Custom MS-DOS / FreeDOS

Question

Goal : Build a custom DOS to boot into. To automate tasks like formating a drive, or doing recovery.

I've been using Grub4DOS to boot into these images.

So far I've looking into taking a windows repair disk ISO and extracting. I can't seem to find the autoexec.bat in the disk. I really don't know where to look for the startup configuration file to change or how to add an autoexec.bat.

I've tried MS-DOS 6.22. But it lacks the diskpart tool I require. I've tried extracting the images and adding it. Then I got a boot failed. I assume that after i added it. All the files when to lower case names and I assume that the OS is case sensitive.

Then I've looking into using FreeDOS. But I don't know how it works at all. Partially because I can't seem to grasp the help/wiki's information. I looked into getting a bearbones release with just the kernel and I think it's the config.sys file. But I don't have any idea on how the packaging system works to incorporate diskpart into it.

So really I'm in general looking for a small bootable DOS to where I can incorporate diskpart and setup an autoexec.bat for the actual function to carry out and to boot into.

This is just for personal use also.

Answer 1

You'll need a Windows 9x installation, a floppy, and a XP or later installation. (have a floppy drive on both computers):

9X PC: My Computer > Put in a Blank Floppy > Right Click Floppy Drive > Format > Check 'Copy System Files' > Format it
XP or later PC: My Computer > Put in the formatted 9X floppy > Open the floppy > Copy those files wherever you want your Custom-DOS to boot in > Open Notepad > write an autoexec, should start with:

@echo off
cls
echo (boot message here)

and now, after you are done, save it as "autoexec.bat" in your bootable device.

So now, choose a language to write your commands in.
I prefer Batch, so i use Advanced BAT to EXE Converter,
and if you use that application, make sure to compile it as an "MS-DOS 6.22" application,
and save it to the bootable device.
This is the best I can do.