Disable F8 Win98 Boot Disk Startup Menu

[scrumpyjack]

Ok i have a W98 boot disk. I need to disable the F8 startup menu. This can be done with 6.22 by editing MSDOS.SYS and putting 0 on certain Boot [Options]. This has no effect on W98 disk and actually makes it hang. I thought if i can patch IO.SYS to disable F8. It could even be command.com but i believe it be IO.SYS as that gets loaded after. I looked up the keyboard scan codes and hex 42 00 is coming up on F8. I also looked up what interrupts use the keyboard. INT9 INT21 and INT16 seem to be the ones. I went through the code and 4200 comes up a few times but too many times. Does anyone have a clue on assembler or can help me find the right opcode to patch. Thanks.

[sevenalive]

Whats the big deal disabling F8? Why do you have a 98 startup disk anyway? Why do you even have a floppy drive!!

You can use an XP or vista disk and use the recovery console on it, same thing as a 98 boot disk anyway.

As for doing what you want, i doubt anyone here knows, we all moved long gone from that OS. Is it really that important, why would you need to disable the F8 menu?

[scrumpyjack]

We have not moved far on. What you think is on a bootable CD-ROM disk???...DOS!

I want to disable it for security reasons.

[herbalist]

The entry you're thinking of is

BootKeys=0

in msdos.sys. This disables the boot keys when booting from the hard drive. I'm not aware of anything you can change that will prevent boot keys from being used with a boot floppy or CD other than changing the boot order in the BIOS. That's only effective if your BIOS has password protection.

I'd also suggest that you post questions regarding 98 in the Windows 95/98/98SE/ME of this forum where you'll get far more useful and civilized answers.

Rick

[DigeratiPrime]

Topic cleaned, please keep the rules in mind.

Also topic moved to 9x Forums, good luck

[dencorso]

I just saw your thread over in computing.net and read it: "Subject: Io.sys disable f8".

I think you might solve your problem by using BCDW 1.50Z instead of JO.SYS to get the menu you want working from the CD and disable F8 via msdos.sys. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but I think it can be done. HTH.

Obs.: As you're new to this forum, let me point out to you that the underlined parts in this post are clickable links.

Edited May 26, 2008 by dencorso

[Sfor]

First of all, the MSDOS.SYS file in DOS 6.22 is a binary file, while in Windows 9x it's just a text file. So, editing of the DOS 6.22 MSDOS.SYS file is not a very good idea.

In case of the Windows 9x MSDOS.SYS file there are some other problems related to removable media. The boot menu is always displayed, when there are no certain Windows files on the media and the MSDOS.SYS file does not contain just the ";SYS" line. This option tells IO.SYS to not to look for the windows files, and not to check registry files on boot. Adding any other line with settings will force the registry checks, back again. (Perhaps there is some way to prevent it, but I do not know how to do it).

[dencorso]

This msdos.sys works:

[Options]
BootDelay=0
BootMulti=0
BootGUI=0
BootKeys=0
Logo=0

... with JO.SYS absent, of course!

Edited May 26, 2008 by dencorso

[jaclaz]

for the record, scrumpyjack seems to have found a way to solve his problem by patching IO.SYS:

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=4754

jaclaz

[Sfor]

This msdos.sys works:

[Options]
BootDelay=0
BootMulti=0
BootGUI=0
BootKeys=0
Logo=0

... with JO.SYS absent, of course!

I think I got lost somewhere in this thread.

Windows 98 boot DOS files are IO.SYS MSDOS.SYS and COMMAND.COM. I have not heard about JO.SYS, so far.

Without IO.SYS there is no Windows 98 boot possible, so there will be no F8 function, for sure.

So, what particular OS version are we speaking about?

Edited May 26, 2008 by Sfor

[jaclaz]

JO.SYS is the file that allows for "press any key to boot from CD" (or something like that) on Windows 9x 98/Me CD's.

There is an "original" one and a "free" version by Bart Lagerwej.

Read the referenced thread on boot-land.

jaclaz

Edited May 26, 2008 by jaclaz

[Sfor]

Well. Not exactly. I've just updated my knowledge in this matter.

I've been using Windows 95 boot disks mostly and I did not pay attention to the differences between Windows 95 and 98.

The Windows 95 IO.SYS does not support the JO.SYS, while the Windows 98 IO.SYS calls JO.SYS if available. Also Windows 95 always checks for registry files if the MSDOS.SYS file has some settings in it. Windows 98 acts differently in this matter.

[jaclaz]

Not exactly.

Fixed.

jaclaz

[dencorso]

Well, so far we have the exact same May 24 post by scrumpyjack here, at boot-land, and at computing.net (there as markreflex), by my reckoning... Where else did he post? He seemed really desperate... Then he solves the problem by himself in two days??? It really does remind me the Chewbacca Defense: it makes no sense!

[jaclaz]

Well, so far we have the exact same May 24 post by scrumpyjack here, at boot-land, and at computing.net (there as markreflex), by my reckoning... Where else did he post? He seemed really desperate... Then he solves the problem by himself in two days??? It really does remind me the Chewbacca Defense: it makes no sense!

Apart the Chewbacca Defense, which was a nice read , I see nothing that makes no sense :

1. A user posts a question

2. Noone is able to give him a simple and working solution

3. He finds the solution himself, the hard way (hexediting a system file)

The only thing he did I wouldn't have done is to post on three different forums the same question.

jaclaz