Repackaged QuickBasic 4.5 Requires Two Drives (69044)

SUMMARY

In the repackaged release of Microsoft QuickBasic version 4.5, the "System Requirements" section on the back cover of the manual incorrectly states that a system with "One 3 1/2" disk drive" is supported.

The repackaged release of QuickBasic 4.5 actually requires two disk drives (at least one drive for 3.5-inch disks or double-sided 5.25-inch disks, and the second drive can be a hard disk or a floppy disk).

MORE INFORMATION

Several customers have reported that the error message "ENOENT" is displayed when attempting to install the repackaged QuickBasic 4.5 on a single-floppy drive system.

In the repackaged release of Microsoft QuickBasic 4.5, the "System Requirements" are presently listed as follows:

System Requirements

384 available user memory
MS-DOS or PC-DOS operating system version 2.1 or higher
One 3.5-inch disk drive or two double-sided 5.25-inch disk drives

The first two system requirements are correct, but the third pertaining to floppy drive requirements should be changed to read as follows:

Two disk drives (for double-sided disks)

Although some customers have claimed to be able to run QuickBasic from one 3.5-inch floppy drive, they still must use a system with two floppy drives to run the QuickBasic SETUP.EXE utility.

The QuickBasic Setup utility was not designed to be run using only one floppy drive. Setup will not allow you to do this, even if you redirect drives through DOS.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a documentation error in the repackaged release of Microsoft QuickBasic version 4.5 for MS-DOS.

The repackaged release of QuickBasic 4.5 has packed (compressed) files on four 5.25-inch disks or two 3.5-inch disks, plus an UNPACK.EXE program, and the two manuals are combined into one spine and shipped without a box. The earlier release had normal (nonpacked) files on five 5.25-inch disks and three 3.5-inch disks, and shipped with two manuals. The earlier release was packaged inside a box. For more information on the repackaged version of QuickBasic 4.5, query on the following words:

repackaged and 4.50