Australian PC World - Custom start-ups in Win95

Custom start-ups in Win95

Tip
If you find yourself switching to MS-DOS mode as soon as you start Windows 95, you can avoid the agonising wait while Windows loads and boot directly to DOS by editing the msdos.sys file. You can make Windows start in MS-DOS mode, start with your previous version of DOS, or start with a menu of options.
Pretty handy, yes?
Here's how: first, using My Computer or Explorer, find a file called msdos.sys in the root (the topmost folder) of your C: drive. (If you don't see it, choose View--Options, select the View tab, then click Show all files and then OK.) If you're using DriveSpace or other disk compression software, you'll need to find the version of this file that's on your host drive (E:, H:, or some other drive letter in Explorer or My Computer).
Once you've found the file, safeguard it by making a backup copy.
Next, right-click msdos.sys and choose Properties (or select the file name and press <Alt>-<Enter>). Uncheck the Read-only check box and click OK. Right-click msdos.sys and choose Open With. Select Notepad or another text editor from the list, and click OK.
Once inside, take a look around. Find the [Options] line; you'll make all your changes underneath this heading.
Don't mess with the series of "xxx..." lines you'll find at the bottom of the file; they ensure that the msdos.sys file is large enough for applications that expect it to be at least 1,024 bytes.
Look for a line that begins BootGUI=1. To force Windows into MS-DOS mode, change this line to read BootGUI=0. If you don't see the BootGUI=1 line, go ahead and add a line that reads BootGUI=0.
Now, when you switch on your machine, Windows will start in MS-DOS mode. When you want Windows 95, just type win at the DOS prompt.
However, if you upgraded from DOS or Windows 3.x and want to start in your previous version of DOS, add to msdos.sys a line that reads BootMulti=1. Thereafter, pressing <F4> when you see the "Starting Windows" message on your screen will make your PC boot to your earlier version of DOS. If you need to change these settings once you're in your old DOS, you'll have to edit msdos.w40 (not msdos.sys).
If you just want to see the menu of possible start-up options when you turn on your computer, add to msdos.sys the line BootMenu=1. This will make the menu appear for something like 30 seconds when you start up your PC.
If you don't press a key, Windows 95 will start in the normal way. If you can't see the menu because of the Windows start-up graphic, add a line that reads Logo=0.
If you don't want the menu to appear automatically, add the BootMulti=1 line as instructed above and then press <F8> to make the menu appear when your screen says "Starting Windows". If you don't press a key, Windows 95 will start.
When you have tweaked msdos.sys to your liking, reboot your computer and see Windows start the way you want.
If anything goes wrong, restore msdos.sys from the backup copy and try again, if you've got the patience. But if everything's set correctly, you'll finally be able to open Windows in the way that you desire.
- Scott Dunn

Category: Win95
Issue: Nov 1996
Pages: 170-173