Dual-Boot Capability for a WINDOWS 95 Installation
by Phil Wilking

One of the features Windows 95 is supposed to have is the ability to bypass
Windows altogether and to "boot up" in an older version of MS-DOS than the
"version 7" which the "MS-DOS PROMPT" selection on the task bar will give
you. If you have tried to make your computer do this, you almost certainly
have found that it does not work. Here is how to set up your computer to
make it work:

If you have bought your personal computer fairly recently, it probably came
with Windows 95 preloaded on the hard drive. Step one is to find out just
which version of Windows 95 you have. "Right click" your mouse on the "My
Computer" icon to pop up the menu and "left click" on the "Properties"
selection of that menu. The version number of the operating system will
appear on the screen.

If the version is 4.00.950 or 4.00.950a, you should skip the section below
labeled "Users of O.E.M. Release 2 start here," and procede directly to the
section labeled "Users of previous versions start here."

If the version number ends in "950b," you have O.E.M. Release 2.

Users of O.E.M. Release 2 start here:

The version of Windows 95 now coming preloaded on new computers has a nasty
way of rendering itself inoperative when you try to use the dual boot
feature. Jrg Weske of Germany has devised a fix which you may have for the
asking. Packaged with this essay is a copy of his file W95BOOT.ZIP. If you
wish to check for a later version, you may call his World Wide Web site at:

               http://www.tu-chemnitz.de /~jwes/win95boot.html

W95BOOT.ZIP contains a text file which explains the problem and the solution
for it, and also a utility to apply that solution. Once you have used the
utility, procede to the section below.

Users of previous versions start here:

      **** READ ALL THE TEXT BEFORE YOU BEGIN TO DO ANY WORK!!! **** 

If your already installed Windows 95 version number ends in "950" or "950a,"
you do not have Release 2 and its problem. Also, the version of Windows 95
available in stores to allow you to install your own upgrade is not
Release 2. The following paragraphs are directed first toward those who are
contemplating installing their own upgrade, but they should serve to guide
those who already have an installed older version of Windows 95.

For those of you who have been tempted to install Windows 95 on your personal
computers, but who have not done so because they do not wish to lose the
ability to "boot up" in pure DOS, The following procedure will "let you have
it both ways."

It is easier to follow this procedure before installing Windows 95, but it
can be adapted to retrofit straight MS-DOS onto a computer which already has
Windows 95 installed.

To establish "Dual Boot" capability, which will allow you to retain the
ability to boot to basic MS-DOS, and completely bypass the "DOS Box" in
Windows, do the following BEFORE you install WINDOWS 95:

1)  Copy your entire "DOS" subdirectory to a new subdirectory which has a
    completely different name. Include everything in the original sub-
    directory and its sub-sub-directories (a copy of COMMAND.COM should go in
    here too.) The XCOPY command with the /S and /E switches will do the job
    very nicely.

2)  Make copies of CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, and COMMAND.COM in the C:\ root
    directory and call them CONFIG.DOS, AUTOEXEC.DOS, and COMMAND.DOS,
    respectively.

3)  Use the ATTRIB command to "-R -H -S" MSDOS.SYS and IO.SYS (these are the
    two "hidden operating files" of the MS-DOS system.

4)  Make root directory copies of the two files you just uncovered. Call
    these copies MSDOS.DOS and IO.DOS, respectively.

5)  Rehide the "hidden files." (ATTRIB +R +H +S)

6)  Install WINDOWS 95. Use the CD-ROM installation package if you can, it
    has a few extra utilities on it which the floppy disc package does not
    have room for.

7)  After the installation is complete, "click" on the "START" icon on the
    "Task Bar," then click on the "Programs" selection, and then click on the
    "MS-DOS Prompt" selection of the pop-up menu. This will put you into a
    Windows 95 "DOS Box."

8)  Copy your MS-DOS backup subdirectory which you made in step 1 back into
    the original DOS subdirectory. Include all sub-sub-directories. The
    reason for this is that the WINDOWS 95 installation has crippled more
    than half of the MS-DOS utilities without telling you about it.

9)  Now use the ATTRIB command to "-R -H -S" the MSDOS.SYS file. This will be
    the WINDOWS 95 version of the file.

10) Enter the command  EDIT MSDOS.SYS<ENTER>. You will find that the file is
    a text file despite its ".SYS" extension. The beginning of the file
    starts with a "[PATHS]" section and then an "[OPTIONS]" section. You will
    make sure that the "BootMulti=1" option is set.
    
    If the number is "0" (zero), change it to a "1" and change NOTHING else
    in the file. If the "BootMulti" entry is missing completely, add
    "BootMulti=1" (no quotaion marks) immediately following the [Options]
    section title, and change nothing else in the file.


    Below is a sample of how the beginning of the MSDOS.SYS file should look
    when you have finished:


    [Paths]
    WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
    WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
    HostWinBootDrv=C

    [Options]
    BootMulti=1
    BootGUI=1
    ;
    ;The following lines are required for compatibility with other programs.
    ;Do not remove them (MSDOS.SYS needs to be >1024 bytes).



11) Use ATTRIB +R +H +S to rehide MSDOS.SYS.

12) If you have done everything properly, you now have "Dual-Boot"
    capability. To use it, restart your computer. When the text appears which
    announces "Starting Windows 95," press F8. This should give you a pop-up
    menu which offers several choices of starting modes for the boot process.
    One of the choices will be "Start previous version of MS-DOS." You can
    bypass the menu and go straight to your old MS-DOS if you will press F4
    instead of F8.

13) If you have already installed WINDOWS 95, and wish to restore dual-boot
    capability to your computer, you will need to dig out your MS-DOS
    installation or backup discs to make the 3 system *.DOS files to put into
    the root directory. Then edit the (W95) MSDOS.SYS file as described in
    paragraph 10). You also will need to write whatever CONFIG.DOS and
    AUTOEXEC.DOS files you want to have.

    You then will need to copy all the DOS floppy disc files into the C:\DOS
    subdirectory because of the crippling mentioned in paragraph 8).

14) In case you worry about the MS-DOS versions of the various utilities
    causing conflicts with the WINDOWS 95 versions, conflict is avoided by
    the PATH statement. The "DOS-box" sets up paths to the W95 versions. Your
    AUTOEXEC.DOS file should set up paths to the DOS versions. Since no
    utilities should be in the root directory, each system should remain
    completely ignorant of the other's files.

15) To return to Windows 95 when you have finished using "real" MS-DOS,
    simply reboot (CTRL+ALT+DELETE).
 
IMPORTANT: If, while using your older version of MS-DOS, you examine a list
of the files in the ROOT directory of your C:\ drive, you will see some files
with the extension "W40" which you did not put there. Do not erase these
files; they are the files the computer will use to reactivate Windows 95 when
you reboot.


