Path: utzoo!censor!geac!jtsv16!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!mcnc!unccvax!cs75jmc
From: cs75jmc@unccvax.UUCP (John Covington WN4BBJ)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: What files MUST be in the root directory?
Summary: command.com may be placed elsewhere but....
Message-ID: <1588@unccvax.UUCP>
Date: 8 Aug 89 13:03:52 GMT
References: <189@nisca.ircc.ohio-state.edu>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Univ. of NC at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC
Lines: 24

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
>....
> Obviously, the two hidden files and config.sys MUST absolutely be in
> the root directory, but what about command.com, if you have a comspec
> line in config.sys? I haven't dared to remove command.com from the root,
> for fear of screwing something up.

You can place command.com in a subdirectory instead of the root if you
have the shell command in config.sys.  Something like:
shell=c:\dos\command.com c:\dos /p

However, I would warn you that if your config.sys file gets clobbered,
you won't be able to boot your machine.  You can boot without a
config.sys but you can't boot without command.com.  You'll have to
get out the floppy version of DOS and boot from that so you can fix
config.sys.

John Covington WN4BBJ        E-mail: cs75jmc@unccvax.UUCP
P.O. Box 217122              MCI Mail: JCOVINGTON 342-6957
Charlotte, NC 28221-7122     Packet Radio: WN4BBJ @ KK4L
(704) 537-7653               "Give it back, Eric, it's not yours" (the ICOM)