Report

On
DOS
Submitted By:-

Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar

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 DOS (Disk Operating System):-

DOS is an abbreviation for Disk Operating System. Historically, not all operating systems ran off
of floppy disks or hard drives, so ones that included this functionality often had "DOS" in their
name. Examples include Apple DOS, Atari DOS, ProDOS, Commodore DOS, and TRS-DOS.
Nowadays, most operating systems are run off of a disk, so the term DOS is no longer
widespread.

DOS is also usually used to refer to MS-DOS and related systems. While by no means the first
operating system to run off of a disk, it was the most popular one. Thus, the term "DOS" was
hijacked to refer mostly to MS-DOS and compatible systems.

Design

All MS-DOS-type operating systems run on machines with the Intel x86 or compatible CPUs,
mainly the IBM PC and compatibles. Machine-dependent versions of MS-DOS were produced
for many non-IBM-compatible x86-based machines, with variations from relabelling of the
Microsoft distribution under the manufacturer's name, to versions specifically designed to work
with non-IBM-PC-compatible hardware. DOS-C's predecessor DOS/NT ran on Motorola 68000
CPU's.

DOS is a single-user, single-task operating system with basic kernel functions that are non-
reentrant: only one program at a time can use them. There is an exception with Terminate and
Stay Resident (TSR) programs, and some TSRs can allow multitasking. However, there is still a
problem with the non-reentrant kernel: once a process calls a service inside of operating system
kernel (system call), it must not be interrupted with another process calling system call, until the
first call is finished.

The DOS kernel provides various functions for programs (an application program interface), like
displaying characters on-screen, reading a character from the keyboard, accessing disk files and
more.

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DOS by default provides a primitive ability for shell scripting, via batch files (with the filename
extension .BAT). These are text files that can be created in any DOS text editor, such as the MS-
DOS Editor. They are executed in the same fashion as compiled programs, and run each line of
the batch file as a command. Batch files can also make use of several internal commands, such as
goto and conditional statements. gosub and simple arithmetic is supported in some third-party
shells but can also be faked via strange workarounds; however, no real form of programming is
usually enabled.

The operating system offers a hardware abstraction layer that allows development of character-
based applications, but not for accessing most of the hardware, such as graphics cards, printers,
or mice. This required programmers to access the hardware directly, usually resulting in each
application having its own set of device drivers for each hardware peripheral. Hardware
manufacturers would release specifications to ensure device drivers for popular applications
were available.

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DOS Commands:-
Command Description Type
Causes MS-DOS to look in other directories when editing a file
append External
or running a command.
Displays, adds, and removes arp information from network
arp External
devices.
assign Assign a drive letter to an alternate letter. External
assoc View the file associations. Internal
at Schedule a time to execute commands or programs. External
Lists connections and addresses seen by Windows ATM call
atmadm Internal
manager.
attrib Display and change file attributes. External
break Enable / disable CTRL + C feature. Internal
cacls View and modify file ACL's. External
call Calls a batch file from another batch file. Internal
cd Changes directories. Internal
Supplement the International keyboard and character set
chcp External
information.
chdir Changes directories. Internal
chdsk Check the hard disk drive running FAT for errors. External
chkntfs Check the hard disk drive running NTFS for errors. External
choice Specify a listing of multiple options within a batch file. External
cls Clears the screen. Internal
cmd Opens the command interpreter.  
Easily change the foreground and background color of the MS-
color Internal
DOS window.
command Opens the command interpreter.  
comp Compares files. External
compact Compresses and uncompress files. External
control Open Control Panel icons from the MS-DOS prompt. External
convert Convert FAT to NTFS. External

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copy Copy one or more files to an alternate location. Internal
ctty Change the computers input/output devices. Internal
date View or change the systems date. Internal
Debug utility to create assembly programs to modify hardware
debug External
settings.
defrag Re-arrange the hard disk drive to help with loading programs. External
del Deletes one or more files. Internal
delete Recovery console command that deletes a file. Internal
deltree Deletes one or more files and/or directories. External
dir List the contents of one or more directory. Internal
diskcomp Compare a disk with another disk. External
diskcopy Copy the contents of one disk and place them on another disk. External
Command to view and execute commands that have been run
doskey External
in the past.
dosshell A GUI to help with early MS-DOS users. External
drivparm Enables overwrite of original device drivers. Internal
echo Displays messages and enables and disables echo. Internal
edit View and edit files. External
edlin View and edit files. External
emm386 Load extended Memory Manager. External
Recovery console command to enable a disable service or
ename Recovery
driver.
Stops the localization of the environment changes enabled by
endlocal Internal
the setlocal command.
erase Erase files from computer. Internal
exit Exit from the command interpreter. Internal
expand Expand a Microsoft Windows file back to it's original format. External
extract Extract files from the Microsoft Windows cabinets. External
Displays a listing of MS-DOS commands and information about
fasthelp External
them.
fc Compare files. External

