GOLDEN GATE INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE

Battisputali, Kathmandu

Lab Report
on
DOS

Submitted by: Submitted to:

Kritik Shahi Computer Science Department
Roll no. : 09 Goldengate International College
BBM, 5th Sem Submitted on: 2081-05-09
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................1
LAB WORK..................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................17
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................18
 INTRODUCTION

MS-DOS stands for Microsoft Disk Operating System and is also known as Microsoft
DOS. MS-DOS was the Microsoft-marketed version of the first operating system
(OS) to be widely installed on personal computers (PCs). It was essentially the same
OS that Bill Gates's young company developed for IBM as Personal Computer - Disk
Operating System (PC-DOS).

In 1981, IBM licensed and marketed its PC-DOS rebranding of MS-DOS to run on
IBM PCs. MS-DOS was released for x86 computers, went through eight major
versions and was ultimately retired from all active support in 2006.

Most users of either DOS system simply referred to it as Disk Operating System. Like
PC-DOS, MS-DOS was -- and still is -- a non-graphical, line-oriented, command-
driven OS. It has a relatively simple but not overly friendly user interface. Its prompt
to enter an MS-DOS command looks like this:

The default command prompt shows the disk drive currently in use. This type of
computer interface, where commands are input in response to a text prompt, is called
a command-line interface (CLI).

In this example, drive "C:" represents the system's primary hard disk drive. When
booting MS-DOS from a floppy disk, the command prompt would be A:> where "A:"
represents the primary floppy disk drive.

The first version of the Microsoft Windows OS was really an application that ran on
top of MS-DOS. Today, Windows operating systems emulate MS-DOS to continue to
support DOS -- or a DOS-like user interface -- for special purposes.

In the 1970s before the PC was invented, IBM had a different and unrelated DOS that
ran on smaller business computers. It was replaced by IBM's VSE (Virtual Storage
Extended) OS.

1
Features

 MS-DOS is a 16-bit operating system.

 MS-DOS is a character-based interface system where commands are entered
by the users in the command line prompt.
 MS-DOS makes file management i.e. creating, editing, deleting, etc.
 MS-DOS is a single-user operating system.
 File names in MS-DOS are limited to eight characters.

Limitation
 File naming – File names in MS-DOS are limited to upper case only.
 Security – For file ownership and permissions, MS-DOS doesn’t have any
built-in security.
 No multi-user – MS-DOS can run only one program at a time thus it does not
support multitasking and multi-users.
 Difficult to use – As MS-DOS is a command-based OS thus, making it
difficult for beginners to use as it requires commands to be remembered for
specific actions.


Types of MS-DOS Commands

There are mainly two types of MS-DOS commands:

1. Internal Commands
Internal commands are those commands that are loaded automatically in the memory
when DOS is loaded into memory during the booting process. These commands are
easier to learn and use. They require no external files for their storage as in the case of
external commands. These are for performing a basic operation on files and in
directories. They do not need any external file support. These commands are used for
common jobs such as copying and erasing files.

2
2. External Commands
These external commands are for performing advanced tasks and they do not need
some external file support as they are not stored in COMMAND.com. The external
commands are used less frequently and are stored in some external files which are
stored in some secondary storage devices. Whenever an external command is to be
executed then the external file in which that particular command is stored is
transferred from the secondary storage disk to the main memory(RAM).

Booting with MS-DOS

 When we turn on the computer, the Basic Input-Output System (BIOS) reads
the data and programs. And loads it into the memory RAM (Random Access
Memory). This is known as booting.
 During the DOS booting process the reading of the following files into
memory takes place IO.SYS, COMMAND COM, and MSDOS.SYS
 IO.SYS is the basic Input-Output Program that provides the interlinking of
hardware and software of the system.
 MSDOS.SYS handles disk buffering and file management. It remains
permanently in memory.
 COMMAND COM command processor also known as a command
interpreter displays the system prompt and handles the user command.

Basic DOS Commands

Some basic commands of the MS-DOS are as-
1. Directory Commands
 DIR- Used for listing files and directories.
 MD- This command makes a new directory.
 CD- Used to enter or exit from any directory.

