bootable USB into DOS

A

ashrack

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 15, 2006
Messages
145
I would like to create a bootable dos like environment, was thinking W98 system files, with my 4GB USB key.
The problem is that every guide I have found first requires formating the thumb drive.
Is there a way to do this without formating the whole drive but just to copy the system files on it and add MBR data?
 
My guess is, it would need to be formatted to get the proper bootloader on it. Couldn't you just copy the data off, format it, and then copy the data back?
 
I did that about a year ago. I wanted to create a DOS environment which I could run Ghost from. It was a huge PITA to get working, and once I did finally get it working, it wasn't all that great. Unless there is a reason you MUST have pure DOS on there, install BartPe to the flash drive, it's much more useful and there are a billion how to articles on the web.

And Yes, you will have to format the drive so you can make it bootable. Get HP's flash disk utility as it is one of the easiest to use.
 
That sucks that I have to reformat the USB drive.

I do not understand why is it so hard to write a new MBR and copy boot records to it without formating?
When booting to recovery mode with Windows CD I just issue 'fixboot' and 'fixmbr' when my boot records are damaged.
 
ashrack said:
I do not understand why......
Click to expand...
...it is such a big deal to format the drive. In the time it took you to type your last post, you could have copied your data off, formatted it, and copied your data back.

Honestly, if this is such a big deal, find a smaller, cheaper USB flash drive, and use that for your booting duties. I keep 2 32 MB drives specifically for DOS, and then use my 2 GB for PortableApps.com and a 4 GB for basic storage. You're making this out to be much more complicated than it has to be.
 
its not a big deal it is just that I would like to know how come it is not possible without a format since it was possible to do this with Floopy drives, HDD,.. but not USB drives.
 
You can do it without formatting. You'll need the following:

1. Floppy Drive
2. Bootable DOS/Win98 System Disk with USB support


First thing, boot to the floppy disk. You'll probably be at an A: prompt. At this point, you need to find the drive letter of your USB drive. So keep changing drive letters until you find the one that corresponds to your USB drive. I'm going to call it C:

Now that we know the drive letter, you need to find the SYS program. It's probably in the \Dos directory, but do

Code: 
dir sys.* /s

and it will show you the path to it. Type

Code: 
cd \<folder sys is in>

And you should be at an A:\<folder sys is in>> prompt. Enter the following:

Code: 
Sys <usb drive letter>

After a few seconds you'll get a message saying The System has been Transfered.

done.


It might look like a lot of work, but it's really not.


Of course, if you don't have a floppy drive, you could use a virtual machine to boot up to the floppy disk and perform the operations by mounting an Image of your boot floppy.
 
thx. used virtual floppy and now I have a functional dos prompt from where I can easily run MEMTEST and other dos based utitlites
 
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