Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (
More info?)
Hi, Alan.
No. WinXP is not built on MS-DOS, as Win9x/ME were, so we cannot "get out
of Windows and just run in MS-DOS". WinXP does include an emulator that
seems to be MS-DOS, but is not. When we click on Command Prompt, the
emulator opens a "DOS" window that runs almost all of the familiar old
MS-DOS commands, but it is not actually MS-DOS. So, Safe Mode with Command
Prompt is as close to MS-DOS as we can get in WinXP.
There are two other ways to boot into a Command Prompt, but neither are
truly WinXP. The first is to boot from the WinXP CD-ROM and choose Repair.
This opens the Recovery Console, which presents an interface that looks much
like MS-DOS, but is not. It runs many DOS-like commands, but the results
are often not what a MS-DOS user expects.
The other way is to have WinXP create an MS-DOS startup diskette, then boot
with that diskette. Of course, this cannot read any volume formatted as
NTFS, so it may not be of much use unless your drives are formatted FAT (16
or 32), or unless you have a third-party utility to allow MS-DOS to access
NTFS.
Why do you need (or want) to start in Command Prompt? If you tell us what
you are trying to accomplish, maybe we can help you do that without starting
in Command prompt.
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@corridor.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
"Alan" <alan_1034@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:%23h8u07mgEHA.592@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> when ever i try to start my computer in command prompt mode, the only
> option
> is safe mode with command prompt. is there a way to just have it in
> command
> prompt.