Would like to call special attention to John Lewery and Laurence on their messages at http://computing.net/dos/wwwboard/forum/6781.html and on my addition. Sure, comments would be appreciated too.

Here's a batch I've been toying with. It is chock full of information, so read carefully. ::reboot98.bat :: Try this one too: :: rundll32 krnl386.exe,exitkernel :: @ECHO off IF "%1"=="" GOTO closewin FOR %%n in (0 1 2 4 5 6 8) do IF %1==%%n GOTO run GOTO help http://members.aol.com/axcel216/msdos.htm Windows 95/98/ME Complete MSDOS.SYS Reference http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q118/5/79.asp Contents of the Windows Msdos.sys File You have to edit msdos.sys (mind the read-only attribute) to prevent booting to GUI. Change "BootGUI=1" to 0 then rename LOGOS.SYS and LOGOW.SYS found in the windows folder. These are just plain old bitmap files with a different extension. You may even want to get rid of the splash on boot by placing a "LOGO=0" in the same section. ... From earlier posts by Tom Lavedas: For Win 9x and NT (extracted from article in PC Magazine) ... Close all programs and prompt you to log on: rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx A complete system reboot, use the command line: rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx 2 rundll.exe user.exe, ExitWindowsExec EW_REBOOTSYSTEM , 0 Power down the system (for laptops): rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx 5 from other sources ... rundll32.exe User.exe,ExitWindowsExec 5 % restarts % rundll32.exe User.exe,ExitWindows % shuts down % One approach I know of is to Set BootGui=0 in the MSDOS.SYS file, add a 'WIN' statement to the end of the Autoexec.bat file (create the bat if necessary) and add a 'MODE co80' line after the WIN statement. Then when the batch or a shortcut issues the following statement ... rundll32.exe User.exe,ExitWindows % shuts down % the system will exit to a pure DOS prompt. It is reported that the system may not be too stable in this condition, but I have not done any testing myself. ... http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q234/2/16.asp How to Exit Windows 98/Me Automatically Using a Batch File http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q238/0/96.ASP Problems Shutting Down Windows 98 Second Edition AFAIK, it was an executable patch. I believe I used this download... http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/downloads/bin/w98/4756US8.EXE Is it possible to close Windows (98) and return to DOS? As in the Win1-3.x days? Yes, you can: 1. Set BootGUI=0 in MSDOS.SYS. Without this, there is no shell for Windoze to return to. 2. Run %windir%\system\msconfig.exe. Select Advanced... Set Disable fast shutdown. I have Win98SE and this "Disable fast shutdown" option is not there. What gives? That's odd. What is the version and file size of your msconfig.exe? Mine is 4.10.1998 and it takes 69,632 bytes. When you apply the patch, the FastReboot option will be disabled. The patch also replaces msconfig.exe, and a few other files, so the FastReboot option will no longer be user accessible. Well, not through msconfig.exe anyway, but you can still set it active through the registry. Anyway, this registry hack will probably work just as well: [HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Shutdown] "FastReboot"="0" :: untested.bat, but should also work @echo off echo FastReboot Menu (for use with Win 98 only!) echo. echo 0 - Disable echo 1 - Enable echo. choice /c12 Selection: if errorlevel 2 set FastReboot=1 if errorlevel 1 set FastReboot=0 if %FastReboot%'==' goto end echo REGEDIT4>tmp.reg echo [HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Shutdown]>>tmp.reg echo "FastReboot"="%FastReboot%">>tmp.reg start /wait regedit tmp.reg del tmp.reg :end You should now be able to return to DOS using the "Shut Down" command of the Start Menu. BTW, msconfig.exe from Win98 works in Win95 too. Alas, if you have an ATX computer, you'll find that Windows will power down the machine. To prevent this you will need to beat win.com into shape: debug %windir%\win.com -s 100,f000 cd,15 Debug will list a number of addresses where INT 15 instructions were found: 0BE4:1367 0BE4:13A8 0BE4:13B2 [etc.] Begin disassembly at the first address: -u 1367 0BE4:1367 CD15 INT 15 0BE4:1369 7303 JNB 136E 0BE4:136B E99C00 JMP 140A 0BE4:136E 81FB4D50 CMP BX,504D [etc.] Win.com is looking for APM. Such behaviour is clearly undesirable, so quell it: -a 1369 0BE4:1369 nop 0BE4:136A nop 0BE4:136B Now save your work and return to the command prompt: -w Writing 060D7 bytes -q Congratulations. You have eliminated a major annoyance of Win98. Win95 has the same effect on ATX machines too. :help ECHO. ECHO restart Windows 98/Me automatically: ECHO. ECHO runonce.exe -q ECHO. ECHO rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx n ECHO. ECHO where n is one, or a combination of, the following numbers: ECHO. ECHO 0 - LOGOFF ECHO. ECHO 1 - SHUTDOWN ECHO. ECHO 2 - REBOOT ECHO. ECHO 4 - FORCE ECHO. ECHO 8 - POWEROFF ECHO. PAUSE ECHO The above options can be combined into one value to achieve ECHO different results. For example, to restart Windows forcefully, ECHO without querying any running programs, use the following ECHO command line: ECHO. ECHO rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx 6 ECHO. ECHO NOTE: Using the FORCE option can cause programs to lose data. ECHO. ECHO Below is an explanation of each available option used with the ECHO above command line: ECHO. ECHO 0 - LOGOFF ECHO Shuts down all running processes, then logs the user off. ECHO. ECHO 8 - POWEROFF ECHO Shuts down the system and turns off the power. The ECHO system must support the power-off feature. ECHO. ECHO 2 - REBOOT ECHO Shuts down the system and then restarts the system. ECHO. PAUSE ECHO 1 - SHUTDOWN ECHO Shuts down the system to a point at which it is safe to ECHO turn off the power. All file buffers have been flushed to disk, and ECHO all running processes have stopped. ECHO. ECHO 4 - FORCE ECHO Forces processes to terminate. When this flag is set, Windows ECHO does not query running applications to inform them that Windows is ECHO shutting down. This can cause the applications to lose data, ECHO therefore, you should only use this flag in an emergency. ECHO. ECHO The "rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx (n)" command mentioned ECHO above can be called from the RunOnce registry key. ECHO. ECHO The runonce.exe -q command mentioned above restarts the computer after ECHO a 15 second delay. There are no other options when using this command ECHO line, and it cannot be called from the RunOnce registry key. ECHO. PAUSE ECHO For additional information about the RunOnce registry key, please see ECHO the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: ECHO. ECHO Q137367 Definition of the RunOnce Keys in the Registry ECHO. ECHO Additional query words: ECHO. ECHO Keywords : win98 kbWinME ECHO Issue type : kbinfo ECHO Technology : GOTO end :closewin rundll32.exe User.exe,ExitWindows GOTO end :run rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx %1 :end ECHO. :: You will have to sort out the line wrapping. Man, I hate web-based forums.

