Windows 3.1 Format Command with DOS 6.0               Faxback Doc. # 2259

There appears to be a problem with the sys option of the format command of
Windows 3.1 File Manager after DOS 6.0 has been installed on a drive that
previously had DOS 5.0 installed. This is due to the fact that when 6.0 is
installed from the upgrade disks, it does not remove the 5.0 hidden files
so the disk can be "uninstalled" back to 5.0.

Symptoms:

Using Windows 3.1 File Manager to format a system disk will produce a
diskette that will not boot.  Using DOS 6.0 format from a DOS prompt
(either exiting Windows or going to a DOS prompt in Windows) will format
the system disk properly.  In Windows File Manager, a non system format
will work fine.

Corrective Action:

Your customer will have two choices to correct this problem.

1. If they ARE NOT SURE that they will NEVER need to move their hard drive
back to DOS 5.0, (uninstall) always use the DOS format command for a system
disk. Again, they can either exit Windows, or get a DOS prompt from Windows
and use DOS format.

2. If they ARE SURE that they DO NOT want to move their hard drive back to
DOS 5.0 (uninstall), they can remove the DOS 5.0 system files from their
hard drive.  The files that need to be removed are ibmbio.com and
ibmdos.com.  The easiest way to do this is to use Windows File Manager

1.  Select View from the File Manager Menu.
2.  Click on All Files Detail and By File Type
3.  Under By File Type, select hidden/system files.  The hidden files will
    appear.
4.  Highlight ibmbio.com and ibmdos.com and delete them.

(rjs/jej-05/11/94)