2. File Management Commands

 COPY- Used to copy any file to another location or directory.
 DEL- Used to erase any file from the disk
 REN- Used to change the name of any file or directory

3
 3. General Commands
 TIME- Display the current time.
 DATE- Display the current Date.
 TYPE- Used to display the contents or text of any file to the display.

Attributes of Files
+R - Use the +R option to make a file read-only. Read-only files may be
read but they can`t be changed or deleted.

-R - Use the -R option to change the file protection attribute back to normal
(so it can be read, changed, or deleted).

+A - Use the +A option to set the ARCHIVE attribute of a file. When the
+A option is used, this flags the file as available for archiving when using
the BACKUP or XCOPY commands.

-A - Use the -A option to turn off the ARCHIVE attribute.

+H - With DOS Versions 4 through 6, use the +H option to set the HIDDEN
attribute of a file so that it will not appear in a directory listing.

-H - Use the -H option to turn off the HIDDEN attribute.

+S - With DOS Versions after Version 4, use the +S option to set the
SYSTEM attribute of a file. When the +S option is used, this flags the file as
a command file used only by DOS. The file will not appear in a directory
listing. This attribute is generally reserved for programmers.

4
-S - Use the -S option to turn off the SYSTEM attribute.
/S - Use the /S switch to set attributes on subdirectories found within the
specified path.

Advantages
 It is a very lightweight operating system.
 It has less latency as it does not support multitasking.
 The system boot-up process is faster in MS-DOS compared to other OS.

Disadvantages
 It is limited to very few applications.
 It has a command-line interface that is not very user-friendly.

Why is MS-DOS used?

Although most computer users prefer a modern OS with a graphical user interface
(GUI), there are still reasons to use MS-DOS. Some of these include the following:

 Education and research efforts let people learn about how a simple OS
works. Source code is available from Microsoft for two MS-DOS
versions; emulators and OSes providing MS-DOS functionality also enable
learning about the OS.

 Legacy systems persist throughout the world. In some cases, organizations

prefer to continue using a system that has worked reliably for decades. In
others, there is no budget for upgrading the applications.

 Embedded systems depend on MS-DOS, especially for new devices that still
use x86 processor architecture. MS-DOS is also used on legacy embedded
devices, some of which have been in the field for decades. In some case,
these embedded systems can be updated to run up-to-date versions of
compatible OSes.

5
 Classic older computer games are still in use that were developed and
supported only on MS-DOS.

 User inertia or the preference to skip all updates drives some people and
organizations to continue using MS-DOS. For example, author George R.R.
Martin famously admitted in 2014 to still using WordStar 4.0, which was
released in 1987, on a computer running MS-DOS.

6
 LAB WORK
1. To Check Time

2. To Check Date

7
3. To view the list of File and Folder

8
4. To create a Folder

5. To rename the folder name

9
6. To create Different

i. Text file
ii. MS-Word
iii. Powerpoint
iv. Excel

10
7. To view the content of File

8. To delete a File

11
9. To edit a File

10. To delete a Folder

12
11. To move on sub Folder

12. To stay on current Folder

13
13. To return back to Parent Folder/ Directory

14. To delete Sub Folder

14
15. To view the attribute/ Property of a file

16. To set hide property to a file

17. To reset hide property to a file

15
18. To set Read only property to a file

19. To reset Read only property of a file

16
 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, DOS was the first operating system used by PCs that were compatible
with IBM, it plays a significant role in the history of personal computing. It has not
entirely vanished, even though Windows and other command line utilities have
mostly replaced it. For compatibility and convenience, the Command Prompt
application on Windows PCs continues to support a few DOS commands and
programs. It's crucial to remember that the Command Prompt and DOS are not the
same because of their various distinctions and restrictions.

17
 REFERENCES

Art of Testing. (n.d.). Retrieved August 23, 2024, from https://artoftesting.com/ms-dos-

operating-system

Tech Target. (n.d.). Retrieved August 23, 2024, from

https://www.techtarget.com/searchenterprisedesktop/definition/MS-DOS

18