Is it possible to change the usual Win98SE boot menu (1. Normal; 2. Logged; 3. Safe mode; etc.) by editing some text file, or changing registry entry, or is this hardcoded somewhere in some system file?

TIA

It is hardcoded (actually it is plain text) inside the IO.SYS system file.

Probably (but I never tried doing so) it can be edited.

jaclaz

Ok, I see. I actually wanted to change so I could call my own batch files, but modifying IO.SYS may be a bit tricky.

There are commands in config.sys for building your own menu, Google MENUITEM.

Config.sys menus appear only after msdos.sys is processed, which means will not be able to list items like Normal, Safe boot, Bootlog.txt etc..., unless a 3rd party boot manager tool is used.

Win9x MSDOS.SYS:

http://www.mdgx.com/msdos.htm

Config.sys menus:

go to:

http://www.mdgx.com/95.htm

download + install W95-11D.EXE.

Then look under C:\Program Files\AXCEL216\Sysfiles -> open config.sys [MS-DOS 7/8] and/or config.dos [MS-DOS 6.xx] in Notepad.

Or go see:

http://dos.rsvs.net/DOSPAGE/CONFMENU.HTM

http://www.knowplace.org/pages/morgue/dos_...oting_howto.php

But IO.SYS and/or COMMAND.COM can be hexed to replace all "autoexec.bat" strings with the BAT file name of your choice.

HTH

Thanks for the tips. I guess what I really needed was just a menu in config.sys.

I ended up with these:

[MENU]

MENUITEM=DOS, Start DOS

MENUITEM=Win98, Start Windows 98SE

MENUITEM=Router, Start Freesco router

MENUDEFAULT=Router,10

[DOS]

dos=high,umb

device=C:\WINDOWS\himem.sys /testmem:off

devicehigh=c:\DOS\oakcdrom.sys /D:mscd001

devicehigh=C:\Windows\ramdrive.sys /E 2048

lastdrive=z

REM device=aspicd.sys /D:mscd001

[Win98]

REM TBD

[Router]

REM nothing needed here

and:

if "%config%" == "Router" goto Start_Router

if "%config%" == "DOS" goto Start_DOS

if "%config%" == "Win98" goto Start_Win98

goto Command_Error

:Start_Router

router.bat

:Start_Win98

win

:Command_Error

echo Command_Error

:Start_DOS

PROMPT $P$G

SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\;C:\DOS\

rem - By Windows Setup - LH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001

the important thing for me is that whenever the system reboots unattended (i.e. powerloss) it should always come up as a router.

If I may make a couple of suggestions:

- lastdrive=Z statement is not really needed, Win95/98/ME automatically sets it to Z if not specified otherwise.

- oakcdrom.sys driver is primitive, antiquated and does not work properly with some CD/DVD drives out there.

Please see:

http://www.mdgx.com/drv.htm#CDR

scroll down to QCDROM.SYS, XCDROM.SYS, VIDE-CDD.SYS, ATAPICDD.SYS + TEAC_CDI.SYS.

Or this guide:

http://www.mdgx.com/newtip1.htm#CDROM4

for free universal CD/DVD drivers for native MS-DOS.

These take less RAM, and can be loaded in upper memory if UMA memory manager [EMM386, UMBPCI, QEMM386, RM386, 386MAX etc] loaded already from config.sys.

And you can also use a MSCDEX.EXE replacement:

http://www.mdgx.com/drv.htm#CDR

scroll down to SHSUCDX [sHCDX33A.COM], NWCDEX + MSCDEX [Cloaked].

If you own a USB CD/DVD drive, you can use USB_CD.SYS:

http://www.mdgx.com/drv.htm#CDR

- I strongly suggest to replace primitive ramdrive.sys with Xmsdsk/Emsdsk or SRDisk [scroll further down]:

http://www.mdgx.com/dos.htm#OSR

HTH

who opened this fire ?

thats great , thats how it should be as \ aurgathor / made it

If I may make a couple of suggestions:

[...]

They're good suggestions, but this is a lowly P75 that will be my main router (replacing a P66 ) and once the router portion is properly set up, the usage of DOS or Win98 will be practically non-existent. I use windows because I can easily DL SW, DOS is there because I can only to start te router from DOS, and so I had to disable Win98 GUI. The router is linux based, and it really doesn't matter what is loaded in DOS since it will replace everything that was loaded before.