QUIT2DOS Return to the C:\ prompt when exiting from Windows 95 A free utility from Bardon Data Systems http://www.bardon.com Windows 95 is excellent, no doubt about it. It includes many undeniable improvements over Windows 3. However, its many improvements do not include the elimination of DOS. This is not a weakness in Win95, but rather a useful design consideration. By retaining DOS, Windows 95 attains a level of backwards compatibility that is nothing short of incredible. Microsoft's system designers should be very proud of this almost magical feature. They don't seem to be. They have set up Win95 to hide as many traces of DOS7 as possible. It's as if they don't want you to know it's there. But it is. When you start Windows 95, you are actually first booting DOS7. A big "booting" difference between DOS7+Win95 versus DOS6+Win3 is this: by default when you boot DOS7, after it loads any config.sys and/or autoexec.bat, DOS7 automatically runs the command "win" ... yes, the same command you used to type yourself to run Windows 3.x from DOS6. Later, when you exit from Windows 95, there's another bit of magic which (in the default setup) prevents the C:\ prompt from being displayed. Remember, you have exited from Win95, just like you used to exit from Win3. In both cases, you're back in DOS. So where's the DOS7 prompt? It's under the screen that says "It's now safe to turn off your computer", that's where. It's the same old DOS prompt as before. You can get to it, but it takes a bit of doing. QUIT2DOS is designed to do it all for you. When you run QUIT2DOS from Windows 95, it sets a switch to allow you to boot manually. Then it adds a "win" command to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to run Windows 95 automatically at startup. Now I can hear you wondering, "why make it boot manually, and then re-make it automatic again?" You're right, it makes little difference at startup. The difference comes when you shut down Win95, because by doing it this way you regain the option of running the C:\ prompt after exiting from Win95. After running QUIT2DOS (and rebooting your system, once, to set everything up), then when you exit from Win95 you can type MODE CO80 at the "safe to turn off your computer" screen, and voila! There's the C:\ prompt. Note that you lose nothing by using this option; it's still "safe to turn off your computer" at that screen. MODE CO80 simply sets your screen back into 80-column color mode, clearing the "safe" bitmap from your screen in the process. Specifically, here's what QUIT2DOS does. First, it sets the BootGUI flag in your MSDOS.SYS file to 0, so DOS7 won't automatically run Windows. Then it adds the command WIN at the end of your autoexec.bat file. It'll create an autoexec.bat for you if you don't have one. Finally, it replaces the "safe to turn off your computer" bitmap that Win95 displays at exit. It's in your Windows directory, and is called LOGOS.SYS although it is actually a BMP file, not a SYS file. The "replacement" bitmap includes instructions on how to get back to the DOS prompt by typing MODE CO80 as described above. Once you're at the DOS prompt you can type "win" at any time to restart Windows 95. HOW TO USE QUIT2DOS Run QUIT2DOS.EXE from Windows 95. It'll do everything automatically. All three QUIT2DOS files (QUIT2DOS.EXE, QUIT2DOS.BMP and QUIT2DOS.TXT) need to be in the same directory. After running QUIT2DOS, reboot your system. Beginning with that reboot, whenever you exit from Win95 you can get back to the DOS prompt if you want. Note: some laptops are configured to actually power down the computer when exiting from Windows 95. QUIT2DOS does not interfere with this behavior, so it will be of little use for owners of computers configured in this way. To use QUIT2DOS with such a computer, you must first reconfigure the machine so it doesn't turn off the power when you exit from Win95. BOOTING TO "SAFE MODE" Occasionally you may need to start your computer in "safe mode." To do this, you hold down the F8 key while booting, and when the menu appears, you choose Safe Mode. Normally, the system then starts Windows 95 in "safe mode." But QUIT2DOS sets up your system so it doesn't automatically start Windows 95. QUIT2DOS compensates for doing this by adding a call to "win" at the end of your AUTOEXEC.BAT, but in "safe mode" the system doesn't run your AUTOEXEC.BAT at startup. Consequently, when you select Safe Mode from the menu, you wind up at the command prompt. Not to worry. Just type WIN at the prompt and hit Enter. You'll start Windows 95 in "safe mode." BOOTING TO "COMMAND PROMPT ONLY" This is similar to the business about "safe mode." Occasionally you may want to start your system at the DOS7 prompt instead of going right into Windows 95. (Note that if you want to ALWAYS start at the DOS7 prompt, remove the WIN call which QUIT2DOS added to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. You'll boot to DOS. When you want to run Windows 95, type WIN and hit Enter.) To OCCASIONALLY boot to DOS7 at startup, you hold down the F8 key while booting. Normally, when the menu appears, you'd choose Command Prompt Only. But this option runs your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, and QUIT2DOS has set up your AUTOEXEC.BAT so at the end it will start Windows 95. Not what you wanted to do. There are two solutions. The F8 menu offers a Step-By-Step Confirmation option, which lets you step through all your boot options, including every line of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Answer Y (yes) to every "run this line?" request until you get to the WIN line that starts Windows 95. To that line, answer N (no). You'll boot to the DOS7 prompt. This is admittedly tedious. It is perhaps acceptable for occasional needs, but if you want to be given the "DOS7 vs. Win95" option every time you boot, add these lines to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, just above the WIN call placed at the end of the file by QUIT2DOS (the WIN call is indicated below to show how it all fits together): cls echo If you want to start Windows 95, press any key echo If you want to go to the DOS prompt, press Ctrl+C pause WIN <--- was previously inserted by QUIT2DOS With this in place, you'll hit any key to continue into Windows 95, or type Ctrl+C to exit from your AUTOEXEC.BAT before running the WIN command. HOW TO SET THINGS BACK THE WAY THEY WERE To undo the QUIT2DOS changes, you need to replace the "safe to turn off" bitmap, change a flag in MSDOS.SYS, and remove the "win" call in your AUTOEXEC.BAT. 1) The original "safe to turn off" bitmap was saved in your Windows directory as LOGOS0.SYS. Delete the replacement LOGOS.SYS and rename LOGOS0.SYS back to LOGOS.SYS. 2) Use Notepad or any text editor to edit MSDOS.SYS (it's in your boot-drive root directory) and set its BootGUI flag to 1. MSDOS.SYS may be set as read- only; if so, right-click on the file in Explorer to change its Properties, and un-check the "Read-only" box. Then you can edit the file. 3) Edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (also in your boot-drive root directory) and remove the call to "win" at the bottom. BARDON DATA SYSTEMS Bardon Data Systems makes software for all versions of Windows. Products include power-user tools, an entertainment/humor series, a "parental control" security access oversight application, fax enhancement software, and more. Drop by the Bardon home page (http://www.bardon.com) and take a look. Bet you find something you like. There are free gifts there too (such as QUIT2DOS), our "thank you" for stopping by. LEGAL STUFF QUIT2DOS is Copyright 1996 Barry Smiler, Bardon Data Systems. No fee is required for its use. It can be freely distributed through any channel, including online services, BBSs, Internet sites, CD-ROMs, vendor offerings, book/disk sets, and in any other way, as long as all QUIT2DOS files are included unchanged as supplied in this package. QUIT2DOS is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall Barry Smiler or Bardon Data Systems be liable for any damages whatsoever including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, loss of business profits or special damages, even if the author has been advised of the possibility of such damages. REVISION HISTORY QUIT2DOS 1.0 released April 25 1996 Bardon Data Systems 1023 Key Route Blvd. Albany CA 94706 USA (510) 526-8470 72340.375@compuserve.com info@bardon.com http://www.bardon.com