China DOS Union

People keep saying the difference is that Command Prompt only runs config.sys and autoexec.bat!

My config.sys and autoexec.bat under drive C are both empty, so by that logic Command Prompt only and SAFE MODE COMMAND PROMPT ONLY should run the same, right? But no!!!

Under Command Prompt only, typing "win" can enter Windows, but under SAFE MODE COMMAND PROMPT ONLY, typing "win" gives "HIMEM.SYS is missing.Make sure that the file is in your windows directory"

Doesn't that mean the config.sys and autoexec.bat in the root directory of drive C???????????? Are there config.sys and autoexec.bat somewhere else too???????????? Or is all that talk about Command Prompt only and SAFE MODE COMMAND PROMPT ONLY just nonsense!!!

Since that's the case, I'll explain it in detail.

In MS-DOS 7.x, there is a DOS=AUTO or DOS=NOAUTO option in CONFIG.SYS. Among them, DOS=AUTO automatically changes FILES to FILESHIGH, BUFFERS to BUFFERSHIGH, and so on. Also, when HIMEM.SYS, DBLBUFF.SYS, and IFSHLP.SYS are not loaded in CONFIG.SYS, it loads them automatically. If DOS=NOAUTO is set, then the above steps are not performed.

When "Command Prompt Only" is selected, besides executing the contents already present in CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT, since the default value is DOS=AUTO, even if both CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT are empty, because of DOS=AUTO the system will still automatically load files such as HIMEM.SYS, IFSHLP.SYS, DBLBUFF.SYS, and so on.

But when "Safe Mode Command Prompt Only" is selected, the contents in CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT are all skipped, and since the default value is DOS=NOAUTO, the system will not automatically load these programs either, which means HIMEM.SYS, IFSHLP.SYS, and so on are all skipped too. So naturally when you run the "WIN" command, it will show something like "HIMEM.SYS is missing."

Understand now?

wengier is really amazing. Hehe...

Got it!!! After hearing your explanation, even my sleep is sweeter!!!

Hehe, with such a detailed explanation from the moderator, even newbies like us can understand it and benefit a lot

So that means "Safe Mode Command Prompt Only" is the same as pressing "Shift+F5" at the startup menu to enter pure DOS?