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I am trying to create an MS-DOS 6.22 virtual machine in VMware.

I have MS-DOS 6.0 and the 6.22 upgrade from the MSDN subscriber downloads. In order to install the 6.22 upgrade, I have to install 6.0 first. The 6.22 download includes .IMG files from which I can boot, but the 6.0 download does not. I tried creating a bootable .ISO image from the 6.0 files, but that didn't work.

How do I install it?

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2 Answers 2

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You can install using 6.22 alone. Boot into the 6.22 install and exit the setup with F3 before you get the upgrade warning and return to the DOS prompt.

You need to FDISK and Format the C: drive. Then you can use the SYS command to transfer the system files to C:. After all this, run the 6.22 install again and you should no longer get the upgrade warning.

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  • I had totally forgotten about the SYS command. Nov 9, 2011 at 22:13
  • > You can install using 6.22 alone. Really? I thought the upgrade was just, well, an upgrade. Obviously a full version of 6.22 would work by itself, but the one on TechNet that they referenced is just an upgrade.
    – Synetech
    Sep 1, 2012 at 23:56
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    Late but: honestly, I would personally like to know why this works. I just did it, and it seems to work, since the sys command seems to only copy IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS, and COMMAND.COM (unless there was another file I forgot about, or I am dead wrong about what sys does), but I still wonder what doesn't get installed this way as opposed to with the "pure" install disks, which do they even exist?
    – andlabs
    May 28, 2017 at 17:13
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Besides upgrading from an older version, MS-DOS 6.22 Upgrade also allows a clean install to a fresh hard drive.

The installer called by autoexec.bat is busetup.exe, which will check the existence of installed DOS in the hard drive and reject installation if it is absent. Therefore, you need to run another installer, setup.exe. Boot with Disk 1 and rapidly press F5 when the "Starting MS-DOS..." message appears to skip autoexec.bat. Then manually run setup.exe. This allows for a fresh installation.

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