Windows 95 Set-up Tips for CT

Copyright (c) 1996, Robert L. Hummel, WS1A
rhummel@cheshire.net

I have seen enough queries over time that I feel this information on DOS and Win95 might be useful to CT users and the contest community as a whole.

In general, Windows 3.x respected the sovereignty of your computer system. Windows assumed, for example, that you would install DOS, optimize your memory configuration, and generally perform all the required low-level work. But doing so properly often resulted in confusion and frustration for new users.

Windows 95 is markedly different. It takes over your system completely, installing not only itself, but a new version of MS-DOS as well. After installation, it determines the configuration it needs and stores a record of those options in a text configuration file named MSDOS.SYS.

In MS-DOS 6.22 and earlier versions of DOS, MSDOS.SYS was one of the two binary files that made up the DOS system. (The other was called IO.SYS.) Under MS-DOS 7, however, IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS have been combined into a single file called IO.SYS. MSDOS.SYS is now an ordinary ASCII text file. And by changing the settings in that file, you can wrest back control of your system from Windows 95.

Prepping for Surgery

Before you can reconfigure your Windows 95 system, you'll need access to your MSDOS.SYS file. From within Windows 95, click Start, point to Programs, and then click MS-DOS Prompt. When the DOS prompt appears, type the following commands:

C:
CD \
ATTRIB -R -S -H MSDOS.SYS
EDIT MSDOS.SYS    

Alternately, you can click the Start button, point to Find, and then click Files or Folders. In the Named box, type MSDOS.SYS and press Enter. Use your right mouse button to click the MSDOS.SYS file, and then select Properties. Click the Hidden and Read Only attributes so their checkboxes are clear. Click OK. Finally, double-click the MSDOS.SYS file in the results window to start the editor. (If an editor isn't associated with the file, simply choose Notepad.)

Regardless of how you get to it, you'll see a file divided into sections by bracketed titles, much the same way as the WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI files were under Windows 3.x.

The [Paths] section is straightforward, containing information about where Windows 95 can find its files. The selection UninstallDir appears only if you chose the option to uninstall Windows 95 during installation. The comment at the end portion of the file is self-explanatory. Don't change the entries in either of those sections.

The file section that we're interested in begins under the [Options] heading. In Figure A, this section is empty. Your system may already contain a few options that relate to networking or double buffering for SCSI hard drives -- we won't change those. Table A (at the end of the article) lists and defines the ten options that you can change to control your system.

Before you make any changes to your MSDOS.SYS, back it up. Either copy the file to another directory or a floppy disk or print out a copy. That way, if you confuse things too badly, you can always restore your old configuration.

Retrograde Windows

By picking and choosing your MSDOS.SYS options, you can program Windows 95 to suit your particular needs. But there's one configuration that's very popular: making Windows 95 behave like your old DOS/Windows 3.x system. In other words, when you turn on your PC, you'll boot to the DOS prompt. Then, when you need it, you can start Windows with the WIN command. And finally, when you exit Windows you'll return to DOS, just as you always have.

Doing so requires only a few changes to the [Options] section of your MSDOS.SYS file. Any options that appear in your MSDOS.SYS file that aren't specifically listed here should be left exactly as they are. The section should contain the following commands:

Logo=0
BootWin=1
BootGUI=0
BootKeys=1
BootMulti=1
BootMenu=0
DisableLog=1    

I'm one of those folks that are really bothered by the logo splash screen that displays when Windows starts up -- its like an unwanted commercial. On a practical note, the graphic covers up what's going on behind the scenes -- things you may want to watch. Because you're booting into DOS, save a few nanoseconds by setting Logo=0.

The BootWin=1 option says that you want to boot into the MS-DOS 7 system -- not your previous version of DOS. Setting BootGUI=0 is the next key component of this new configuration. It tells your system to stop loading programs when it reaches the DOS command prompt. In other words, it won't automatically type the WIN command.

To provide the most flexibility, enable the BootKeys and BootMulti options by setting them to 1. This lets you control the system's boot using the F4, F5, SHIFT+F5, F6, F8, or SHIFT+F8 keys. The BootMenu=0 option suppresses display of the boot menu unless you specifically activate it by pressing F8.

By default, Windows writes a log to disk listing the programs and components it loads. If the system is having trouble with new device drivers or hardware, this can be useful information. But if the system is running fine, writing the log just wastes time. To eliminate this unnecessary disk activity during the boot sequence, disable the log by setting DisableLog=1.

Finally, save your changes and exit the editor. From within Windows 95, click Start and select Shut Down. Select "Restart the computer" and click OK. When your PC restarts, you'll be greeted by the MS-DOS 7 prompt! To verify this, execute the VER command. You should see a response similar to the following:

Window 95. [Version 4.00]

The final step is to create a batch file that will restore your system when you exit Windows. By default, Windows leaves your system in an unusable graphics mode. Fixing this requires only that you create a simple batch program.

First, go to your Windows directory; On most systems, this will be C:\WINDOWS. Next, create a batch file named WIN95.BAT that contains the following two commands:

WIN
MODE CO80    

Now, when you want to start Windows, use the command WIN95. And when you exit Windows by choosing Shutdown from the Start menu, you'll be returned to the familiar DOS prompt.