Unable to Access Compressed Drives Using DBLBOOT.BAT Disk (100021)

SYMPTOMS

If you start your computer from the compressed disk created by DBLBOOT.BAT (a batch file included with MS-DOS 6.x Supplemental Disks that creates a DoubleSpace-compressed startup disk), you cannot access any other compressed drives on your system.

To work around this problem, edit the DBLSPACE.INI file on the compressed disk and include an ActivateDrive entry for each compressed drive that should be mounted at startup.

CAUSE

To ensure that the compressed volume file (CVF) DBLBOOT.BAT creates is mounted automatically at startup, the batch file creates a DBLSPACE.INI file and places it in the root directory of the floppy disk. Because DBLSPACE.BIN reads this DBLSPACE.INI file from the floppy disk, any DBLSPACE.INI file on the hard disk is ignored. Therefore, any ActivateDrive entry specified in such a DBLSPACE.INI file is never processed, the corresponding CVF on the hard disk is not mounted, and any data stored in that CVF is inaccessible.

The DBLSPACE.INI file created by DBLBOOT.BAT should contain an entry resembling the following:

ActivateDrive=G,A0

This entry causes the CVF on the disk to be mounted at startup and creates a host drive (G in the above example) to store the DoubleSpace files.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, you need to edit the DBLSPACE.INI file on the compressed disk and include an ActivateDrive entry for each compressed drive that should be mounted at startup.

Modify DBLSPACE.INI

Modify the DBLSPACE.INI file located on the floppy disk (if the CVF is not mounted) or on the host drive (if the CVF is mounted) and include an ActivateDrive entry for each compressed drive that should be mounted at startup. The DBLSPACE.INI file on the hard disk drive can be used as a guide for adding the appropriate ActivateDrive entries.

These entries should be made in addition to the original ActivateDrive entry made by DBLBOOT.BAT.

Preventing This Problem in the Future Under MS-DOS 6.0

To prevent this problem from occurring with future use of the DBLBOOT.BAT file, modify the DBLBOOT.INI file (which is in the same directory as DBLBOOT.BAT), and include an ActivateDrive entry for each compressed drive that should be mounted at startup.

DBLBOOT.INI is a prototype .INI file used by the DBLBOOT.BAT file for creating a DBLSPACE.INI file on the floppy disk.

Preventing This Problem in the Future Under MS-DOS 6.2

Since the MS-DOS 6.2 Supplemental Disk does not contain a DBLBOOT.INI file, you must modify the DBLBOOT.BAT file. Line number 76 states the following:

echo ActivateDrive=I,A0 >> %1\dblspace.ini"

Add additional "echo ActivateDrive" lines after line 76 for each compressed drive to be mounted at startup with the DBLBOOT disk. For example, if C is compressed and you want drive H for the host drive, add:

echo ActivateDrive=H,C0 >> %1\dblspace.ini"