how do i get to mdos without using command prompt? whenever i use command prompt it goes to mdos but it automaticly starts off in "c:\documents and settings\user name>" so whenever i tell it what to do it says it's an invalid extention or invalid directory. i need a way to get to mdos with a clean slate so i can give it a command that isn't limited to that folder. i use windows xp and i don't have a floppy drive. i would be grateful if you guys could help, thankyou.

There is no DOS in XP. What are you trying to do at the command prompt? M2 If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

a few days ago two folders on my external harddrive started having trouble when i put my curser over them it would say folder is empty, between these two folders there was about twenty gb of stuff. when i ran nortons utilities it said that the two folders were corrupt and needed to be deleted. they were deleted but i don't think i've gotton the twenty gb of space back. i was going to go to dos then type in "e:\chkdsk /f" and hope it would tell me that the files are just missing their directory and then would put them into a folder for me. any thoughts? and thanks for responding.

Hey, when in command prompt, to look in your c drive and not documents and settings, type in "cd\" after the admin> and it will get you to c:\>

You would not use this: e:\chkdsk /f unless chkdsk is in e:\ , which is certainly not where it belongs. It should be in your path so you just need [if the drive to be checked is x:] chkdsk x: /f M2 If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

i guess i did get the space back and the files were lost, i deal in gb of space everyday i guess i got confused. i'll just have to redownload my stuff, thanks guys, i'm thankful for the help.