command line prompts now even computer tech guys don't use it."

(JohnWill)
"I use it."

So do I.

(jaye944)
"ignore thoes people that sayyour wasting your time."

I concur. Continue with your endeavours, you'll learn, even if it's outdated. Much of todays spectrum has evolved from this early stuff.

What sound device do you have? I have some of the (old) Creative SB 16 installation files (DOS floppies) if you need them.


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## XSkylerX (Feb 10, 2007)

i think i may have gotten soundblaster to work with it, but thank you. ill get back to you if i need them. ive got another problem in windows right now though. ive got 192MB of ram in this and every time I try to run IE4, it says:

"Microsoft Internet Tools for Windows 3.1/NT 3.51
requires a configuration of more than 4 megabytes for
reasonable performance.
on smaller machines, please continue to use smaller
version of Internet Explorer."

so how do I configure DOS to use my memory?


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

In the bad old days, too much memory was also an issue and various applications would choke. I don't remember from the 3.1 days, but I do remember that if you didn't change some parameters, W98 would choke on more than 512mb of memory.


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## XSkylerX (Feb 10, 2007)

I put a 32MB stick in there and it seems to work =[ am i gonna miss it you think? also, any help with hooking up the computer to my router, how can I set up the drivers for that? can windows 3.1 even use an ethernet connection?


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## Frank4d (Sep 10, 2006)

It has been a loooong time since I ran a system that booted from MSDOS, but I think you need to load a memory manager in config.sys:

DOS=high,umb
device=c:\windows\himem.sys 
device=c:\windows\emm386.exe noems

(or whatever folder himem.sys and emm386.exe are located in).

And yes, Windows 3.1 does work with an ethernet connection.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Windows 3.1 most certainly did networking, they used MS-DOS network drivers, and it was really fun to configure some of them. There was also WFWG (Windows For Workgroups), which has enhanced networking capability. If you do a Google search on Windows 3.1 networking, you'll get lots of hits. 

Here's some reading that should get you started: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_3.1x


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## zergpc208 (Jan 15, 2006)

And why do guys like to use DOS or command line prompts ? I don't and wil never use DOS or command line prompts .

Well only thing I can see using windows-3.1 one you can play all the old games.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Quick, tell me how to display your IP configuration without using a command prompt with XP. There are many other examples.

That's why.


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

JohnWill said:


> Quick, tell me how to display your IP configuration without using a command prompt with XP. There are many other examples.
> 
> That's why.


I think I proposed that question to him earlier and did not get a response.


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## Steproy2000 (Mar 1, 2007)

> And why do guys like to use DOS or command line prompts ? I don't and wil never use DOS or command line prompts .


You can need it to fix a computer or if your computer does not start for x problem well dos can sometimes help you. and if you asking your self how you can boot a computer in dos when it does not boot in windows well you put in a dos start up diskette.


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## new tech guy (Mar 27, 2006)

To add to that in the days that my project tux box had win2k, i used an old rickety dos bootdisk to load a bios update. And i might listen to some of this too as my old comp has a win 98 dualboot with linux and would like to learn command prompts more.


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

new tech guy said:


> and would like to learn command prompts more.


At a prompt, type HELP. Then type any command listed followed by /? to see the available switches.


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## new tech guy (Mar 27, 2006)

Ok maybe play with it in 98 one day.


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## html81993 (Jul 8, 2005)

JohnWill said:


> I use it.  Try HELP


HELP works. I am teaching myself some DOS with a book. What the book recomends (Harnessing DOS 6.0 Batch Files and Commnad Macro Power by Craig Menefee and Nick Anis) is to use the "pipe" (| or Shift+Key below Backspace) and type more. The actual command before you hit enter is "HELP |MORE". This will give you the first set of commands alpahbetically(filling the screen), then prompting you to hit enter to go onto the next command. This will allow you to read all of them, versus just "HELP", which rushes all of the commands and what they do down the screen, so all you see is the last few commands. Hope this helps in your DOS learning.


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## ZeRealBigBoss (Mar 17, 2007)

@zerpc208:
You stated:
>> No one uses DOS or command line prompts now even computer tech guys don't use it.

You can't get any OS like Windows 3.1 or DOS even if it is old and no one uses it.And there is no such thing like free software .Now every software Microsoft makes is not free .

There may be some computer clubs that use old OS like Windows 3.1 , DOS , or commodore computers some people like old stuff just like some like old cars.
<<

Obviously you have no idea what goes on in the industrial automation and in the embedded applications if they use minature PCs. Windows is too unreliable and not real-time, so any serious automation company uses applications and TCP/IP networking under DOS; nowadays also Linux is getting in. 

Old cars? Maybe you think that C and Assembler are antiquated too?


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## ZeRealBigBoss (Mar 17, 2007)

html81993: search in eMule & co for MSDOS. You will find complete handbooks in PDF or TXT there.


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## new tech guy (Mar 27, 2006)

Umm i wouldnt recomend that as it is copyright infringement and we do not support that here on tsg forums. Check the rules page.


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## html81993 (Jul 8, 2005)

ZeRealBigBoss said:


> html81993: search in eMule & co for MSDOS. You will find complete handbooks in PDF or TXT there.





new tech guy said:


> Umm i wouldnt recomend that as it is copyright infringement and we do not support that here on tsg forums. Check the rules page.


Besides, I am almost done with a library book, which is way better than breaking the law of copyright infringement.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

ZeRealBigBoss said:


> html81993: search in eMule & co for MSDOS. You will find complete handbooks in PDF or TXT there.


You need to visit the TSG Rules if you're planning on continuing to post here. We don't allow help with illegal acts or P2P applications. Please don't suggest such "solutions" here in the future.


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## ZeRealBigBoss (Mar 17, 2007)

I am sorry if I suggested something that does violate copyrights; it is the last thing that I would like to experience with my things and neither wish onto someone else.

However, not all handbooks are copyrighted; a lot of people wrote a summere DOS handbook and placed it in the public domain.

DR-Dos was (still is?) free, see

http://members.chello.at/theodor.lauppert/dos/drdos.htm

For sure free is FreeDOS:

http://www.freedos.org

and also have a look here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDOS
http://www.deltasoft.com/downldoc.html


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## ZeRealBigBoss (Mar 17, 2007)

Although EnhancedDRDOS is free, DRDos itself apparently is not free anymore, but the documentation is:

http://www.drdos.com/dosdoc/

A complete site for free and GNU DOS versions and docs:

http://www.unet.univie.ac.at/~a0503736/php/drdoswiki/index.php

The use of P2P and FTP does not always imply breaking laws.


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## ZeRealBigBoss (Mar 17, 2007)

Last one on this; my honour was challenged.

http://www.drdos.net/documentation/
http://www.easydos.com/
http://www.nukesoft.co.uk/msdos/
http://www.pcxt-micro.com/dos-overview.html


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

ZeRealBigBoss said:


> The use of P2P and FTP does not always imply breaking laws.


Please read the TSG Rules again. We don't allow the discussion of P2P applications or their uses here, so it's breaking "our" laws.


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