Microsoft KB Archive/69129

Starting Enhanced DOS LAN Manager from a Floppy Disk ID Number: Q69129

2.00 MS-DOS

Summary:

Enhanced DOS LAN Manager version 2.00 is generally designed to be run from a hard disk; however, you can run Enhanced DOS LAN Manager from a 1.2 MB or 1.44 MB floppy disk. Listed below are four different ways to run Enhanced DOS LAN Manager from a floppy disk.

More Information:

Advantage
Logon and logoff are allowed.

Disadvantages

 * 1) Access to Drive A is not permitted because it is used by Enhanced DOS LAN Manager (LANROOT = A:.DOS).
 * 2) To run the full screen interface of NET.EXE, you must type “netuser” (without the quotation marks) instead.

The following files and directories should be placed on a SYSTEM disk. The important things to remember are listed with each directory. This setup is for a bootable floppy disk with MS-DOS version 4.01, a 3Com Etherlink II network card and the NetBEUI protocol. All files that are used by Windows versions 2.00 and 3.00 have been removed to save space. The main purpose of this disk is to establish the initial connection to the server. After the connection has been made, all files will be used from the server.

Directory of A:\LANMAN.DOS .  ..  PROTOCOL INI 290 LANMAN INI 2218 DRIVERS  SERVICES  LOGS  NETPROG  PROTOCOL.INI is the file that contains information on the protocol stack and network card being used. The LANMAN.INI file provides initialization information for Enhanced DOS LAN Manager to start the system. The SETUP.* files are only used when setting up the system and are not needed on the bootable floppy disk.

The following command causes the services included in LANMAN.INI to be executed and causes other things which are listed below (see items 1 through 4) to also happen:

NET START WORKSTATION

Other programs will be executed before the workstation service can complete successfully. Any program that is executed should be in the DOS path and should also be on the floppy disk. Usually, you will find the following statement in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file:

PATH=A:.DOS;%PATH%

The following things will happen before the workstation service can complete successfully:


 * 1) CHKNET.EXE is executed.
 * 2) MINSES.EXE is executed.
 * 3) NETWKSTA.EXE is executed.
 * 4) Any services listed after the WRKSERVICES= statement in the LANMAN.INI file are executed.

The executables for the services will be in the SERVICES directory and are not required to be executed at this time. If you want to start them after the workstation service has been started, you can do so by executing the command

NET START 

where service name is MESSENGER, NETPOPUP, or ENCRYPT.

Directory of A:.DOS

.  ..  ENCRYPT EXE 2510 MSRV EXE 45661 NETPOPUP EXE 8269

Directory of A:.DOS

.  ..  CHKNET EXE 698 (Started with the workstation) MINSES EXE 2438 (Started with the workstation) NETWKSTA EXE 98656 (Started with the workstation) NET EXE 218446 (Used for all Enhanced Commands) NET HLP 44475 (Contains help Messages for command line) NET MSG 93164 (Contains additional help messages) OSO001 MSG 86012 (Contains help Messages for errors) NETH MSG 152478 (Contains explanations for errors)

Other files found in this directory, but not needed for the bootable disk, are listed on Pages 193 and 194 of the “Microsoft LAN Manager Administrator’s Guide.”

Directory of A:.DOS

.  ..  PROTMAN  (Contains the protocol manager) ETHERNET  (Contains any Ethernet drivers) PROTOCOL  (Contains the protocol stacks)

Directory of A:\LANMAN.DOS\DRIVERS\PROTMAN . <DIR> .. <DIR> NETBIND EXE 15639 (Binds the protocols) PROTMAN DOS 10661 (Protocol Manager) PRO MSG 1391 (Help Messages for Protocol Manager) PROH MSG 5578 (Help Messages for Protocol Manager)

Directory of A:.DOS

. <DIR> .. <DIR> ELNKII <DIR> (Contains the Ethernet driver)

Directory of A:\LANMAN.DOS\DRIVERS\ETHERNET\ELNKII . <DIR> .. <DIR> ELNKII DOS 10150 (Driver for 3Com Ethernet)

