Cannot Interactively Boot Windows 95 with Hardcard Drives

• Microsoft Windows 95

SYMPTOMS

After you press the F8 key at the "Starting Windows" message or choose Previous Operating System from the Windows Startup menu, Windows 95 still loads.

CAUSE

If a hard disk drive requires that device drivers (such as a hardcard driver) load from the CONFIG.SYS file, an interactive boot is not possible. Such devices are read-only until their drivers are loaded.

WORKAROUND

To work around this situation, use a system disk from the previous operating system and boot from the floppy disk drive.

MORE INFORMATION

Most hardcards must load drivers from the CONFIG.SYS file to provide read and write capabilities. If these device drivers do not load, you can only read information from the hard disk. Without the ability to write information to the hard disk, Windows 95 cannot rename the CONFIG.DOS, AUTOEXEC.DOS, IO.DOS, and MSDOS.DOS files to boot to MS-DOS. (Other operating systems may use different filenames.) This forces Windows 95 to boot using the Windows 95 IO.SYS file. Because the file-rename process occurs before the CONFIG.SYS file is read, the device drivers are not yet loaded; therefore, the files cannot be renamed.