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Q100374: Drive Is No Longer Bootable After Restoring Root Directory

Article: Q100374
Product(s): Microsoft Disk Operating System
Version(s): MS-DOS:6.0,6.2,6.22; WINDOWS:95
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): msdos win95
Last Modified: 17-DEC-2000

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system versions 6.0, 6.2, 6.22 
- Microsoft Windows 95 
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NOTE: This information applies to both Microsoft DoubleSpace and Microsoft
DriveSpace. For MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows 95, use DRVSPACE in place of
DBLSPACE in all commands and filenames.

SYMPTOMS
========

When you back up the root folder of drive C (or your DoubleSpace host drive, if
drive C is compressed) and then later restore the files, you may no longer be
able to boot your computer from drive C. When you use Microsoft Backup or
Microsoft Backup for Windows in MS-DOS 6.x, this problem occurs if you clear the
following options (which are selected by default) in the Special Selections
dialog box when you restore the files:

- Exclude Read Only Files

- Exclude System Files

- Exclude Hidden Files

RESOLUTION
==========

Using MS-DOS 6.x or Windows 95 Without Dual Boot
------------------------------------------------

To work around this problem, start your computer with the MS-DOS 6.x Upgrade
Setup Disk 1 or Windows 95 Startup disk (Emergency Boot Disk) in drive A, and
use the SYS command to make drive C bootable. For example, type the following
command at the MS-DOS command prompt:

  " a:\sys a: c: " (without the quotation marks)

NOTE: If drive C is compressed and is currently mounted, you need to use the SYS
command to make the host drive for drive C bootable.

Using Windows 95 with Dual Boot
-------------------------------

To work around this problem when you are using Windows 95 and dual-booting to
MS-DOS 6.x, follow these steps:

1. Start your computer with the MS-DOS 6.x Upgrade Disk 1 in drive A and create
  a backup copy of the Windows 95 Msdos.sys file. To do so, type the following
  commands:

  " a:\attrib c:\msdos.sys -s -h -r
  copy c:\msdos.sys c:\msdos.xxx " (without the quotation marks)

2. Use the SYS command to make drive C bootable. For example, type the following
  command at an MS-DOS command prompt:

  " a:\sys a: c: " (without the quotation marks)

  NOTE: If drive C is compressed and is currently mounted, you need to use the
  SYS command to make the host drive for drive C bootable.

3. Remove the system, hidden, and read-only attributes from the Io.sys,
  Msdos.sys, Io.dos, and Msdos.dos files by typing the following commands:

  " a:\attrib c:\io.sys -s -h -r
  a:\attrib c:\msdos.sys -s -h -r
  a:\attrib c:\io.dos -s -h -r
  a:\attrib c:\msdos.dos -s -h -r " (without the quotation marks)

4. Delete the Io.dos and Msdos.dos files by typing the following commands:

  " del c:\io.dos
  del c:\msdos.dos " (without the quotation marks)

5. Create copies of the Io.sys and Msdos.sys files with the extension .dos by
  typing the following commands:

  " copy c:\io.sys c:\io.dos
  copy c:\msdos.sys c:\msdos.dos " (without the quotation marks)

6. Start your computer with the Windows 95 Startup disk (Emergency Boot Disk)
  and use the SYS command to copy the Windows 95 system files to drive C. For
  example, type the following command at an MS-DOS command prompt:

  " a:\sys a: c: " (without the quotation marks)

  If drive C is compressed and is currently mounted, you need to use the SYS
  command to copy the Windows 95 system files to the host drive for drive C.

7. Restore the backup copy of the Windows 95 Msdos.sys file created in step 1 by
  typing the following commands:

  " a:\attrib c:\msdos.sys -s -h -r
  copy c:\msdos.xxx c:\msdos.sys " (without the quotation marks)

MORE INFORMATION
================

When you are using MS-DOS 6.x, Microsoft Backup always backs up read-only,
hidden, and system files by default, but does not restore them unless you
specifically select the options to do so.

Although Backup restores the MS-DOS 6.x or Windows 95 system files (Io.sys,
Msdos.sys, Dblspace.bin, and Command.com) to the root folder of your hard disk,
the disk is not bootable. For an MS-DOS or Windows 95 disk to be bootable,
Io.sys must occupy the first entry in the root folder. Backup performs a "safe"
restore, which means that it copies a file being restored to a folder with a
temporary filename, deletes the old file, and renames it to its correct name.
Therefore, when Backup restores Io.sys, it no longer occupies the first two
entries in the root folder.

Additional query words: 6.00 6.20 6.22 repartition fdisk format msbackup.exe mwbackup.exe

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Keywords          : msdos win95 
Technology        : kbWin95search kbZNotKeyword3 kbMSDOSSearch kbMSDOS622 kbMSDOS620 kbMSDOS600
Version           : MS-DOS:6.0,6.2,6.22; WINDOWS:95
Issue type        : kbprb

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