jr@usinset.inset.com (Jim R Oldroyd) (02/16/90)
On a fairly regular basis, I need to take a number of OS/2 machines and reset all the user-definable parameters to their default "factory" settings. Basically, this means copying clean versions of CONFIG.SYS, OS2.INI, etc, etc, back on to each machine. Now, you CAN'T read or write OS2.INI and OS2SYS.INI while OS/2 is running because the operating system locks the files, and no access whatsoever is allowed. To get round this problem, under OS/2 v1.1 I used to boot the machine from an MSDOS diskette, and have a .BAT file there do the desired copying. This worked because DOS does not use the OS2.INI files, so when DOS is running, they are not locked and they can be overwritten. This was great too, because to reset a machine, you only had to put in a "special" diskette, reboot and wait for the "done" message - everything could be handled automatically from the DOS AUTOEXEC.BAT. Unfortunately, under OS/2 v1.2, this is no longer possible, because when you've booted DOS, you can't see the hard disk (we're now using the new HPFS, rather than FAT). So, you can't copy any files on to C: at all, any more. Help! Does anyone know how I can do this? I either need to find a way to overwrite OS2.INI and OS2SYS.INI while the OS/2 system is running, or find a way of booting a mini-OS/2 which understands HPFS from a diskette. Any ideas? Jim.
phg@cs.brown.edu (Peter H. Golde) (02/18/90)
In article <25@usinset.inset.com> "Jim R Oldroyd" <jr@usinset.inset.com> writes: >Help! Does anyone know how I can do this? I either need to >find a way to overwrite OS2.INI and OS2SYS.INI while the >OS/2 system is running, or find a way of booting a mini-OS/2 >which understands HPFS from a diskette. Any ideas? Boot from your installation diskette; then you can copy the files to an HPFS drive.
yozzo@larouch.uucp (Ralph Yozzo) (02/19/90)
In article <25@usinset.inset.com> "Jim R Oldroyd" <jr@usinset.inset.com> writes: > >Help! Does anyone know how I can do this? I either need to >find a way to overwrite OS2.INI and OS2SYS.INI while the >OS/2 system is running, or find a way of booting a mini-OS/2 >which understands HPFS from a diskette. Any ideas? > > Jim. Put the OS/2 Install Disk in the A Drive (this the same disk that you used to install OS/2 1.2 in the first place) reboot your machine, and when you get the Blue screen, instead of pressing Enter , Press Esc. This should dump you out to an A: prompt. Now, the C: drive is writable including the INI and DLL files. ==Ralph E. Yozzo == ==Arpanet: yozzo@ibm.com== ==Bitnet: yozzo@yktvmx.bitnet== ==Home: ..!uunet!bywater!acheron!larouch!yozzo ===Ph:(914)945-3634 or 564-4731
kevinro@microsoft.UUCP (Kevin ROSS) (02/27/90)
In article <29726@brunix.UUCP> phg@cs.brown.edu (Peter H. Golde) writes: >Boot from your installation diskette; then you can copy the files >to an HPFS drive. More specifically, you can boot your installation disk, then press escape at the logo screen. This should get you a command prompt. HPFS should be loaded. Most people miss the fact that you can get a command prompt from the installation program.