Path: utzoo!censor!geac!jtsv16!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!orion.cf.uci.edu!mrichey
From: mrichey@orion.cf.uci.edu (Mike Richey)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: What files MUST be in the root directory?
Message-ID: <2480@orion.cf.uci.edu>
Date: 8 Aug 89 19:31:57 GMT
References: <189@nisca.ircc.ohio-state.edu>
Reply-To: mrichey@orion.cf.uci.edu (Mike Richey)
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Lines: 15

In article <189@nisca.ircc.ohio-state.edu> pjd@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Peter J. Dotzauer) writes:
>There seems to be some confusion about what files MUST be in the root
>directory. For instance, the specifications for many drivers state that
>one must put a line 'device=xyz.sys ' into config.sys, and place
>the file 'xyz.sys' into the root directory.
>
If you use a package such as VFeature, which is a hard disk driver, that
driver (fixt_dsk.sys i think) must be in the root directory. if it's
not then the hard disk won't boot up. But device=c:\dos\ansi.sys is a 
valid config.sys entry, so is the shell=c:\dos\command.com. The only other
file that would need to be in the root is AUTOEXEC.BAT. I use this on various
machines so that the command.com does not get overwritten.

Comspec is the command as to where to load command.com from after exiting
applications. The shell command is what you need to look up in you DOS manual.