MS-DOS

 In the 1980s or early 1990s,

the operating system that
shipped with most PCs was a
version of the Disk Operating
System (DOS) created by
Microsoft: MS-DOS.
 MS-DOS

 MS-DOS is a disk operating

system for IBM PC–compatible
computers.
 In its day, it was easily the most
popular operating system in the
world. It also is the basis from
which Windows 9x derives its
under-lying organization.
 MS-DOS

 As with any other operating

system, its function is to
oversee the operation of the
system by providing support for
executing programs, controlling
I/O devices, handling errors, and
providing the user interface.
 MS-DOS

 MS-DOS is a disk-based,
single-user, single-task
operating system. These
qualities make it one of the
easiest disk operating systems
to understand.
 MS-DOS

 The main portions of MS-

DOS are the IO.SYS,
MSDOS.SYS, and
COMMAND.COM files.
 IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS
are special, hidden system
files
 MS-DOS
The IO.SYS file moves the system’s basic
I/O functions into memory and then
implements the MS-DOS default control
programs, referred to as device drivers, for
various hardware components.
These include the following:
 The boot disk drive
 The console display and keyboard
 The system’s time-of-day clock
 The parallel and serial communications
 MS-DOS
The MSDOS.SYS file provides default
support features for software
applications.
These features include the
following:
 Memory management
 Character input and output
 Real-time clock access
 File and record management
 MS-DOS

 The COMMAND.COM
command interpreter accepts
commands issued through the
keyboard, or other input
device, and carries them out
according to the commands
definition.
 MS-DOS

 When DOS runs an

application, COMMAND.COM
finds the program, loads it into
memory, and then gives it
control of the system. When
the program is shut down, it
passes control back to the
command interpreter.
 MS-DOS

 The remainder of the operating

system is comprised of utility
programs to carry out DOS
operations, such as formatting
disks (FORMAT), printing files
(PRINT), and copying files
(XCOPY).
 Dos Commands
• MS-DOS Commands
• A command is the name of a special
program that makes your computer carry
out a task. There are two types of MS-DOS
commands - internal and external
 Internal Dos Commands
• Internal commands are built into the
operating system as part of a file called
COMMAND.COM (or, on a 2000 or XP
machine CMD.EXE) . They are loaded into
memory whenever you switch on your
computer. When you type an internal
command, MS-DOS performs it
immediately.
 External Dos Commands
• Files with extension COM or EXE are
external commands. Because these
commands are files, they are not built into
the operating system ( these are the
commands that alter between versions of
MS-DOS) .
 Internal DOS Commands
• DIR • DATE
• TYPE • TIME
• COPY • VER
• REN • VOL
• CLS
• MD
• PROMPT
• CD
• CD
• CD.. • RD
• CD\ • EXIT
• DEL • COPY CON
 External DOS Commands
• APPEND • PRINT
• EDIT
• RESTORE • DELTREE
• ATTRIB • XCOPY
• LABEL
• BACKUP • REPLACE
• MODE • DISKCOPY
• SORT
• CHKDSK
• SYS
• FIND • COMP
• FORMAT