How do I start my pc in DOS mode?

Question

how do i start my pc in dos mode? I am currently running XP if that helps.

Answer 1

Just wanted to clear up a couple of almost right answers. there is a DOS mode available at startup as the one answer states, and it also is partial correct saying you also could boot from a DOS floppy. But here's the real difference. True DOS is 16bit. In earlier versions of windows, thru win98, DOS ran in a protected mode shell, not at root command level, remember seeing file names with the ~ symbol? That is a patch to convert long file names to DOS's 8 character limit because it doesn't support long file names and cannot read or access NTFS file systems, so there really is no reason to boot from a DOS floppy unless you just want to.



The command prompt available in NT based(win2k, xp, vista) is a slightly different command set from true DOS because some functions have been completely integrated into the NT operating system and where rewritten to run in the 32 bit environment.

Us old guys still like using the command window for some functions because the commands have switches unavailable in the windows GUI. Network protocols such as TCP/IP use commands such as ping which is only available at the command prompt. Eventually, the command prompt will be eliminated from user level access, but for right now, it's backward compatibility keeps it alive.

Answer 2

Technically you cannot do so because no matter how you start it loads the XP startup loader. The nearest you can get is by pressing the F8 key repeatedly as power is applied. You will get a menu screen that has a selection for command prompt. Other than that for true DOS, you will need a bootable disk with DOS loader.

Answer 3

Technically you cant. But there is a way to get to a command prompt bypassing explorer.exe (windows). When starting your computer, immediately keep pressing F8 until you get to a start up menu. Choose " Safe mode with command prompt"

and press enter. You will see a black desktop with only one window open; the Windows NT command processor. I hope this helps!

Answer 4

Basically reboot and press F8, that'll trigger DOS

Answer 5

reboot

hold esc or F12 or del depending on bios

then press boot from cd

make sure you put your windows install or recovery cd in

then once its loaded

press repair

Answer 6

reboot and then press "F8"