How to install MSDOS from floppy to harddrive?
I have a bootable MSDos system. I would like to install it on the current PC so that I can boot from HDD instead of Floppy. How can I do that?
I am doing this in virtualbox, but a general solution would be nice.
Disclaimer: It's been at least two decades since I last did this, so I may have forgotten some details.
If you've got the system booted from a MSDOS floppy, the way to install the same boot-system onto the local harddrive is as follows:
sys a: c:
(presuming that the floppy is a: and the harddrive is c:)
sys is a shell builtin, along with dir, del, cd, and the other basics. It is worth noting that using the sys command will make the drive only bootable with MSDOS, and I think I remember that you also have to copy over command.com manually:
copy a:\command.com c:
command.com is the main component of msdos, and it therefore holds the shell builtins. On top of that there are three system files: autoexec.bat, system.ini, and config.sys. I can't remember which of those (if any) are required (config.sys, probably), but to be safe you can copy those over as well, using the same method as for command.com.
You might also want to find some msdos install floppies/images to get the useful utilities over. I belive 5.0 or later was what had "all" of the utilities I ever needed.
EDIT
The comments to this answer is indeed correct: MSDOS.SYS and IO.SYS are also needed. Running the sys command above may or may not take care of copying these over; if not you'll have to do it manually.
- Make a system floppy disk by the good old command: FORMAT A: /S command or boot from whatever has the MS-DOS system files and can boot from it
- Make sure command.com is also on it, if not, manually copy it
- Boot from FDD and make sure the drive you want to put the system on is correctly detected and then use sys a: c: command
- For usage in VM environment, you can get a buildable DOS ISO from sites like http://www.allbootdisks.com/download/iso.html . Use the same command to make your C:\ bootable.