Custom Startups with MSDOS.SYS

In days of yore, before “Windows” and “hype” were synonyms, DOS used two system files to pull itself up by its own bootstraps. Those system files were IO.SYS, which provided the system initialization code, and MSDOS.SYS, which was called by IO.SYS and which served to load the basic system drivers, determine equipment status, and perform a few other first-thing-in-the-morning routines.

In the Windows 98 scheme of things, however, these MSDOS.SYS functions have been rolled into IO.SYS, and the new MSDOS.SYS is a text file that controls certain Windows 98 startup parameters. This section shows you how to edit MSDOS.SYS and explains all the options you can use to customize your startup.

Opening MSDOS.SYS

MSDOS.SYS

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