18 Steps to a TCP/IP Boot Disk

A 3.5" MS-DOS 6.22 boot disk that lets you boot a computer and access shared files across a TCP/IP network is a useful administrative tool. A TCP/IP boot disk is handy when you're using imaging software to roll out a standard client image across the network, running an unattended installation of Windows NT 4.0, or troubleshooting a machine that has a FAT partition. The main problem with a TCP/IP boot disk is fitting onto one disk all the files that you need to access a share across a TCP/IP-based network.

Few administrators have access to a machine that they can use to directly format an MS-DOS TCP/IP boot disk. However, you can use the following procedure to make such a disk. You need only a blank 144MB 3.5" disk, an NT Server 4.0 CD-ROM, MS-DOS network adapter drivers, and a Windows workstation. You need to create a separate boot disk for every different type of network adapter you use.

Step 1
Insert a blank, formatted 3.5" disk into the workstation's drive A.

Step 2
Insert the NT Server 4.0 CD-ROM into the workstation's CD-ROM drive (drive E in this article).

Step 3
Run E:\support\hqtool\makedisk.bat to create an NT 4.0 hardware query disk, which works as an MS-DOS boot disk that you can customize.

Step 4
After makedisk.bat has finished running, go to the 3.5" disk. Remove hardware query components that makedisk.bat has placed on the disk (i.e., A:\zipfile.exe, A:\setramd.bat, A:\dos\findramd.exe, and A:\dos\ramdrive.sys). The boot disk doesn't need the hardware query components, and they consume valuable disk space that you need for the TCP/IP networking components.

Step 5
To ensure that A:\autoexec.bat doesn't reference any files that you removed in Step 4, edit A:\autoexec.bat to contain only

@echo off
prompt $p$g
SET PATH=A:\DOS

Step 6
To prevent errors when config.sys attempts to reference the hardware query components that you deleted, edit A:\config.sys to contain only

DEVICE=A:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=A:\DOS\EMM386.EXE FRAME=NONE
DOS=HIGH,UMB
FILES=30
BUFFERS=20
LASTDRIVE=Z
STACKS=9,256
SHELL=A:\COMMAND.COM A:\ /E:512 /P

This step completes the creation of the MS-DOS boot disk.

Step 7
Copy the E:\clients\msclient\netsetup folder and its contents to a FAT partition on your local system (drive C in this article) that you can access when you boot from your new boot disk. The system will use the Netsetup files to install the TCP/IP networking component to the disk.

Step 8
Create a folder on drive C and name it NIC_Driver. Copy your network adapter's MS-DOS\Windows for Workgroups (WFW) 3.11 drivers into the NIC_Driver folder. (You can find the drivers on the CD-ROM or disk that came with the adapter or download the drivers from the adapter manufacturer's Web site.) You need at least the two drivers oemsetup.inf and nic_card.dos. If your adapter doesn't have an oemsetup.inf file, copy the drivers that are available, then use the workaround described for this situation when you reach Step 12.

Step 9
Use your newly created boot disk to reboot your machine.

Step 10

Type

C:\netsetup\setup.exe

at the command prompt, then press Enter to start the setup program for Microsoft Network Client 3.0 for MS-DOS. Press Enter again to set up the Network Client software on your boot disk.