Guest Chris Bondy Posted July 16, 2008 Posted July 16, 2008 I'm trying to locate the msdos.sys file. I currently have windows selected to show hidden files and folders under the "tools" option so why can't I find it? I'm using Windows XP Home
Guest David B. Posted July 16, 2008 Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Can't find msdos.sys Probably because that is not part of an XP installation, it is part of Windows ME/ Windows 98 and below. -- ---- Crosspost, do not multipost http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm How to ask a question http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375 "Chris Bondy" <ChrisBondy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:B07F9737-FC34-4788-8E45-842CE00295B4@microsoft.com... > I'm trying to locate the msdos.sys file. I currently have windows > selected > to show hidden files and folders under the "tools" option so why can't I > find > it? I'm using Windows XP Home
Guest David B. Posted July 16, 2008 Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Can't find msdos.sys Although I've noticed it on a few machines, maybe my 1st reply was incorrect? You need to unhide protected operating system files as well to see it. -- ---- Crosspost, do not multipost http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm How to ask a question http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375 "Chris Bondy" <ChrisBondy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:B07F9737-FC34-4788-8E45-842CE00295B4@microsoft.com... > I'm trying to locate the msdos.sys file. I currently have windows > selected > to show hidden files and folders under the "tools" option so why can't I > find > it? I'm using Windows XP Home
Guest Ian D Posted July 16, 2008 Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Can't find msdos.sys "Chris Bondy" <ChrisBondy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:B07F9737-FC34-4788-8E45-842CE00295B4@microsoft.com... > I'm trying to locate the msdos.sys file. I currently have windows > selected > to show hidden files and folders under the "tools" option so why can't I > find > it? I'm using Windows XP Home It's in the XP boot partition root directory, but it's a zero byte file, along with autoexec.bat, config.sys, and io.sys for compatibility purposes.
Guest Ken Blake, MVP Posted July 16, 2008 Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Can't find msdos.sys On Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:34:00 -0700, Chris Bondy <ChrisBondy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: > I'm trying to locate the msdos.sys file. I currently have windows selected > to show hidden files and folders under the "tools" option so why can't I find > it? I'm using Windows XP Home You also have to uncheck "Hide protected operating system files." -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience Please Reply to the Newsgroup
Guest VanguardLH Posted July 16, 2008 Posted July 16, 2008 Re: Can't find msdos.sys David B. wrote: > Although I've noticed it on a few machines, maybe my 1st reply was > incorrect? You need to unhide protected operating system files as well to > see it. If present, it is a 0 (zero) byte sized file (i.e., empty). The MS-DOS version cannot be used under an NT-based version of Windows since programs are not allowed direct access to hardware. It only exists for compatibility should some old DOS-based program try to see if it exists and to add or read config values from it. Unlike in MS-DOS where msdos.sys was a binary file (to load the kernel), it is a text file under 9x/ME versions of Windows. Read: http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article07-021 So it is possible for this file to contain entries that old DOS-based programs put in there during their installation under Windows XP. If it is empty, you haven't installed any old DOS-based programs that updated this file. Besides, you'll probably have better luck running such an old DOS-based program in a virtual machine where MS-DOS was installed, like VMware Server, Virtual PC, or DOSbox (all free), rather than hope compatibility mode gets it working under an NT-based version of Windows.
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