How to create a Virtual Floppy Disk (VFD) from a physical boot floppy disk

Situation:

This document describes how to create a Virtual Floppy Disk (VFD) from a physical boot floppy disk.
Solution:

This procedure shows you how to use a physical boot floppy disk and VF Editor to create a virtual floppy disk (VFD) for creating an image file. This is useful when you already have a functional boot floppy disk and would like to create a Virtual Floppy Disk identical to it. To create a virtual floppy disk from a physical boot floppy disk 1. 2. 3. 4. Insert the physical boot floppy disk in your floppy disk drive. Create a folder on the Windows desktop named "VFD." Click Start > Programs > PowerQuest > DeployCenter 5.0 > VF Editor. On the VF Editor menu, click Disk > Read Disk. This copies the boot sector and all of the files from the physical boot floppy disk into VF Editor. 5. On the VF Editor menu, click File > Save As, and save the file as Pqvf.vfd in the VFD folder on the desktop. 6. If DeployCenter was installed on the C: drive, open the C:\Program Files\PowerQuest\DeployCenter 5.0\VFD folder and copy the following files into the VFD folder on the desktop: Vfinst9x.exe (if you are running Windows 9x/Me) Vfinstnt.exe (if you are running Windows NT/2000/XP) Vfloppy.sys Vflppyld.sys 7. Create a text file named Create.txt in the VFD folder on the desktop, and add the following lines to the file:
Select drive 1 Select partition 1 Store with compression high

8. Drag the Create.txt file into the VF Editor window and click Yes when asked if you want to inject the file. 9. Drag the Autoexec.bat file from the VF Editor window to the desktop. 10. Right-click the Autoexec.bat file you dragged to the desktop, and then click Edit. 11. Edit the contents of the Autoexec.bat file so it looks like the following (making sure to replace the generic information in the "net use" and "pqimgctr /img=" command lines with the correct information for your situation).
@ECHO OFF @PROMPT $P$G SET TZ=MST7MDT kicknic cd net cnmod stuffit /f:stuffit.dat net initialize /dynamic netbind tcptsr tinyrfc net start basic REM -- Edit the next line so that it maps drive letter G: to the UNC location where you want to save your image file. net use G: \\ServerName\Share a: cd\ 1 din 6

G: mouse ECHO. ECHO. ECHO ImageCenter 5.0 ECHO Copyright 1994-2002 PowerQuest Corporation. ECHO All rights reserved. ECHO ECHO Loading. Please wait... REM -- Edit the /img= parameter so that it specifies the name you want to assign to the image file you are creating. pqimgctr /img=G:\image.pqi /cmd=create.txt

12. Save the changes to the Autoexec.bat file. 13. Drag it the Autoexec.bat file back into the VF Editor window and click Yes when asked if you want to inject the file and replace the existing Autoexec.bat. 14. On the VF Editor menu, click File > Save. 15. Close VF Editor. To run the virtual floppy disk and create an image of the first partition on the first hard drive in your system, double-click the file Vfinst9x.exe (if you are running Windows 9x/Me) or Vfinstnt.exe (if you are running Windows NT/2000/XP).

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HOW TO GET MSDOS 6.22 INSTALLED AND RUNNING

You will need to use a separate utility called Virtual Floppy Drive. Its freeware. Obtain it here. A. HowTo: Install/Setup: Virtual Floppy Drive (in Windows) i. Download the zipped program. ii. Unzip the program into a folder (directory). iii. Create a folder C:\VFloppy iv. Copy the Virtual Floppy Drive files to C:\VFloppy. The list of files: Code: Select all Expand view
copying.txt readme.txt readmej.txt vfd.dll vfd.exe vfd.sys vfdhelp.txt vfdhelpj.txt vfdwin.exe

v. Create a shortcut to vfdwin.exe and name it Virtual Floppy Drive. vi. Put the shortcut somewhere handy, like the launchbar or whatever. B. HowTo: Use: Virtual Floppy Drive (in Windows) This assumes you have created image files of your MSDOS 6.22 disks. If you have not, then use rawrite to create image files of each disk. i. Start Virtual Floppy Drive (use your shortcut). You will see a VFD Control Panel with 6 tabs. Leave this VFD Control panel open while doing the following below. ii. Start the Virtual Floppy Drive Driver by selecting the Driver Tab; click the Start button. iii. Set the correct drive name for the first floppy drive. This assumes you do not have a floppy drive on your computer. If you do, then pick another letter than A, like B. Start with tab 1 (Drive0), click the button Change, select drive letter A, uncheck the checkbox Persistent, click the OK button. iv. Click the Open/Create button. click the Browse button. Navigate to the floppy image file for MSDOS 6.22 disk 1, and use defaults of RAM, 3.5" 1.44MB, Write Protect unchecked, Click the Open button. You will now have the floppy image mounted as a virtual floppy drive which you can see by using Windows Explorer, look at Drive A (or B). This is a quick method for accessing the contents of the disk images. When you have finished using the VFD Control panel you can close the virtual floppy drives by going to Tabs Drive0 and Drive1, use the Close button to close each virtual floppy drive, and then on the Driver Tab select the [b/Stop[/b] button. C. Create a real MSDOS 6.22 boot disk This is easy, but it will involve using the Virtual Floppy Drive software. i. Copy the image file for MSDOS 6.22 disk 1. Name this copy bootdos.flp ii. Use VFD to open bootdos.flp as drive A: Be certain you open the correct file: bootdos.flp and be certain this is drive A: When you open the image file, use the Browse] button, choose the image file, choose FILE not RAM. Leave as Media Type 3.5" 1.44MB/ UNcheck Write Protect. iii. Use Windows Explorer to view the files of drive A: These files will be viewed:
ATTRIB.EXE AUTOEXEC.BAT CHKDSK.EXE

