What exactly does this article from MS mean.
http//support.microsoft.com/?id=311561

(does the hd-drive need to be physically failing or are any drives at risk??)

I notice it it is rare (the only io.sys update for dos7.1 that microsoft has ever issued in their entire knowledge base). It is suppose to handle LBA better, they have also removed the "dos 7.1" text from this updates 2001 io.sys but it is still not encrypted like dos 8 io.sys.

There's a typo in your URL - the article can be found here

It's a Windows update - you'd need to be running Windows to apply it, wouldn't you?

"DOS 7.1/8"? What would be the point of that?

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http://support.microsoft.com/?id=311561

No, it is specifically for Dos 7.1, the files fixes io.sys, not any windows files, the realmode dos of win98/se.

You say, "DOS 7.1/8"? What would be the point of that?"

Windows is completely seperate from dos7. Io.sys and command.com is dos 7.1, no windows is involved at all.

Lots of people run just dos 7.1 rather than dos 6.22. IMHO why would anyone run dos 6.22, it is severely limited on new computer hardware, fat16, 4GB hard disk partition limit and 64MB ram limit on himem.sys etc.
I run dos 7.1 with 2GB ram and a single partitioned 400GB fat32 hard disk (use the WinMe(dos 8) fdisk.exe it works in realmode dos 7.1 without version error problems). Dos 7.1 imem.sys supports up to 4GB of ram. I run a 1GB ram disk (xmsdsk) and load all my work(arachne web browser) in the ram drive for extremely an lightning fast system. Every old game and dos application I have run works 100% in Dos 7.1 real mode, and the internet WATT-32 tcp(arachne, wget etc..)works far faster than in dos 6.22).

Well, gee - thanks for explaining the wheel to me. I'm perfectly aware that Win9x DOS can be stripped out & installed, as are all of the regular contributers here.

I'm saying what would be the point of "DOS 8"? If just for the updated fdisk, seems rather pointless (there are other ways)

It's also well known that the old DOS 'incorrect version' issue is no longer applicable

At any rate:

APPLIES TO
• Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
• Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
• Microsoft Windows 98 Standard Edition

So I guess we're 'on the same page' (so to speak) - you managed to leave out the ':' when you posted the URL the first time

It's a *Windows* update - of course, there is no "DOS7.1" officially - but I suppose you could crack open the SFX CAB and replace IO.SYS with winboot.98g - that's mainly what the Windows update does

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??? I never mentioned anything about using dos 8 as a base OS. I only talked about using the fdisk.exe file from dos 8 on a dos7.1 system. It is one of the rare commands that works without version error messages and the dos 8 fdisk supports partitions of fat32 drives up to 512GB. Dos 7.1/7/6.22.. fdisk does not.

And about the Microsoft update, without it wengiers dos (7.1)gives disk corruption on drives > 127GB. File names and folders suddenly contain ramdom characters and junk, I have reproduced it with on a 400gb drive in dos.
Replacing the io.sys from the renamed winboot.98g fixes the problem.
A very important update that is sadly ignored and people will lose data.

There is a patch for the Win98 fdisk.com that does fix this particular problem. This is essentially, DOS 7.1

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