ARCHIVED: In Windows 95 or 98, how do I access my CD-ROM drive under safe mode?
Note: UITS recommends that you use a current version of Windows on computers connected to the Indiana University network; see Recommended Windows operating systems at IU.
Ordinarily, when you boot your Windows 95 or 98 computer into Safe Mode, you will be unable to use the CD-ROM drive. However, you may find it useful to have access to the CD-ROM drive while in Safe Mode, so that you can troubleshoot problems installing Windows from CD-ROM, for example, or to try to determine if CD-ROM problems also occur in Safe Mode. For more information about booting into Safe Mode, see the Knowledge Base document ARCHIVED: How can I run Windows 95, 98, or Me in Safe Mode?
To make your CD-ROM drive accessible in Safe Mode, you will need to install real mode CD-ROM drivers and invoke them during Safe Mode startup. However, be aware that the real mode drivers may not allow CD audio for connected sound cards.
The following instructions assume you have not yet installed real mode CD-ROM drivers on your computer. If you have already installed real mode drivers, skip to the section below labeled Invoking real mode drivers in Safe Mode.
You will need a Windows 98 startup disk. This is a disk containing the necessary files to start Windows with a command prompt. It also contains a set of generic real mode drivers that you can use to run many CD-ROM drives in DOS or Safe Mode. The Windows 95 startup disk does not by default contain these real mode drivers, so you must use a Windows 98 startup disk or modify a Windows 95 startup disk. For information on how to create a Windows 98 startup disk, see the Knowledge Base document ARCHIVED: In Windows 95, 98, or Me, how do I make a startup (system recovery) disk? For information about modifying a Windows 95 startup disk, see article 138991 in Microsoft's knowledge base.
Testing the real mode drivers on your computer
Follow the steps below to test your system to make sure that it can use the real mode drivers provided by Microsoft on the Windows startup disk:
- Restart your computer by using the Windows 98 startup disk. On the
Startup menu, choose
D:
, it may be mapped as driveE:
). This information will be displayed near the end of the boot process as "MSCDEX driver mapped to drive X," where X is the temporary drive letter. . The
CD-ROM drive will usually be mapped to the letter after the normal
letter (e.g., if the CD-ROM drive is normally drive - Insert a CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and at the command prompt,
enter the following:
dir drive_letter:
Replacedrive_letter
with your computer's actual drive letter. - If you can retrieve a directory of the CD-ROM, the real mode drivers work with your CD-ROM drive. If you cannot retrieve a directory, you must use the drivers that are included with your CD-ROM drive, or download them from the manufacturer's web site, if they are available.
If the test went successfully, then follow the directions below to copy the real mode drivers to the hard drive so they can be made available to Safe Mode:
- If you have not already done so, restart your computer by using the Windows 98 startup disk.
- Create a new folder on your hard drive, then copy files to the new
folder. To do so, type the following lines, pressing
Enter
after each line:c: mkdir rmcd cd rmcd a: copy aspi2dos.sys c: copy aspi4dos.sys c: copy aspi8dos.sys c: copy aspi8u2.sys c: copy aspicd.sys c: copy btdosm.sys c: copy btcdrom.sys c: copy flashpt.sys c: copy himem.sys c: copy oakcdrom.sys c: copy c:\windows\command\mscdex.exe c:\rmcd c: dir
There should be 11 files in the new folder. - Make backup copies of your autoexec.bat and
config.sys
files (if they exist). To do so, type the following lines at the command prompt, pressingEnter
after each command:c: cd \ copy autoexec.bat autoexec.sav copy config.sys config.sav
- Open the
autoexec.bat
file by enteringedit autoexec.bat
, then add the following line to the file:lh c:\rmcd\mscdex.exe /d:mscd001
- From the menu, select , and then again from the menu, select .
- Open the
config.sys
file by enteringedit config.sys
, then look for a line that includes "himem.sys". If such a line does not exist, add the following line to the file:device=c:\rmcd\himem.sys /testmem:off
- Add the following lines to the
config.sys
file:device=c:\rmcd\oakcdrom.sys /D:mscd001 device=c:\rmcd\btdosm.sys device=c:\rmcd\flashpt.sys device=c:\rmcd\btcdrom.sys /D:mscd001 device=c:\rmcd\aspi2dos.sys device=c:\rmcd\aspi8dos.sys device=c:\rmcd\aspi4dos.sys device=c:\rmcd\aspi8u2.sys device=c:\rmcd\aspicd.sys /D:mscd001 device=c:\rmcd\flashpt.sys files=10 buffers=10 dos=high,umb stacks=9,256 lastdrive=z
- From the menu, select , and then again from the menu, select .
- Remove the startup disk and restart your computer normally.
Invoking real mode drivers in Safe Mode
To invoke the real mode CD-ROM drivers while in Safe Mode, follow the instructions below:
- Restart your computer and get to a command prompt. To do so in
Windows 95, when you see the "Starting Windows 95" message, press
F8
, and then choose from the Startup menu. To do so in Windows 98, when you restart your computer, press and holdCtrl
, and then choose from the Startup menu. - At the command prompt, enter the following:
win /d:m
The information in this document was adapted from Microsoft knowledge base articles 194846 and 190303.
This is document aljw in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2018-01-18 13:26:52.