MS-DOS 7.10 Knowledge Base (Article C6)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What if I don't have a CD drive or have a SCSI or USB CD drive? 

Last updated on: December 31, 2003


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The information in this article applies to:

MS-DOS 7.10
SUMMARY

Nowadays, almost everyone has one or two IDE CD drive, either IDE CD-ROM or IDE CD-RW drive. Therefore, MS-DOS 7.10 Installation Set now includes and loads a universal IDE CD driver (VIDE-CDD.SYS) and the CD Extension (MSCDEX.EXE), so your IDE CD drive(s) will be automatically mounted and configured under DOS after MS-DOS 7.10 was started, if you have answer "Load both" to the installer when the following message appears:

Most people have at least one IDE CD-ROM/RW or DVD-ROM/RW drive on their systems. To access a CD/DVD drive, the corresponding CD/DVD driver and the CD/DVD extension (i.e. MSCDEX.EXE) must be loaded. If you wish, MS-DOS 7.10 will load a generic IDE/ATAPI CD/DVD driver for CD/DVD drives and MSCDEX.EXE when DOS starts. If you have another type of CD/DVD drive (e.g. SCSI or USB CD), then you may need to load a different CD/DVD driver in CONFIG.SYS and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT to make that CD/DVD drive work correctly.

Do you want MS-DOS 7.10 to load a generic IDE CD/DVD driver and the CD/DVD extension (MSCDEX.EXE) automatically when DOS starts?

[ Load both ] [ Load IDE CD/DVD driver only ] [ Don't load ]. 

If you don't have a CD, or have an SCSI or USB CD drive instead of an IDE CD drive, please answer "Don't load", otherwise that universal IDE CD driver will probably fail to load your CD drive(s). As the upper message shows, if you have another type of CD drive (e.g. SCSI or USB CD), then you may need to manually modify your CONFIG.SYS/AUTOEXEC.BAT to load the correct CD drivers in order for your CD drive(s) to work properly under DOS. 
MORE INFORMATION 

Depends on the type and the chipset of your SCSI/USB CD drives and controllers, you may need to use different DOS CD drivers for them. There are some universal SCSI/ASPI CD drivers for DOS, such as ASPICD.SYS, but there isn't any generic DOS driver for different SCSI/ASPI controllers. Therefore, the specific driver for the specific SCSI/ASPI controller must be loaded before a universal SCSI/ASPI CD driver. For most Adaptec SCSI/ASPI controllers, you can use the drivers from the DOS boot disks shipped with Windows 9x. 

For instance, assume you have an SCSI CD drive connected to an AIC-6260 ASPI controller, then you may need to change or add some commands to your system configuration files as below:

From:

In CONFIG.SYS:

DEVICEHIGH=<path>\VIDE-CDD.SYS /D:IDE-CD

In AUTOEXEC.BAT:

LH MSCDEX /D:IDE-CD
 

To:

In CONFIG.SYS:

DEVICEHIGH=<path>\ASPI2DOS.SYS
DEVICEHIGH=<path>\ASPICD.SYS /D:SCSI-CD

In AUTOEXEC.BAT:

LH MSCDEX /D:SCSI-CD
 

Or, if you have a USB CD drive that is connected to a USB controller, then you may change them similar to the following:

In CONFIG.SYS:

DEVICE(HIGH)=<path>\USBASPI.SYS /R /V 
DEVICEHIGH=<path>\USBCD.SYS /D:USB-CD

In AUTOEXEC.BAT:

LH MSCDEX /D:USB-CD 
 

Note: USBASPI.SYS may not be loaded into UMB memory on some systems. If USBASPI.SYS fails to detect USB devices while using DEVICEHIGH command, please use DEVICE command instead. 

For downloads and/or more information about USB drivers for DOS, please come to this page. 

For PCMCIA CD drives, you also need to load Card Services in CONFIG.SYS and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT. 

Return to MS-DOS 7.10 Support and Troubleshooting Section C