When you have to update the BIOS of an older system, sometimes you have to boot into the old MS-DOS or FreeDOS and then execute the update program. This problem no longer exists in the newer UEFI based motherboards. We have already posted about how you can create a bootable FreeDOS CD for this purpose. But you can also create a bootable MS-DOS CD if you want a quicker solution. You won’t have to go through various steps as we posted about the FreeDOS CD. Here is how:
- Download and install ISO Workshop in your PC from http://www.glorylogic.com/iso-workshop.html.
- Click on the Make ISO button to create a new ISO image.
- In the window that opens, choose Bootable and then select the Dos622.img file that comes with ISO Workshop. You can also get other MS-DOS, Windows 95 or Windows 98 Boot disk images from https://www.allbootdisks.com/. Click on the OK button to proceed.
- Now you can add any DOS programs like the BIOS update program to the ISO image by dragging and dropping these files in the Make ISO window. Change the disk type to CD 700 MB. Click Make to proceed and save the ISO image somewhere on your hard drive.
- You can use ISO Maker to burn this ISO image to a blank CD with your CD/DVD writer.
When you boot using this CD, it will go straight into DOS. But since Microsoft DOS version 6.22 is a very old operating system, some of the newer DOS based programs (that were developed on a FreeDOS system) might not work or fail to run properly using this bootable CD.
In any case, if you are not able to use your programs through this bootable CD, then you can use the bootable FreeDOS CD that can be created using the steps we have mentioned in our previous post – how to create FreeDOS CD to update the BIOS on older systems.
simply doesn’t work…continually states that the cd is not empty, but its been formatted and have tried multiple blank cd’s…used this tool to erase cd as well, and it still comes back as not seeing the cd as empty…uninstall this garbage and moved on…
When I click on the Make Iso buttton, a message appears saying DLL MUST BE ACTIVE. What is wrong?
There could be installation problem with ISO Workshop. You may try re-installing it. I just tested with new version of ISO Workshop and it is working without any problem.
I want to create the bootable image file itself.
How is that done?
Hello, can I directly run games burned on the CD /without HDD installed in machine/?
Yes, but it depends on the game too. Some games create temporary files and they won’t run.
Hello
Thanks for this. However, even though a i put a folder of a DOS program in the window before I make the image, the folder does not appear in the list of items on the a: drive after DOS has started up.
How do I put the DOS program on this disk so that I can run it when the boot CD starts up?
Richard
You have to switch to D: or any other CD/DVD drive letter that DOS is using, then check its contents with DIR command.