FreeDOS

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FreeDOS

By Stephen Bucaro

Before September 1995, Microsoft Windows was an MS-DOS
program. DOS was an easy to use command line operating
system that provided you with complete ability to control
and troubleshoot your computer. Microsoft's goal was to
eliminate DOS, possibly to prevent you from having complete
control of your own computer.

The last stand-alone version of MS-DOS was version 6.
Unfortunately, that version is not Y2K compliant. Windows
95 and later came with MS-DOS version 7. Unfortunately,
that version is too integrated with the operating system.
It will not work without access to your hard disk.

FreeDOS is a PC compatible Y2K compliant DOS that you can
download from www.freedos.org. FreeDOS fits on a single
floppy disk and can be used to boot your computer.
Download and unzip the file odin7bin.zip (756KB). Unziping
will create the files diskcopy.exe and fdodin07.144. Put a
blank formatted floppy disk in the drive. In the
Start | Run dialog box, or at a command prompt type
"diskcopy fdodin07.144 a:" to create a bootable FreeDOS
floppy disk.

Why would you want to boot your computer with DOS? Maybe
you want to use Windows XP without product activation.

First make sure that the BIOS boot sequence on your
computer is configured with the floppy drive as the first
boot device (or at least before the C: drive). To get to
the BIOS configuration screen, press the "Delete" or "F2"
key (depending upon your BIOS) while your computer is
starting.

Insert the FreeDOS floppy disk in the floppy drive and
start the computer. At the A:>_ prompt type DATE. FreeDOS
will return your computer's current date, along with a
prompt to enter a new date. Enter the date that you
installed Windows XP (or at least a date before the 30 day
expiration date). Remove the FreeDOS floppy disk and
restart your computer.

Note: This will only work if Windows XP has never been
started after the 30 day expiration date. The first time
Windows XP is started after the 30 day expiration date
will be the last time it starts.

Every time you start your computer, start it first with
FreeDOS and reset the computer's date to the date that you
installed Windows XP. Windows XP will think time has come
to a standstill.

Note: Of course, Your file creation and last modified
dates will not be correct, so this is not really a way for
a serious user to bypass Windows XP product activation.
However for certain purposes, like learning the Windows XP
operating system, this can be a way to use Windows XP
without product activation.

Microsoft should have made the expiration period much
longer than 30 days. Maybe they want you to activate
Windows XP before it crashes.

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