W2K and DOS programs

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August 8th, 2002, 05:30 AM
ageitalia

W2K and DOS programs

I finally concluded formatting my hard disk (an IBM 30 Gb DTLA) was an inevitable choice.
This time I decided to install Windows 2000, according to the majority of experts being it far most better than Windows ME I previously run on my PC.
Just a problem: among the software I use, there's one running under the older Dos. Sorry, there were "newer" release for Windows of this program, but I found them less reliable and powerful, at least imho. Now, I never had any problem running this Dos program under Win9x (Windows 95, 98 and currently Win ME), but now they told me W2K's NTFS system could have some problem with this program. In other words, I could say "arrivederci" to my loved Dos program.
Are there any solutions? I thought to make due partition when formatting my disk, one with a NTFS system, and the other with the older FAT32 system, but I'm not sure this to be a reliable solution. What if I run, under Windows 2000, a Windows application and this Dos application AT THE SAME TIME?

Thank you for your co-operation.
August 8th, 2002, 11:23 AM
tiberiuscan

When XP was first released, it was stated that there would be NO support for DOS programs at all. However, DOS papplications can be run from the Address Bar. (not the address bar you are familiar with via the internet, this one works like the RUN command. You enable the address bar by right clicking the Taskbar, select toolbars, then address. Double clicking the Address label on your system tray expands the Address bar as it does with IE. The address bar will allow you to find the executables and create shortcuts. I've not used it for DOS programs yet but I am told it is possible.
August 8th, 2002, 02:09 PM
Eeyore

tiberiuscan, Windows 2000 is (as I understand it) a version of Windows NT which is a Network based business oriented version. XP is the latest consumer version which accomodates games, and therefore, DOS programs. 2000 was not designed with DOS in mind.

Quote:

What if I run, under Windows 2000, a Windows application and this Dos application AT THE SAME TIME?

If the program will only work under an "Older DOS version", you have to choose at boot which operating system to use. You will not be able to run both simoultaneously.

Quote:

I thought to make due partition when formatting my disk, one with a NTFS system, and the other with the older FAT32 system

You can create 2 partitions. If the program can only run in DOS 6.22 and earlier, you would need a FAT16 partition. You can use a boot manager such as System Commander to select which operating system you want to use for the session. Having a simple boot disk can also accomplish this.

If you do not want to have a separate partition, you can create a Ramdrive to run the program on. This option can be run from a bootable CD, bootdisk and CD, bootdisk and ZIP disk, or a boot manager and files on the hard drive.

Let us know if this is what you are looking for.
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August 9th, 2002, 03:57 PM
tiberiuscan

Hi Eeyore, you are correct in stating that Win 2000 is a version of NT (In fact it's NT5 for those counting). NT4 and NT5 (W2k) both support DOS programs. XP was not supposed to but I have been told that Microsoft's developers changed there minds. DOS applications can and will run in W2k but there are limitations.
1. Direct hardware access. (Windows security will not allow access to hardware outside the BIOS.
2. FAT As you have observed DOS applications are written in FAT but as you also pointed out FAT partitions are the logical choice (limited to 2GBs
3. Graphics display (Will work infull display mode (as it does in Win 98 and 95, but not in a window)
4. Security good ole 16bit Fat doesn't understand NTFS and you can't secure it.
Simply put: ageitalia can try but there are no guarantees.

BTW I recently did setups for a large North American Pipelines company. Some of their mission critical software was DOS. Some programs did work some didn't. In fact we had to 'blow away' several NT4 and W2k machines and go back to Win 95 just to get this software to work. And since it could literally cause the wrong tank to blow up do to overheating or incorrect temperatures it was a pretty good idea to go back to Win 95. (They were never interested in Win 98 for some reason). Still a local Health unit is still using Win 3.1. Whatever works.