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fdisk Utility used to create partitions on the hard disk drive. External
find Search for text within a file. External
findstr Searches for a string of text within a file. External
for Boolean used in batch files. Internal
format Command to erase and prepare a disk drive. External
ftp Command to connect and operate on a FTP server. External
goto Moves a batch file to a specific label or location. Internal
graftabl Show extended characters in graphics mode. External
help Display a listing of commands and brief explanation. External
if Allows for batch files to perform conditional processing. Internal
ifshlp.sys 32-bit file manager. External
Network command to view network adapter settings and
ipconfig External
assigned values.
keyb Change layout of keyboard. External
label Change the label of a disk drive. External
lh Load a device driver in to high memory. Internal
loadfix Load a program above the first 64k. External
loadhigh Load a device driver in to high memory. Internal
lock Lock the hard disk drive. Internal
logoff Logoff the currently profile using the computer. External
md Command to create a new directory. Internal
mem Display memory on system. External
mkdir Command to create a new directory. Internal
mode Modify the port or display settings. External
more Display one page at a time. External
Move one or more files from one directory to another
move Internal
directory.
msav Early Microsoft Virus scanner. External
msd Diagnostics utility. External
msdex Utility used to load and provide access to the CD-ROM. External

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 Displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP connections
nbtstat External
using NBT
net Update, fix, or view the network or network settings External
Configure dynamic and static network information from MS-
netsh External
DOS.
Display the TCP/IP network protocol statistics and
netstat External
information.
nlsfunc Load country specific information. External
nslookup Look up an IP address of a domain or host on a network. External
path View and modify the computers path location. Internal
pathping View and locate locations of network latency. External
Command used in batch files to stop the processing of a
pause Internal
command.
Test / send information to another network computer or
ping External
network device.
Changes to the directory or network path stored by the pushd
popd Internal
command.
power Conserve power with computer portables. External
print Prints data to a printer port. External
prompt View and change the MS-DOS prompt. Internal
Stores a directory or network path in memory so it can be
pushd Internal
returned to at any time.
qbasic Open the QBasic. External
rd Removes an empty directory. Internal
ren Renames a file or directory. Internal
rename Renames a file or directory. Internal
rmdir Removes an empty directory. Internal
route View and configure windows network route tables. External
runas Enables a user to run a program as a different user. External
scandisk Run the scandisk utility. External
scanreg Scan registry and recover registry from errors. External
set Change one variable or string to another. Internal

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 Enables local environments to be changed without affecting
setlocal Internal
anything else.
setver Change MS-DOS version to trick older MS-DOS programs. External
share Installs support for file sharing and locking capabilities. External
Changes the position of replaceable parameters in a batch
shift Internal
program.
shutdown Shutdown the computer from the MS-DOS prompt. External
Create a disk cache in conventional memory or extended
smartdrv External
memory.
sort Sorts the input and displays the output to the screen. External
start Start a separate window in Windows from the MS-DOS prompt. Internal
subst Substitute a folder on your computer for another drive letter. External
switches Remove add functions from MS-DOS. Internal
sys Transfer system files to disk drive. External
telnet Telnet to another computer / device from the prompt. External
time View or modify the system time. Internal
title Change the title of their MS-DOS window. Internal
tracert Visually view a network packets route across a network. External
tree View a visual tree of the hard disk drive. External
type Display the contents of a file. Internal
undelete Undelete a file that has been deleted. External
unformat Unformat a hard disk drive. External
unlock Unlock a disk drive. Internal
ver Display the version information. Internal
Enables or disables the feature to determine if files have been
verify Internal
written properly.
vol Displays the volume information about the designated drive. Internal
Copy multiple files, directories, and/or drives from one
xcopy External
location to another.

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Command syntax
Starts a new copy of the Windows Command Interpreter.

COMMAND [[drive:] path] [device] [/E:nnnnn] [/L:nnnn] [/U:nnn] [/P] [/MSG] [/LOW]
[/Y [/C|K] command]

[drive:]path Specifies the directory containing COMMAND.COM.

device Specifies the device to use for command input and output.
Sets the initial environment size to nnnnn bytes. (nnnnn should be
/E:nnnnn
between 256 and 32,768).
Specifies internal buffers length (requires /P as well). (nnnn should be
/L:nnnn
between 128 and 1,024).
Specifies the input buffer length (requires /P as well). (nnn should be
/U:nnn
between 128 and 255).
/P Makes the new Command Interpreter permanent (can't exit).
/MSG Stores all error messages in memory (requires /P as well).
/LOW Forces COMMAND to keep its resident data in low memory.
Steps through the batch program specified by /C or /K. (Only available
/Y
in MS-DOS 6.x and above).
/C
Executes the specified command and returns.
command 
/K command Executes the specified command and continues running.
Display the errorlevel of every command executed (Only available in
/Z
MS-DOS 7.x and above).

CMD syntax
Starts a new instance of the Windows 2000 / Windows XP command interpreter.

CMD [/A | /U] [/Q] [/D] [/E:ON | /E:OFF] [/F:ON | /F:OFF] [/V:ON | /V:OFF] [[/S]
[/C | /K] string]

/C Carries out the command specified by string and then terminates

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/K Carries out the command specified by string but remains
/S Modifies the treatment of string after /C or /K (see below)
/Q Turns echo off
/D Disable execution of AutoRun commands from registry (see below)
/A Causes the output of internal commands to a pipe or file to be ANSI
/U Causes the output of internal commands to a pipe or file to be Unicode
/T:fg Sets the foreground/background colors (see COLOR /? for more info)
/E:ON Enable command extensions (see below)
/E:OFF Disable command extensions (see below)
/F:ON Enable file and directory name completion characters (see below)
/F:OFF Disable file and directory name completion characters (see below)
/V:ON Enable delayed environment variable expansion using c as the delimiter. For
example, /V:ON would allow !var! to expand the variable var at execution
time. The var syntax expands variables at input time, which is quite a
different thing when inside of a FOR loop.
/V:OFF Disable delayed environment expansion.

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