cloning OS/2

[ivan]

One of my computers died on me and I would like to clone my work computer to the new one - yes I have backups of all the data but not the OS or the customisation.  So it boils down to recreating what I had when I built that computer over 10 years ago - is it possible?

[Dave Yeo]

Sure, done similar many times. Works fine as long as the drive letters and file system (can be fixed by running sysinstx)  are the same.
Possible problems, different network driver and rarely today, other drivers. Hopefully when a driver fails to load during boot, pressing enter to continue works, otherwise you might have to boot to something like the ArcaOS maintenance thing on the install stick to rem out the bad driver. Once up and running you would have to change the network driver. There may be other minor tweaks needed such as the video resolution once booted.

[RTAN]

Dave's suggestion about ArcaOS maintenance mode is a good one, and on older versions of OS/2 you can achieve similar results by booting with the original installation disk(s) and then just pressing [F3] when you get to the Installation Screen.

That will give you a command prompt from where you can run: c:\os2\tedit.exe c:\config.sys

You don't mention what version of OS/2 you're using so whilst I have an up-to-date licence for ArcaOS I haven't actually used it that much! I have more experience with OS/2 2.1, 3, and 4.

Dave rightly mentions network drivers so if you're using pre-ArcaOS you can resolve that by pressing [Enter] when it bleats about loading the drivers, then drop to an OS/2 Command Prompt, then "cd ibmcom" followed by either "laps.exe" or "mpts.exe" (depending on your OS/2 version").

From within LAPS or MPTS you can then remove all protocols and the old network adapter (you can't remove the adapter without first removing the attached protocols), then simply add your new adapter and the same protocols again. Exit LAPS/MPTS and reboot.

TCP/IP configuration information such as IP address and DNS servers is held outside LAPS/MPTS so you won't need to re-enter those.