MODBOOT - Bart's Modular Boot Disk

Important notice: the development and maintenance for this page has stopped. Please don't contact me about this page! I'm leaving the page as it is, for reference...

> What is MODBOOT ?

1. Boot with emm386 (most compatible)
2. Boot with emm386 (max memory)
3. Boot without emm386
4. Clean boot

> How to create a MODBOOT disk

1. Format a bootable MS-Dos floppy diskette (version 6.x or higher required)
   format a: /u /s
   
   
2. if drvspace.bin exists, delete it
   attrib -s -h -r a:\drvspace.bin
   del a:\drvspace.bin
   
   
3. Create a "bin" directory and copy the following files to it:
   
   • himem.sys
   • emm386.exe
   • smartdrv.exe (optional, improves speed)

   	mkdir a:\bin
   	copy himem.sys a:\bin
   	copy emm386.exe a:\bin
   	copy smartdrv.exe a:\bin
   	

   
   
4. Unpack the files from modboot26.zip [/download.php?sFile=modboot26.zip] (68KB) to the diskette
   Make sure you expand the subdirectories! So when using pkunzip.exe use the -d option!
   

> MODBOOT design rules

• You should not change any of the basic MODBOOT files unless absolutely necessary.
• All modules should be packed using "cabarc.exe".
  You can get it from http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;310618&
  See also: dos module [#dos] as an example on how to build/pack modules yourself.
  
• You should never use drive A: or Q: hardcoded! You should use the %srcdrv% and %ramdrv% variables instead.
  

> Module information

aspi     Load ASPI drivers
cdrom    Load CD-Rom drivers
help     Show this help information
menu     Modboot small menu system
msnet    Load Microsoft Network Client drivers
scsitool Generic scsi diagnostics utility
edit     Small text editor (terse)
vc       Volkov Commander v4

autorun.bat
bin\msnet.bat
help\msnet.hlp
menu\msnet.mnu

msnet    Load Microsoft Network Client drivers

1. Download makev3.zip [/download.php?sFile=makev3.zip] (59KB) and unpack it in some directory, in this example I will be using c:\modboot\makev3\
2. Copy the Dos files you need into the directory "c:\modboot\makev3\source\dos\bin". Warning! You must use the same dos version as your boot files! Files to think off are: fdisk, format, doskey, xcopy
3. Open a command prompt, goto the c:\modboot\makev3\ directory and run "make dos". If all goes OK, you can find your module as c:\modboot\makev3\cabs\dos.cab
4. Just copy this file into the correct modboot level folder, for example "\level1"

• Wbat, Lmod, Tfind and Crc32 [http://home.mnet-online.de/horst.muc/] written by Horst Schaeffer (freeware), distributed with permission.
• PciScan [/utils/#pciscan], Ettool [/utils/#ettool] by Bart Lagerweij (Nu2 license [/license/]).
• Terse 1.5 [http://members.cox.net/dos/txted01.htm], Tiny text editor. Written by by Joseph (Yossi) Gil (freeware).
• Device.com, used to load device drivers. Don't know who wrote it, got it from Qemm 7. Not sure if freeware, but I see that other people also distribute it.

autorun.bat
bin\msnet.bat
help\msnet.hlp
menu\msnet.mnu

Load CD-Rom drivers~%ramdrv%\bin\cdrom.bat

> Frequent asked questions

1. How do I create a 2.88MB modboot disk?
   Use my floppy builder (bfd [/bfd/]) it can create that.
   
   
2. Some .cab files fail to extract. I have tried downloading them many times but this has made no difference.
   
   Try to clear your browser/proxy/firewall cache and try again, or try to use a good download manager like flashget [http://www.amazesoft.com/] or so...
   Most users with problems are using netscape 4.x try to download using something else...
   
   
3. The xmsdsk.exe (ramdrive application) does not seem to be able to function correctly on computers with more than 2GB of RAM. I keep getting the error "XMS get free mem error.".
   
   Yes, I think this is a bug in xmsdsk.exe the author (Franck Uberto) does not have a machine with this amount of memory, so it's not easy for him to fix it. But here is a workaround: Replace the himem.sys with himem.sys v3.10 (from Dos 6.22), this will provide 64MB XMS memory as the maximum and xmsdsk.exe will not fail.
   
   jun 16, 2003 - Updated note! Someone mailed me that removing the "/t" parameter for loading xmsdsk.exe solved his problem...
   

> Used files and information

• xmsdsk.exe - XMSDSK ramdisk [http://www.simtel.net/pub/pd/4825.html]
  

> Revision history

• Unpack.bat returns "unpackerr", not "abort", fixed.
• The dynamical _modboot.bat did not test for unpack errors correct, fixed.
• Unpacking executable modules using unpack.bat can now be nested 10 times.

• Autoexec.bat, bootdrv errorlevel now using bennylevel.

• Autodetect the booted drive. Added \bin\bootdrv.com. Removed hardcoded "a:" references from config.sys to enable this.
• New module doskey.cab. Using a free doskey [http://members.aol.com/paulhoule/doskey.htm]

• Added some small checks when required files are missing.

• Small speed enhancement. When you copy smartdrv.exe (or smartdrv.cab containing \bin\smartdrv.exe) into a:\bin\ modboot will load it. Putting smartdrv.exe in \bin boots faster but uses more space then using a smartdrv.cab file.
• Added "max memory" entry in config.sys

• Using .cab files instead of .rar files, to avoid PC "hang" problems caused by unrar.exe extract/overwrite bug.

• Added "Dos" module

• Pressing shift while unpacking level .cab files quits to the command prompt
• Improved error handling
• Small cosmetic changes