MS-DOS Upgrade Detects Current MS-DOS in Root Directory (80491)

SUMMARY

This information applies to both Microsoft DoubleSpace and Microsoft DriveSpace. For MS-DOS 6.22, use DRVSPACE in place of DBLSPACE for commands and filenames.

During the MS-DOS Upgrade installation, the following message may be displayed:

Setup detected some of your original DOS files in the root directory of your hard disk. To avoid a version conflict, you should exit Setup and then copy your original DOS files to a subdirectory. Then delete these files from the root directory of your hard disk and restart Setup.

This message indicates that you must remove any MS-DOS files from the root directory and place them in a separate subdirectory before the Setup program can continue.

MORE INFORMATION

The above error message occurs because MS-DOS 5.0 tries to store the old MS-DOS files in an OLD_DOS.X subdirectory (where "X" represents the particular installation of MS-DOS 5.0). If the Setup program identifies certain files in the root directory, it assumes that MS-DOS was installed in the root.

If Setup determines MS-DOS files are in the root directory, you must create another subdirectory (for example, C:\MSDOS) and copy the MS-DOS files from the root into this directory. Next, delete the MS-DOS files from the root. Note: The following MS-DOS system files should remain in the root:

   PC-DOS          MS-DOS
   ------          ------

   IBMBIO.COM      IO.SYS
   IBMDOS.COM      MSDOS.SYS
   COMMAND.COM     COMMAND.COM
   *.INI           *.INI
                   DBLSPACE.BIN        ; MS-DOS 6.0 and 6.2

The following is a possible workaround to the above error message:

Have a system/boot disk available.
Create a new subdirectory on the hard drive. For example, type the following at a command prompt (from the root C:\> directory):
md olddos
Copy all files from the root directory into the new subdirectory. For example, type:
copy c:\*.* c:\olddos
Use the ATTRIB command to make COMMAND.COM, CONFIG.SYS, and AUTOEXEC.BAT read-only by typing the following at the command prompt:
attrib +r command.com attrib +r config.sys attrib +r autoexec.bat
Check the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files to ensure there are no device drivers or programs being loaded from the root directory that are required to boot the machine (for example, Disk Manager [DMDRVR.BIN] or Speed Store [SSTOR.SYS, HARDDRV.SYS]). If a required device driver or program is identified, use step 3 to make the files read-only.
Delete all files from the root directory with the following command:
del c:\*.*
Use the ATTRIB command to change the files in the root directory back to normal to allow the MS-DOS 5.0 Setup program to access them. Use the following syntax:
attrib -r config.sys
attrib -r autoexec.bat
attrib -r command.com
Note: Be sure to follow the above syntax to restore any device drivers or programs to normal status.
Run the MS-DOS 5 Upgrade Setup program.