I have a computer (an oooold ALR, 486DX-66) that has a hard drive that boots to DOS 6.22.
This ALR computer boots to DOS, loads network drivers (it has an old Dlink DE-220 network card). It then maps a drive to a Windows Server, logs in, and runs an old legacy program. It has a floppy drive, no CD, no USB.
I am trying to make a DOS 6.22 boot floppy that will boot the same way the C: drive boots. I have made a bootable floppy, I have copied the config.sys and autoexec.bat files to the floppy, along with any files that are referenced. I also copied the c:\net3 directory files that I thought were necessary. (I can't copy all of them because of a lack of floppy disk space.) I edited the config.sys and autoexec.bat to reference the copied files on the floppy instead of the hard drive.
I can reboot the computer from the floppy drive, but it fails at the "a:\net3\net initialize" command. This seems simple, but it's apparently not. I have tried copying all of the *.dos, *.ini files from the c:\net3 directory, along with anything else that I could fit and that I thought was useful to the network boot. But the "net initialize" command keeps failing. (I'm sorry I don't have the exact error message in front of me.)
Does anyone have any instruction or knowledge about why I can't follow the same commands from a floppy that the hard drive uses?
Below are the config.sys and autoexec.bat, and the listing for the c:\net3 directory.
config.sys (I copied the himem.sys and emm386.exe to the floppy and changed to a:\himem.sys, etc...)
device=c:\dos\emm386.exe noems
dos=high,umb
buffers=31,0
files=71
device=C:\NET3\ifshlp.sys
LASTDRIVE=Z
autoexec.bat (again, this is from the c:\ drive. I changed all the drive references to a:)
PROMPT $p$g
SET CLIPPER=E0 ;F75
PATH=C:\NET2;c:\;c:\dos
C:\NET3\netbind.com
C:\NET3\umb.com
C:\NET3\tcptsr.exe
C:\NET3\tinyrfc.exe
C:\NET3\nmtsr.exe
C:\NET3\emsbfr.exe
set comspec=c:\command.com
net logon clock clock /yes
net use f: \\dtsvr1\dt5
f:
cd\shoe
shoeprog
Here is a listing of the full C:\net3 folder:
Volume in drive C is D1
Volume Serial Number is 4452-131E
Directory of C:\NET3
. <DIR> 12-05-20 2:19p
.. <DIR> 12-05-20 2:19p
WFWSYS CFG 840 08-26-17 2:57p
SHARES PWL 622 08-26-17 2:57p
SETUP EXE 286,032 04-28-95 10:07a
README TXT 18,194 05-25-95 1:55p
CONNECT DAT 40 12-05-20 1:01a
AUTOEXEC BAT 329 12-05-20 2:36p
CLOCK PWL 626 08-26-17 2:43p
OEMTCPIP INF 1,673 08-31-94 12:00a
PROTOCOL INI 384 12-05-20 2:25p
OEM0 INF 40,800 08-26-17 9:49a
PROTOCOL 001 123 08-26-17 1:39p
HOSTS 754 08-26-17 3:01p
IPCONFIG EXE 11,205 08-31-94 12:00a
LMHOSTS 887 07-09-18 8:17a
NEMM DOS 2,619 08-31-94 12:00a
NETBIND COM 8,513 08-31-94 12:00a
NETWORKS 395 08-31-94 6:52p
NMTSR EXE 22,826 08-31-94 12:00a
PING EXE 66,460 08-31-94 12:00a
PROTOCOL 795 08-31-94 6:52p
SERVICES 5,973 05-08-95 2:34p
SOCKETS EXE 50,096 09-01-94 1:22p
TCPDRV DOS 4,174 08-31-94 12:00a
IO SYS 40,774 05-31-94 6:22a
MSDOS SYS 38,138 05-31-94 6:22a
TCPTSR BAD 71,040 08-31-94 12:00a
TCPUTILS INI 233 08-31-94 12:00a
TINYRFC EXE 37,024 12-01-94 7:39p
UMB COM 3,325 08-31-94 12:00a
VBAPI 386 9,524 08-31-94 12:00a
VSOCKETS 386 9,535 08-31-94 12:00a
WINSOCK DLL 48,288 01-23-95 3:21p
WIN_SOCK DLL 30,912 08-31-94 12:00a
WSOCKETS DLL 33,280 08-31-94 12:00a
WCSETUP INF 1,477 08-31-94 12:00a
NET MSG 76,234 03-03-95 7:11p
NETH MSG 123,066 03-03-95 7:12p
NE2000 DOS 13,838 08-31-94 12:00a
DNR EXE 31,312 12-16-94 6:47p
EMSBFR EXE 4,294 08-31-94 12:00a
NET EXE 450,326 02-07-95 12:40p
IFSHLP SYS 4,644 08-31-94 12:00a
EXPAND EXE 16,378 08-31-94 12:00a
RASCOPY BAT 2,639 08-31-94 12:00a
NWLINK EXE 27,670 08-30-94 2:05p
TCPTSR EXE 71,040 08-31-94 12:00a
OEMRAS INF 919 08-31-94 12:00a
OEM1 INF 478 08-26-17 9:49a
SYSTEM INI 504 12-05-20 2:28p
OEMODI INF 431 08-31-94 12:00a
OEMDLC INF 688 08-31-94 12:00a
PROTOCOL 002 373 08-26-17 1:53p
PROTMAN EXE 13,782 08-31-94 12:00a
ADDNAME EXE 19,569 08-31-94 12:00a
SETUP INF 1,477 08-31-94 12:00a
PROTMAN DOS 21,940 08-31-94 12:00a
NETWORK INF 37,231 08-31-94 12:00a
DE22X DOS 28,832 08-26-17 9:49a
CONFIG SYS 135 12-05-20 2:24p
61 file(s) 1,795,710 bytes
2,120,613,888 bytes free
I have looked at netbootdisk.com, but that disk would not load the network programs into the RAM drive on the ALR. I did not investigate why.
I would be happy to use FreeDOS, if I could boot up to the network. But I didn't see in the documentation that as a strong point in FreeDOS.
My theory is that one of the configuration files in the \net3 folder is referencing another file that I haven't copied.
Any help, as always, is appreciated.
-T
