Creating a Boot Disk for a 1.2M Floppy using FAT file system

The listing below contains the rock bottom minimum I have been able to achieve and still boot from the from A: drive using the FAT file system and a 3 1/2 " Drive. The total file size should fit on a 1.2M floppy. With the list of files below and the accompanying CONFIG.SYS file you should be able to create a bootable 1.2M floppy.

The procedure has changed from the Beta Versions. The Installation disk has SYSINSTX.COM on it as well as OS2KRNLI, OS2LDR, OS2LDR.MSG and a lot of other files which are not needed. Copy SYSINSTX.COM to your C: drive and from there give the command "SYSINSTX A:", where you have a formatted hi density disk in A:. All SYSINSTX does is copy the hidden file OS2BOOT to the A: drive. The other three OS2*.* files on the installation disk are not hidden and you can copy them to a: via C: or by whatever means you want. It is important to rename OS2KRNLI to OS2KRNL on the boot disk being created.

The rest of the required files are all on Disk 1 of the Installation Set and they are listed below. There are a number of files with the numeral 1 in their names. These files are for a CLONE. If you have a PS-2 machine there is a corresponding set, also on Disk 1 which have a 2 in place of the 1. Use those. If you have a PS-2 you MAY(??)) also need to copy the file ABIOS.SYS which is on Disk 1 also. On Disk 1 there is a file named OS2SCSI.DMD which is not listed below. That is presumably their generic driver for SCSI drives and MAY BE needed for those with that kind of hard drive, and for which there should be a corrsponding statement in config.sys.

My system is a Gateway 2000 33 MHZ 386. Using the list below you will not be able to print. The file to do that is PRINT01.SYS and there should be a corresponding BASEDEV=PRINT01.SYS in CONFIG.SYS. It will be a tight fit if it fits at all. . I have heard from one or 2 users that the file (not listed) NPXEMLTR.DLL seems to be required to boot on their systems. It definitely is not required on my system. With the list below I do not get any error messages when I boot from the floppy.

Since the main point of having a single bootable floppy is to be able to do CHKDSK C: /F or CHKDSK D: /F on you hard drives it would appear the game is still lost.

HOWEVER if you have at least 2 logical hard drives, you can copy C:\OS2\CHKDSK.COM to another hard drive and then do from A: D:CHKDSK C: /F and C:\OS2\CHKDSK D: /F etc.

If you do not have a d:drive but do have another floppy, then just keep a copy of CHKDSK.COM on that floppy along with any other desireable files.

 Volume in drive A is DISK 0        Serial number is A4D6:CC14 Directory of a:\*.* <--- Where Located -> bkscalls.dll     401  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 bmscalls.dll     398  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 bvhinit.dll     9203  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 bvscalls.dll     454  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 clock01.sys     3666  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 cmd.exe        87552  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 config.sys       273  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 and amended as listed below country.sys    24604  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 dos.sys         1142  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 doscall1.dll   87884  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 ea data. sf     3584  RHSA_ Created when os2krnli copied from Installation disk harderr.exe    14436  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 ibm1flpy.add   24026  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 ibm1s506.add   12908  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 kbd01.sys      29013  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 kbdcalls.dll     858  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 moucalls.dll    1010  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 msg.dll          477  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 nampipes.dll     711  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 nls.dll          465  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 os2boot         1099  RHSA_ Created on boot disk by sysinstx os2char.dll    56320  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 os2dasd.dmd    31994  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 os2krnl       716044  ___A_ Copy os2krnli from Installation Disk to os2krnl os2ldr         32256  ___A_ Copied from Installation Disk os2ldr.msg      8440  ___A_ Copied from Installation Disk quecalls.dll   14994  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 screen01.sys    1441  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 sesmgr.dll     31256  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 sysinst1.exe    4224  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 viocalls.dll    1825  ___A_ Copied From Disk 1 1,202,958 bytes in 31 file(s)        1,209,344 bytes allocated 248,320 bytes free 

<- A:CONFIG.SYS ->  buffers=32 iopl=yes memman=noswap protshell=sysinst1.exe set os2_shell=cmd.exe diskcache=64,LW protectonly=yes libpath=.;\; pauseonerror=yes device=\dos.sys set path=\;\ set dpath=\; set keys=on basedev=ibm1flpy.add basedev=ibm1s506.add basedev=os2dasd.dmd 