I installed 3.1 but my computer won't boot to C. I made a startup disk in XP but it won't let me launch 3.1 Is there a download of a 3.1 boot disc?

How did you install w3.1? Give us the whole story... Skip

... careful - he might tell us A "Win31 bootdisk" - heh - that one just never grows old. Windows runs on DOS - you need to be up & running DOS in order to install Win31. Sensible folks install DOS to the hard drive first, then Windows If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly --Donald Rumsfeld

Dos 5 boot disk is what I need ... wasn't thinking. Anyway, what I did is I made a boot disk in XP pro, then booted to A on the other computer and installed win 3.1 ... which took a while with only one disk ... I did find a dos 5 boot disk but it wouldn't see the hard drive but I'm thinking it's because I have a 7 gig partition? Anyway, I'm going to copy Fdisk onto a startup disk for Dos 5, repartition the drive and try installing it again. And does anyone know why I have to have 2 or 3 different user names here? It seems like half the time my password won't work for Miller or Miller88 or neither.

Bootdisks are readily available (it's called the internet) http://bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm A bootdisk is a bare bones version of the DOS environment - a full installation can be as many as 4 floppies, depending on version & 'extras' It doesn't have to be DOS5 either, there are a few choices - DOS5 is about the most primitive version you can use While you can run DOS from a floppy, that's hardly the preferred method You don't appear to have given much thought or investigation to this - old versions of DOS cannot be used on FAT32 (>2Gb) drives or partitions, only FAT16 (or FAT12, as in floppies). No version of DOS can natively recognize NTFS You can use the DOS accompanying versions of Win95 & 98 (aka "DOS7.1") which naturally is compatible with large drives, but you would require 'the patch' (3xstart.exe) There are limits to that version too, but under 64Gb is fine If your CNet password "doesn't work" odds are you doing something wrong - usernames & passwords are case sensitive, and spaces count as well If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly --Donald Rumsfeld

I know nothing when it comes to older operating systems. Where can I get a download of whatever version of dos works with windows 3.1. I'm going to install it on the hard drive so I don't have to keep putting in a boot floppy every time I exit an application and so it can boot to the hard drive. I'm also coming across an error that I don't have enough memory, I take it it isn't seeing any extended memory and to configure dos for it, I would have to have DOS on the hard drive itself, correct?

"I know nothing when it comes to older operating systems." Well, no need to belabour the obvious - DOS is a commercial product, so you're not about to d/l the installation disks from any legitimate source (and should not ask, as per the warning message on the confirmation page) FreeDOS is readily available, but not compatible with Win3x (afaik) At any rate, you don't require a full install in order to make a hard drive bootable, simply startup with the diskette of your choice and transfer the system files by entering: sys c: As mentioned previously, the drive must be partitioned & formatted in a manner compatible with the version of DOS you intend to use "I would have to have DOS on the hard drive itself, correct?" Not at all. That's just more convenient than relying on diskettes. Although it'd be somewhat better to be working from a full installation of DOS, it's not essential. Just make your hard drive bootable as described above, then run the Win31 installation - that will also setup memory management, as Win31 will install and configure its versions of emm386.exe & himem.sys as part of the installation process It might be helpful to know the specs of this Optiplex - if you pay attention to the screen when starting the computer, you should have some indication of how much RAM is installed and maybe even the processor speed - or you could go into the system setup itself, which will also provide this information If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly --Donald Rumsfeld