Windows & DOS: Issues & Discussions

Hello
Where is there a good source to receive an understanding of MS DOS.
I have tried google books " MS DOS ", no luck.
i did try " command prompt " , no luck.
the subject " seems " to be dry. no water flowing in that creek.
what would be good search terms.
I would like to aim towards the Command Prompt or whatever the " true " terminology is for entering in command line commands in XP and newer Versions of Windows.
I " presume " that there is other Directories on the disk besides #C:\
These other Directories could be in the form of partitions, i do not know.
So i will point the question to the whole 110 percent of the Disk that Microsoft resides on, and just what is the true and correct terminology and way to work with the white text on black background is.
I would like to actually see with my eyeballs what there is on the Disk.

I am working towards installing Linux on a HP Mini and would like to preserve the XP and its dependencies and associates.
Thank you.

This might help:
COMMAND.COM, SHELL and COMSPEC

However, I'd install something like UWIN from AT&T Labs-Research which will give you all of your favourite, good, *nix commands in that hostile environment.

The title is odd... this is the link to AT&T Labs Research download page that includes UWIN
software download selections

the at&t domain seems quirky non professional and could very well be a hoax.
who knows.
thanks

It's not a hoax. If it makes you feel better you can walk through the layers starting at the main research site:
http://research.att.com (It's under portfolio/software tools/ast)

Just thought I'd save you the effort; next time I won't bother.

It's not DOS anymore. The current Windows prompt is Windows CMD. Other disks, if present, will be available as d:\, e:\, and so forth. Windows Vista and 7 and probably 8 make special recovery/boot partitions that they won't normally show you but should be visible to other operating systems.

Network paths like \\server\path\to\folder are invalid in CMD.

In Windows XP and newer, you can manually assign a drive letter to a share however:

Code:

REM assign a network folder to drive X
x: \\server\path\to\folder
REM detatch the network folder
x: /delete

In older versions, I think it's accomplished with the NET SHARE command.

Using Linux is an excellent way to do so actually, since it will not be using any of the usual Windows filters on what you see and will not restrict you from system folders.

I'd suggest booting a Knoppix livecd instead of installing Linux, at least at first, so you can get some experience with it.

On the Google front, it's spelt "MS-DOS".
MS-DOS - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There is extensive to the point of exhaustive documentation available from Microsoft.
Just use Google Advanced Search and the term "MS-DOS" confined to the domain "microsoft.com".
One hit is this overview of the MS-DOS Command Prompt in Windows XP:
Microsoft Corporation

After you break out to the Command Prompt with Start/Run/cmd, just type "help" to get a list of available commands. You can then get further help with "commandname /?" or "help commandname".

Hope this will get you started.


Ps: If you want to see everything which is on the C:\ partition from the MS-DOS Command Prompt in Windows XP:

Code:

dir c:\ /s /p

On a mature Windows XP system there will be over 100,000 files.
Enjoy.

Pps. Finding all the disc partitions (where there is more than one) is easier with the standard Windows "My Computer" link to "Windows Explorer".

Right-Click "My Computer" and select "Explore" and that will show you what's on the drive that is not hidden. To show what's hidden select "Tools", "Folder Options","View" and then select "Show hidden files and folder" and that will give you a complete view of the drive.