Hi, I'm looking to install DOS 6.21 on a second hard drive. This is not a partition of one drive, I have two drives. On my primary drive I have installed WindowsME. The second is empty. How do I install DOS on the second drive and be able to decide which one to boot into each time I start my computer? Is this an easy task or am I asking for trouble? Someone please help. Thanks! -John

I have simple and easy way to do this. Here is what you do. (I have done this personally on the three PCs in my possesstion). Your Windows ME drive should be your master drive. Your DOS 6.xx drive should be the slave. Be sure that the partition on the slave disk is FAT16. Install all the DOS 6.xx files in a directory called \DOS on the slave disk. (All the .sys files, .com files, .exe files like format.com, ansi.sys, memmaker.exe, etc) Create a boot disk for DOS 6.xx. This will be how you decide how to boot your system. On this DOS disk, make a config.sys file and an autoexec.bat file. Use the devices and files on the slave disk DOS directory. Something like this: DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\EMM386.exe NOEMS DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS (load device for CD-ROM Here) DOS=HIGH,UMB FILES=40 BUFFERS=40 SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM /E:8192 /P In your autoexec.bat file: @echo off @lh c:\dos\doskey.com @lh (cd-rom driver) SET PATH=c:\;c:\dos SET COMSPEC=C:\COMMAND.COM Add items to each file as you see fit. The bottom line is, if you want Windows ME, boot from the hard disk. You will be able to see both the MASTER and SLAVE disk. You can move files between volumes. If you want DOS 6.xx, boot from the floppy. Since DOS 6.xx is a 16-bit OS, it won't *see* the MASTER disk. The SLAVE disk becomes the "C:" drive, and you can have a true DOS environment to run your old games flawlessly. This is why you can load all your drivers from the SLAVE disk as "C:" in config.sys and autoexec.bat You will not be able to access the MASTER drive in this environment. The only files you truly need on the DOS boot disk are the system files, and the autoexec.bat and config.sys you create to set up your DOS environment. I should point out that any hardware in your machine (SoundCard, Modem, etc.) may not work under DOS 6.xx if the hardware wasn't designed to do so. (Rule of thumb is that if the card is ISA, it'll work in DOS). -Doug

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