Hello, Laurence. Acknowledge noticing you've posted your informative message above. I would like to look into it. But, for the present, I can't possibly response as I'll be occupied for another 6 hours at least. So I'll probably post back within 24 hours. Thanks a lot and really appreciate it.

Let us take thing up here. First a couple of comments on the batch file you present. [1] There are some Q&A in your batch which may origin from some pasting from your previous correspondence with someone else, so I am not sure the Q's address to me or to the forum. I take it not. [2] Though I admire you conceive your batch file as general as possible to cover diverse cases, I don't personally think I will concur with the ambition so manifested. One simple reason is that I would not mix a bug fixing job with a routine job in the same batch file. [2.1] If ATX is a problem, you fix it once and for all in a dedicated batchfile. [2.2] If a smooth shutdown is a problem, you fix it the same. Besides, the shutdown problem can be triggered by many reasons, some by 'design bugs' and some by random corruption of cache files etc which occur in time beyond user's control. So believing a universal fixing routine in a batchfile is ludicious. [2.3] Some lines refer to runonce -q way of doing thing. I don't think it mixes well with administrative job like virus scan, defrag etc. The errorlevel capture is very problematic. I would not recommend it strongly. [2.4] A forced shutdown or a forced restart can provoke data loss : this is true, in particular on a network config. But, for a network administer who tries to do routine shutdown/restart job, his/her consideration should go well beyond a batch of this kind in an operator-free supervision environment. We won't solve that problem here. I won't go deep into other aspects. I am sure I have something to learn from, but the mixture of functionality or rather the impurity of functional focus of a batch file bother me a lot. [3] As to the cmdline rundll32 shell32, the parameter n determines the exact instruction. N can be decomposed in a unique way in the base of [2^m,2^(m-1),...] with coefficient 0 or 1. Nonzero coefficients on (1,2,4,8) determines the exact instruction, with 0 : logoff (special network concerned) 1 : shutdown 2 : reboot 4 : force 8 : power off with the combination of them. This is well documented in MSKB. In sum, I don't think one should complicate the matter unnecessarily. [4] If your MSDOS.sys is not specifically set to boot to command prompt, it is not always a good idea, as far as I am concerned, to start a windows session within autoexec.bat. This is fundamentally wrong, because the boot sequence is then intercepted and never complete. It is too big a price to pay if one wants to exit windows then go directly to real dos. It locks up resources in the background and may probably trigger unpredictable behaviour if things go wrong in the windows session---which is often. If that is the main preoccupation, then I would force a reboot after windows session is complete, even go as far as to replace a replica of msdos.sys to make reboot to commandline automatic, if so desired. But, I would even not recommend that, I am very conservative in this aspect. I confess my preoccupation must be diametrically different from yours in this aspect, so I have lot of reserves expressed. But this is very biased and each one is entitled to their predilection. In any case, my posting in #6781 address the specific issue raised there and I wish a scheme to do thing right---neat, clean and under clear control---, nothing more. Be assured my respect. I remain...

what is all these replys on about? surly you just, rename win.com to winsomethingelse.com (you all know that windows just runs windows as if there was a win line in the autoexec.bat) create a bat file called win.bat that calls win.com and then after win.com exits executes whatever else?