MS-DOS Lab Projects

Complete and turn in the following MS-DOS projects as directed by your instructor.

1. Booting, Help, and Edit
   1. Turn on the system (cold boot) and display the DOS Help screen (enter HELP at the prompt). If your PC boots directly to Windows 95, restart it in MS-DOS mode (click the Start button, Shut Down, then Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode?). If your PC boots directly to Windows 3.1, exit Windows (File, Exit) to DOS. Find, read, and print the help information for the Edit command (key in Help at the DOS prompt, then select edit). Save this and all printed output as exercise documentation. Use the DOS help feature when you need further explanation for a particular command.
   2. Reboot the system with the Ctrl+Alt+Del key combination (warm boot).

2. Creating, Copying, and Renaming Files
   1. Insert a new or blank formatted diskette into the appropriate disk drive and confirm that there are no files on the diskette (DIR). Print the screen image (PRINT SCREEN key).
   2. Clear the screen (CLS), issue the EDIT command at the DOS prompt, and create a text file on the work diskette.
      This is a hands-on exercise text file. [Your name here.]

      Name the file THREE.TXT, save it on the work diskette, and return to the DOS prompt (File in the main menu, then Exit). c.) Change to the root directory on the work diskette (enter a: or b: at the DOS prompt).

   3. Display the contents of the work diskette (DIR) and the THREE.TXT file (TYPE THREE.TXT). Print the screen image and clear the screen.
   4. Use COPY to create a duplicate copy of THREE.TXT and call it TWO.TXT (COPY THREE.TXT TWO.TXT). Confirm that the copy was successful by examining the directory.
   5. Rename (REN) THREE.TXT as ONE.TXT (REN THREE.TXT ONE.TXT). Confirm that only the files ONE.TXT and TWO.TXT are stored on the work diskette. Print the screen image and clear the screen.

3. Creating Directories and Moving Files
   1. On the work diskette from Project 2, use MD (make directory) to create two subdirectories named \ALPHA (MD \ALPHA) and \BETA.
   2. Using the asterisk (*) wildcard character, copy the files ONE.TXT and TWO.TXT in the root directory of the work diskette (A: or B:) to both newly created subdirectories (COPY *.* \ALPHA). Print the screen image.
   3. Clear the screen and change the directory to \ALPHA (CD ALPHA). Rename the files ONE.TXT and TWO.TXT in the \ALPHA directory to THREE.TXT and FOUR.TXT, respectively. Change to the root directory A: (CD\) then to the \BETA directory. Rename the files ONE.TXT and TWO.TXT in the \BETA directory to FIVE.TXT and SIX.TXT respectively. Clear the screen and examine the directories to confirm the operations. Print the screen image.
   4. Consolidate all six TXT files onto the root directory by moving (MOVE) the files in the \ALPHA and \BETA directories (A:\>MOVE \ALPHA\*.* A:). Remove the \BETA directory (A:\>RD BETA) and confirm that the root directory contains all six TXT files and the \ALPHA directory is empty. Print the screen image.

4. Subdirectories
   1. On the work diskette, create two subdirectories for \ALPHA. Name them \DELTA and \GAMMA.
   2. Display the directories for the root directory (A:) and \ALPHA. Print the screen image. On the printout, identify all parent/child relationships between the directories on the work diskette by drawing a line between each parent/child relationship.
   3. Copy ONE.TXT to \ALPHA\DELTA as SEVEN.TXT and TWO.TXT to \ALPHA\GAMMA as EIGHT.TXT.
   4. Clear the screen and confirm that \ALPHA\DELTA and \ALPHA\GAMMA contain the proper TXT files. Print the screen image.

5. Creating a Batch File
   1. Locate the directory on the PC you are using that contains the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Hint: Look on C: root directory.
   2. Using the DOS Editor, create a batch file named SHOWAUTO.BAT that displays the contents of the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Hint: TYPE C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT might work. Save it on the root directory of your work diskette. Exit EDIT and clear the screen.
   3. Confirm that the root directory of the work diskette contains the SHOWAUTO.BAT file. Display the contents of the SHOWAUTO.BAT file on the screen. Print the screen image.
   4. Clear the screen and execute SHOWAUTO.BAT. Print the screen image.

6. The DOS Shell, MSD, and other DOS Commands SHELL, MEM, and MSD MS-DOS contain scores of commands and many useful features. Use the Help feature to acquaint yourself with the CHKDSK, DOSSHELL, MEM, and MSD.
   1. Use the DOS Shell (DOSSHELL) to copy SEVEN.TXT in the \ALPHA\DELTA directory to the root directory on the diskette. Print the screen image. Note that the DOS Shell has its own Help feature.
   2. Use the MSD command to view technical information about the PC you are using. Create a report showing only the Computer and Memory items (use the mouse to mark only these items in the report list). Print the report for these items.
   3. Use the MEM command to determine the total memory (RAM) of the PC you are using.
   4. Use the CHKDSK command to determine the total capacity (in bytes) of the work diskette. How many bytes of disk storage on this diskette are taken up by user files?