Does Retail MS-DOS 3.31 Exist?

[Lucas Brooks]

I've seen many places saying that MS-DOS 3.31 was released only to OEMs like Compaq, Emerson and Olivetti. I saw in the database there is a non-OEM release and I am wondering is it an actual retail release. I've seen a few modified MS-DOS 3.31 from 1989 and not sure if the one on the FTP is one of them.

[windowsio]

Hello!
DOS 3.31 was only shipped to OEMs.
Regards
windows

[os2fan2]

Microsoft did release versions of 3.x, which were used with small OEM computers. You can see the disk images on the downloads, of ms-dos 3.3x. The OEM versions have a hacked kernel, and sometimes hacked video support. This was still in the days of msdos-compatible computers, where the text-mode would run with little modification, but the video calls varied from machine to machine.

Version 3.31 contains fat16 support, which Compaq invented and microsoft copied. I suppose later they released a 3.31 version without a hacked kernel.

[Lucas Brooks]

So did Microsoft release a retail version?

[Overdoze]

There was no true retail release before MS-DOS 5.0 Upgrade. You can find some rather generic looking MS-DOS 3.x releases, which I believe are what os2fan2 is talking about. Probably released by minor OEMs without many customizations to the base OAK, if any at all.

[DVINTHEHOUSEMAN]

I actually have the floppies for DOS 3.31 Compaq. Original copies, with original labels, and on 5 1/4" disks

[Lucas Brooks]

Here is the version I found.

It has an IHC signature means it was possible written using Windows 9x. It also has creation and access time (1999) which is uncommon for untouched MS-DOS floppies. The date and time is inconsistent and it has 0x0000 timestamp for most files whereas Microsoft normally use 0x0001. There are 10 files that does not belong to DOS. Also I am pretty sure it was 2 disks cramped together using a 1.44MB disk and the file orders are wrong.

After deleting extra files and restoring dates and time, I've separated it into 2 disks and reconstructed them with the correct file order. I found out the OEM string overwritten by the IHC signature was IBM 3.3 instead of MSDOS3.3.

Comparing this to the original MS-DOS 3.30 and 3.30A release, it is very similar and the version string were mostly unchanged.

I am not sure if the version on the FTP but this looks fake and unprofessionally made.

[Lucas Brooks]

I actually have the floppies for DOS 3.31 Compaq. Original copies, with original labels, and on 5 1/4" disks

Sorry for the bump, but which version is that (what year)?

[DVINTHEHOUSEMAN]

They say 1982-88

[Lucas Brooks]

Can you please share it?

[DVINTHEHOUSEMAN]

Take pics of the disk or write it and upload to the FTP
If my dang motherboard had Floppy and IDE ports I would do that but it doesn’t... it sucks

[os2fan2]

USB floppies will for the most part work.

[DVINTHEHOUSEMAN]

I don’t think they make 5.25” usb drives

[os2fan2]

There is a 3.5 version of 3.x

[DVINTHEHOUSEMAN]

But I have the 5.25” versions of the disks. Read the whole topic before telling me about a non existent product, such as a 5.25” USB floppy disk drive.

I actually have the floppies for DOS 3.31 Compaq. Original copies, with original labels, and on 5 1/4" disks

[Lucas Brooks]

Lets get back to topic. The purpose is to find out if a retail or non-OEM version of MS-DOS 3.31 exist. I guess the answer is yes because there is one on the FTP.

Also, can somebody please compare the file I uploaded with the one on the FTP to see if they are the same.

[Overdoze]

It's the same copy, and not an original dump.

[Lucas Brooks]

I made a fix not sure if it is acceptable or not.

[Folgore_202]

Can you even adapt a 5.25" floppy disk drive to a modern computer anyways? There must be a way to jury-rig something, but I'm afraid it's the only way to read these floppies on something made after the 90s.

[JustZisGuy]

Can you even adapt a 5.25" floppy disk drive to a modern computer anyways?

You can use 5.25" and even 8" drives via a Kryoflux or Supercard pro. Neither do drag-and-drop files, however, but can read and write images of any format including copy protected titles.

[Lucas Brooks]

I use my old computer with built in floppy drive for reading floppies. I don't think there are any USB floppy drives for modern computers that support 8" but surely there are ones support 3.5 and 5.25.

SCP and KF are pretty expensive. If you just want to dump a normal size, non copy protected floppy, use an old computer or USB floppy drive.

[Folgore_202]

Okay, thanks for the answers. I do remember seeing USB 3.5 floppy disk readers, but not much else...