The first step is get a bootable floppy disk image. For an MS-DOS floppy disk boot image, you can simply use the RMPrepUSB - File - Create MS-DOS 1.44MB Floppy Boot Image option.
OR you can either use one of the ima images from the Beta downloads section (for instance PCIID.ima.gz has a compressed FreeDos bootable 1.44MiB floppy disk image - see here for FreeDos image downloads) or obtain a bootable floppy disk image from www.bootdisk.com perhaps. You can also create your own images - see sections 2-4 below.
- OR -
you can create a floppy disk image from a real floppy disk if you already have one (or any 1.44MiB flash pen which appears as drive A: in Windows Explorer).
See Section 3 below if you want to create a 2.88MB blank floppy disk image.
Create and Edit a 1.44MB or 2.88MB DOS floppy disk image
1. Download and install ImDisk (from http://www.ltr-data.se)
2. Download and extract one of the BLANK floppy disk images - either BLANK_FLOPPY144.IMA (1.44MB MS-DOS formatted blank) or BLANK_FLOPPY_288.IMA (2.88MB MS-DOS formatted blank). Note: These blank images contain the MS-DOS boot loader and so will look for IO.SYS.
3. Right-click on the downloaded .IMA image file and select 'Mount as ImDisk Virtual Disk Drive' - set the drive letter to A: (it does not matter if you already have a drive A:). - click OK to mount the image as drive A:
4. You can now copy files to your new drive A: as if it was a real drive. Make sure you change Windows Explorer to show ALL files including hidden and system files or you won't copy over essential boot files! If it is a 1.44MB image, you can even use Windows to format it as an MS-DOS startup disk.
5. When you have finished editing the files on drive A: - unmount the image by right-clicking on the A: drive in Windows Explorer and choosing 'Unmount ImDisk Virtual Disk'
6. (optional) To remove all old deleted files and reduce the image size if you want to compress the image, use WinImage to load the IMA file and select Image - Defragment Current Image and then click on the Save option (or the floppy disk icon).
Note that the blank images provided have an MS-DOS boot sector and so it will try to load a file called IO.SYS (not provided).
If you want to boot to FreeDOS, use the BLANK_FREEDOS_144.IMA and BLANK_FREEDOS_288.IMA image files.
Tip: Press F3 in RMPrepUSB and use the FreeDOS boot files in the FREEDOS_USB_BOOT folder if you want a FreeDOS-bootable volume with basic FreeDOS boot files.
FREEDOS_288.zip contains basic FreeDos boot files and loads also himem. It contains checkpci.exe which displays PCI IDs.
COMFREE.COM
FREEDOS
FDCONFIG.SYS
FREEDOSCOPYING.TXT
FREEDOSEDIT.HLP
FREEDOSFDISK.INI
FREEDOSPART.EXE
FREEDOSXCOPY.EXE
For instance, you can add the DOS version of HWInfo to this image.
Create an image from a real 1.44MB floppy disk (or USB floppy disk)
To create a real, physical MS-DOS bootable floppy disk, use Windows to right-click on the A: drive icon and then choose format. Click on 'Create an MS-DOS Startup disk' to format the floppy disk as an MS-DOS bootable disk. Unless you need all the files on this floppy disk, delete all files EXCEPT IO.SYS, COMMAND.COM and MSDOS.SYS.
If you want to distribute this disk image, you should not use the MS-DOS files as these are illegal to distribute. Instead delete ALL files from the floppy drive A: and copy over a set of FreeDOS boot files (you need at least KERNEL.SYS and COMMAND.COM) then rename KERNEL.SYS to IO.SYS so that it will boot.
If possible, test booting from the new drive (e.g. used a real system or install QEMU Manager and configure it to boot from the floppy drive - see below - item 9).
Assuming you now have a real bootable Drive A; which you wish to now make an image of (and maybe combine it with another floppy disk or add or delete files?), here is what to do:
- Open WinImage.
- Insert the first floppy disk into your computer. Go to Disk -> Read Disk (Ctrl+R) (ensure 'Use Floppy A:' is ticked)
- If including a second floppy insert it into your drive. Go to Image -> Change format... and select 2.88 MB. Next select Image -> Inject... Browse to your floppy drive, select all of the files, and then choose Open. It will ask if you want to inject the files, choose Yes.
- You can also inject files from a folder in a similar way.
- Delete files by right-clicking on them and choosing 'delete'
- Press the [Insert] key to inject a file
- Use Image -> Defragment current Image (to reduce the size of the image if you later compress it)
- You can use Image -> Information to view how much remaining space there is and the view the CRC32 of the files.
- Now save the file using: File -> Save. Give the image file a name and save as an IMA file by selecting 'Image file (*.IMA)' in the 'Save as type:' drop-down box .
- If you are using the file in a grub4dos menu, you can compress the file using 7Zip to a .gz file by right-clicking on the file in the 7-Zip GUI, choosing 7-Zip -Add to archive and selecting GZIp as the archive format.
To create an ISO image from a CD or DVD-ROM use Disk - Use CD-ROM x, then Disk - Create CD-ROM ISO image...
Using a USB Flash drive instead of editing in WinImage
If you prefer, you can use a spare USB flash drive to make a pseudo-floppy disk and edit the files on the USB drive directly, as follows:
1. Obtain or make a floppy disk image - e.g. freedos.ima (see below for details)
2. Use RMPrepUSB - File->USB option to copy the floppy disk image onto any spare USB flash drive you happen to have
3. If the USB flash drive is not given a letter automatically in Windows Explorer, then assign a drive letter to it in Disk Manager - e.g. U:
4. Now edit the USB flash drive files in Windows as you would any other disk drive.
5. Save the whole FAT partition as an image using RMPrepUSB USB->File and use 2880SEC as the size (=1.44MB)
Note - testing the image: If you made a bootable floppy image, the USB flash drive that you made, may or may not boot if you actually try it on a computer. It depends on the BIOS of the computer that you plug it into. Some BIOSes may boot it correctly as a floppy disk (A:), others may try to boot it as a hard disk and so the USB drive will fail to boot. Some BIOSes may require you to change a USB Boot BIOS option first before it will boot as a floppy disk. The Asus EeePC 904HA for instance, will successfully boot such an image on a UFD as drive A:. If the UFD has an MBR, and a partition table with two partitions however, it will attempt to boot the UFD as drive C:.
To test a floppy disk image, you can make a bootable USB flash drive using RMPrepUSB and then install grub4dos and place the .IMA or .IMA.GZ image file on the USB drive. Then make a menu.lst as follows:
