> On Oct 30, 2025, at 12:23 PM, peter--- via Freedos-user > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hello Jerome, > > Thanks for replying. > > From: Jerome Shidel via Freedos-user <[email protected]> > Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2025 02:33:47 -0400 >> When you boot the install media, exit to the command prompt. Run >> FDISK and verify you can see the drive in that program. > > Another screenshot. https://easthope.ca/fdisk.jpg > >> If you can and do not mind erasing that drive, try using FDISK to >> partition it and reboot. > > Part 2 has another system I prefer to leave untouched. > >> Since this is drive 5… After rebooting, quit the installer again, >> run FDISK and verify that the partition you want is shown as drive C:. > > https://easthope.ca/fdisk.jpg > >> Exit FDISK and perform a simple format of drive C:. > > Recreated the fat32 in part 1 using gparted. > > How do you suggest performing "simple format"? > >> It may be best to use advance mode and pay careful attention to >> settings like writing a new MBR. > > Part 2 has another system I prefer to leave untouched. > > Bug in the fdisk provided in the FreeDOS installer? > > Thanks, ... P. >
First, never install an operating system without having a backup of any files you do not want to loose. Even with modern installers for Linux and Windows, things can a do go wrong. The FreeDOS Installer is far less sophisticated. Interesting that SDE shows up as fixed disk 1. Possibly FDISK, possibly a detection issue in the installer. The installer is batch based and only puts in so much effort to locate the drive which can be used for installation. To install the OS, the Installer checks if there is a drive C: available. If not, it tries to see if there is a DOS compatible partition that needs formatted. It uses very simple tests to try and figure these things out. Those tests are not perfect and are not all encompassing. When the installer cannot figure it out on its own, it will need to be done manually. First step would be to partition the drive, we provide FDISK for that process. However, gparted will work fine and can do things like resize partitions. Since, we see that FDISK shows drive C: is assigned to the partition you want to use, this step is done. Next, we want to format drive simply format drive C:. For that, we can run the command “format C: /q /u”. The /q is a “quick” format and does not write or test every sector in the partition. The /u prevents format from using space to “un-format” the partition. Once those are done, the Installer should see a drive C: and it is ready for installation. Make sure you run the installer in advanced mode. Either by running “setup adv” or switching modes from within the installer. To switch modes, press CTRL+C on any page that is waiting for you to respond to a question. (Do not press it when it is doing things) Make sure you verify that it wants to write the new MBR to the correct drive and partition. You may need to disable or correct that setting. The same goes for the partition it will want to make active. If you still seem to be having an issue getting the primary FreeDOS Installer to install to your hard drive. There are a couple different options to try. You can try the Floppy Edition Installer. It is included on the install media under the FDI-x86 directory. While not a pretty, it is actually newer and a little more advanced. It installs FreeDOS BASE on 386+ machines. For lesser hardware, it will leave out a couple things not compatible with the hardware. You can also do a manual install. This is often easiest to perform by copying the install media (I generally recommend using one of the USB sticks) and copying everything to the hard drive. Then, modifying the FDCONFIG.SYS and FDAUTO.BAT files. There are a few YouTube videos the demonstrate different ways of performing a manual install. > > > -- > mobile: +1 778 951 5147 <= still working > VoIP: +1 778 508 0020 <= new & working > projects: en.wikibooks.org/wiki/User:PeterEasthope > > > _______________________________________________ > Freedos-user mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
