Switch to DOS mode

Evermore,

If your friend receives an error message this may help. You can start a Windows 98 system is true DOS by booting from the emergency boot diskette.

Say Jim S,

Why so terse?  A bit more detail would have been helpful.  You didn't say if the problem was due to the option missing or the option failing.  Many things can cause a problem when restarting to DOS, like corrupted operating system files, or someone changing the Exit to MS-DOS shortcut command from command.com to win.com.  As Denny indicated, one can use a boot disk to boot to native/real mode DOS.  You can make one of those by simply formatting a diskette with the /s switch which transfers the required system files, making the diskette bootable.  One can also keep tapping the F8 key at bootup and when the Boot Menu appears, choose Command Prompt Only.  I have to wonder if your friend might have used a system policy/security application/editor and inadvertently shot himself in the foot.  From start > Run, enter "regedit" (without the quotes).  Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\WinOldApp\NoRealMode

If the NoRealMode key is not present, that's OK, but if it is present and it has a value of one modify it to change the value to zero.  Then, exit the registry editor, reboot and the Restart in MS-DOS mode entry/option should reappear.  If the problem is other than a missing entry/option, then perhaps the following links will prove helpful.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q232/6/57.ASP&NoWebContent=1

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q195/1/76.asp&NoWebContent=1

Jim McNamara

Message Edited by jimmymac_4 on 01-18-2004 10:54 AM