Code: Select all Expand view

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COMMAND.COM CONFIG.SYS COUNTRY.SYS COUNTRY.TX_ DEBUG.EXE DEFRAG.EXE DEFRAG.HL_ DOSSETUP.INI DRVSPACE.BIN EDIT.COM EGA.CP_ EGA2.CP_ EGA3.CP_ EMM386.EX_ EXPAND.EXE FDISK.EXE FORMAT.COM IO.SYS ISO.CP_ KEYB.COM KEYBOARD.SYS KEYBRD2.SY_ MEM.EX_ MSCDEX.EXE MSDOS.SYS NETWORKS.TXT NLSFUNC.EXE PACKING.LST QBASIC.EXE README.TXT REPLACE.EX_ RESTORE.EX_ SCANDISK.EXE SCANDISK.INI SETUP.EXE SETUP.MSG SYS.COM XCOPY.EX_

iv.

Delete files until only these files remain: Code: Select all Expand view

ATTRIB.EXE AUTOEXEC.BAT CHKDSK.EXE COMMAND.COM CONFIG.SYS COUNTRY.SYS DEBUG.EXE DEFRAG.EXE DRVSPACE.BIN EDIT.COM FDISK.EXE FORMAT.COM IO.SYS KEYB.COM KEYBOARD.SYS MSCDEX.EXE MSDOS.SYS QBASIC.EXE SCANDISK.EXE SCANDISK.INI SYS.COM

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v. vi. vii. viii. ix. x.

Use notepad to edit the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. You should delete all contents of this file, or add stuff if you want/know what you are doing. Save the file. Use notepad to edit the CONFIG.SYS file. You should delete all contents of this file, or add stuff if you want/know how. Save the file. Use VFD to open MSDOS 6.22 disk 2 as drive B: Copy HIMEM.SY_ from B: to A: Copy QBASIC.HL_ from B: to A: Open a dos window. (Start Menu, Run, CMD, enter key, navigate to A:) In the dos window, type:
EXPAND HIMEM.SY_ HIMEM.SYS EXPAND QBASIC.HL_ QBASIC.HLP

xi.

Now close the virtual floppy drives using VFD. Go to each tab: Drive0, Drive1, then use the Close button on each tab.

NOTE: The image bootdos.flp now is a bootable boot disk that can be used in VirtualBox. D. Now create the following using VirtualBox: o 64 MB Memory o 8 MB Video Memory o Hard Disk: 512 MB (or whatever) o CD/DVD: you can choose to use your hardware cdrom, or use an ISO for a game if you have. o Floppy: set to use the bootdos.flp image o Shared Folders: you can set a folder on your actual C: drive if you want to share between o VirtualBox and your Windows OS. I have not experimented with this yet. o Name your Virtual Machine something meaninful like: MSDOS-6.22 B. Work inside the Virtual Machine i. ii. Start the MSDOS-6.22 Virtual Machine. It will startup, you will see the standard dos boot stuff and end up at a command prompt. Make the virtual hard drive into a usuable partition by using fdisk. In your virtual window, at your dos prompt, type fdisk In FDISK, on the menu, choose 1 to create Dos Partition. When this has completed, exit fdisk by using the Escape key. On the VirtualBox menu, choose Close Machine. Start the MSDOS-6.22 Virtual Machine again. Wait until you reach a dos command prompt. Now we will format the new virtual hard drive. At the virtual command prompt, type format C:. Wait for this to complete. Now we will make the virtual hard drive bootable. At the command prompt, type exactly this sys A:\ C: When it completes you get the message: System transferred You can confirm this by the command dir C: which will show a single file COMMAND.COM and the free bytes on the drive. Make a dos directory on the virtual hard drive. And confirm it.
C: mkdir dos dir

iii. iv. v. vi.

vii.

viii.

Get all the MSDOS 6.22 files installed on the virtual hard drive C: This is easy.
AA AA AA

Close the virtual machine. Change the floppy drive to use the MSDOS 6.22 disk 1 (install disk). Start the MSDOS virtual machine.

NOTES:
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You will see the Setup Screen and a menu with 2 choices. Choose: Continue Setup and replace your current version of DOS. (Use the down arrow key to scroll to this choice.) Notice your C:\dos directory is found automatically. When asked for the next disk: Go to the menu Devices, Mount Floppy, Floppy Image, select your MSDOS disk image, ok. Let the installation proceed until you have dos. Close the virtual machine. DOS lives. You may want to change your boot order: 1. In VirtualBox, Click the Settings Icon. 2. Select General, then the Advanced Tab. 3. Set boot order to Hard Disk first (use the arrows). 4. Start your MSDOS virtual machine and it will now boot from virtual drive C: Regarding the Host Key: If you are using a Laptop and you find there is no right control key, then try using the function + left control keys together. This works as a right control key on my laptop. You may be able to change the host key through your VirtualBox Preferences menu.

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