Hello, I'm a complete DOS newbie. I need some help setting up DOS 6.2 to load my CD-ROM driver and recognize my drive. I have the driver and I've copied it to the root directory on my hard drive.

If you used an install program, it should have setup the commands to launch the drivers in autoexec.bat and config.sys files automatically at boot-up.

If there was no install program, then you can setup the commands manually.

in autoexec.bat you will need the following command line:

mscdex.exe /d:cdrom001
Note: you must point the command to where the mscdex.exe file resides.
example: if mscdex.exe resides in folder: C:\cdrom, then the command line would look like this;

c:\cdrom\mscdex.exe /d:cdrom001

for the config.sys file you will need the following command line:

device=xxxx.sys /d:cdrom001 (where xxx is the actual name of the device driver you have.

Also this command must point to the actual drive/folder where the file is located.

When finished you should have the following files written to the boot drive:

autoexec.bat
config.sys
mscdex.exe
xxxx.sys
A boot drive must also contain these files in order to boot the pc:

msdos.sys
io.sys
command.com

During boot, you should see the drivers loading and report of success or failure. By default the os will assign the cd-rom drive a letter next higher than the last drive. If you only have one hard drive, then the system will automatically assign the cd-rom letter D: To assign a different drive letter to the cd-rom drive, you must add the switch in the mscdex command line: /d:x (where x represents the actual letter you wish the cd-rom drive to have).

Example: If you want the cd-rom drive to have the letter Z: then modify the mscdex.exe line to match this:

mscdex.exe /d:z /d:cdrom001

Hello, I'm a complete DOS newbie. I need some help setting up DOS 6.2 to load my CD-ROM driver and recognize my drive. I have the driver and I've copied it to the root directory on my hard drive.

copy the driver into directory: C:\DOS\DEVICES,
open edit, type DEVICE=C:\DOS\DEVICES\[indert name of .sys file here] /D:MSCD000 then save as config.sys in your dos folder or the C:\ drive. to use the cdrom drive, use the cd command to move to directory C:\DOS and type: C:\DOS\>MSCDEX /D:MSCD000 and press <ENTER> the drive will be D:\

E-mail me at noemailaddys@allowed.com and tell me your results. i will be more than happy to help you out anytime. -Black Bullet .357

No need to CD to the directory where the MSCDEX.EXE file is, if its path is in the PATH environment variable, or the path is specified on command line ( C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE for example).

In addition the Config.sys file will not be read if it's not at the root of the drive, with MS-DOS at least (may work with other DOSes though).

The only things I would add to what Jerry already said are :

- the name assigned to the driver doesn't *have to* be cdrom001, it may be almost whatever string with length <= 8 characters ... just have to be the same in the device command loading it in config.sys and the mscdex command (typically loaded in autoexec.bat).

- read the doc provided with the .sys driver file for more loading options (you might have a use for more verbose display than the default one, for example)