OpenEuphoria

1. No GUI followup

• Posted by Brian Jackson <bjackson at PRINTINGINC.COM> Oct 28, 1998
• 697 views

O.K. Here's the step-by-step instructions on how to run command-line windows

STEP 1: At a DOS prompt type the command ATTRIB -S -H -R C:\MSDOS.SYS
        (we need access to this file, so we've got to see it first)

STEP 2: MAKE A BOOT DISK AND COPY C:\MSDOS.SYS and C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.INI to
it.
        THEN TYPE:  ATTRIB +S +H +R A:(or other drive letter)\MSDOS.SYS
        YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE A BOOT DISK IN CASE SOMETHING GOES WRONG!  TEST
        IT OUT TO MAKE SURE IT WORKS!  DON'T LEAVE ANYTHING TO CHANCE!

STEP 3: Edit the file C:\MSDOS.SYS  under the [OPTIONS] heading add these two
        lines:

                Logo=0
                BootGUI=0

        and save your changes.

STEP 4: Edit the file C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.INI  Find the line that says shell=...
        It should point to explorer.  Change EXPLORER.EXE to COMMAND.COM and
        save your changes.

STEP 5: Type ATTRIB +S +H +R C:\MSDOS.SYS

STEP 6: Remove the boot disk you made from the drive (if you haven't already)
        and shut down Windows.  Once it has shut down, you should be able to
        start it back up, login (if you do that sort of thing), and up pops a
        DOS Box.  When you type exit, the system becomes useless (because
        there's no interface), and you can CTRL-ALT-DEL to shut down.


Here's the details:

        Windows comes in several parts, most of which are essential for running
        Windows programs (hmmm...)  The Explorer GUI is NOT one of them.  The
        program that actually does all the Windows stuff is VSHWIN32. (That's
        why you've still got wallpaper, etc.) There's no way to get rid of this
        if you still want to run Windows programs, but the flaky EXPLORER
        interface is gone (and most likely, so are the 'blue screens of death')

        Note that if you felt like it, you could easily change your shell in
        SYSTEM.INI to PROGMAN.EXE, TASKMAN.EXE, or IEXPLORE.EXE (not sure on
        that last one...)

        The only problem I've run into so far it that shortcuts don't work in
        DOS, so you have to change directories constantly to execute new
        programs.  (BTW: If you put long filenames in quotes, i.e. "PROGRAM
        FILES" instead of PROGRA~1, DOS will respect the long filenames")

        Perhaps someone could develop a small program, written in Euphoria,
        which could parse the information in .LNK and .PIF files into a "start
        menu" for DOS.  By calling "ex SMENU.EX" or whatever, a list pops up of
        all your shortcuts, which you can choose from, and then SMENU reads the
        .LNK, figures out where the program is and then executes it for you. Any
        takers?

Well, I've totally exhausted this subject, so have fun, but remember TEST
THAT
BACKUP DISK FIRST! I'd have to have anyone render their computer useless.

If anyone has any questions, comments, or anything to add, please do so!

deuce
bjackson at printinginc.com