Directory of A:.DOS

. <DIR> .. <DIR> NETBEUI <DIR> (Contains the NetBEUI protocol)

Directory of A:\LANMAN.DOS\DRIVERS\PROTOCOL\NETBEUI . <DIR> .. <DIR> NETBEUI DOS 30330 (Driver for NetBEUI protocol stack)

The remaining directories have been structured exactly as they are installed on the Enhanced DOS LAN Manager workstation, so they are easier to install and understand. All files from the DRIVERS directories can be placed in the DRIVERS directory instead of in directories such as. However, if you do this, you should be sure that the path statements that reference these files are also changed.

This configuration takes up the following:

874496 bytes in 27 user files 5638 bytes in 11 subdirectories 71168 bytes in hidden files

Starting the Bootable Floppy Disk
After the above files have been moved to the bootable floppy disk (either 1.2 MB or 1.44 MB), you can use the following steps to start Enhanced DOS LAN Manager from this disk:

<ol style="list-style-type: decimal;"> <li> Change the LANROOT= statement in LANMAN.INI from “C:.DOS” to “A:.DOS”. </li> <li> Change all occurrences of “C:” to “A:” in the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files. </li> <li> If you are using any memory managers, you must configure them yourself. The files for this installation of Enhanced DOS LAN Manager takes a little over 1 MB of disk space. </li> <li> Create a batch file called LOGON.BAT with the following in it: @ECHO OFF A: SET PATH=A:;A:.DOS NET LOGON %1 %2 /Y : : THIS CONNECTS TO THE NET SHARE DOSLAN=C:.DOS : ON THE SERVER <Server> : NET USE X: \<Server> SET COMSPEC=X:.COM SET PATH=A:;X:;X:;X:;X: X: Replace each occurrence of <Server> with your server name. </li> <li> Create a batch file called LOGOFF.BAT with the following in it: @ECHO OFF A: SET COMSPEC=A:.COM SET PATH=A:;A:.DOS NET LOGOFF /Y </li> <li> Install Enhanced DOS LAN Manager on the server. You now should have two versions of DOS LAN Manager on the server. The OS/2 version will be in the directory, and the Enhanced DOS LAN Manager version will be in the .DOS directory. You should then create a share with Read and eXecute privileges. For example: NET SHARE DOSLAN=C:.DOS </li> <li> Create a directory called “DOS” in the LANMAN.DOS directory on the server. Put all the MS-DOS utilities in this directory for the MS-DOS version your workstations will be using. </li></ol>

The DOSLAN share will be used in the path of the MS-DOS workstations that need to run .EXE files other than the ones on the disk. This also allows the MS-DOS workstations to use the MS-DOS utilities without having them on their local disks.

To log onto the server, execute the following command:

LOGON

To log off of the server, execute the following command:

LOGOFF

Advantages

 * 1) Access to programs is highly increased.
 * 2) Logons and logoffs are allowed.
 * 3) Floppy disk drive A is accessible.

Disadvantages

 * 1) You need to set up a RAM drive large enough to hold the Enhanced DOS LAN Manager files.
 * 2) To use the full screen NET.EXE file, you must enter “netuser” instead.

This setup is exactly like method 1, except for the use of a RAM drive. When you start up the system, the AUTOEXEC.BAT file tree copies all the files from the bootable floppy disk to the RAM drive by using the command “XCOPY . /s”.

This creates a RAM drive exactly like the above solution. The only change is that every occurrence of “A:” in the AUTOEXEC.BAT path and LANMAN.INI file should be changed to the letter of the RAM drive that you will be using.

The following information summarizes how Enhanced DOS LAN Manager will be started.

CONFIG.SYS loads the drivers from the floppy disk in drive A.

AUTOEXEC.BAT contains the following:

SET PATH=A:.DOS PROMPT=$P$ G SET COMSPEC=C:.COM XCOPY A:. D: /S PATH=A:;D:.DOS

REM === LANMAN 2.0 === DO NOT MODIFY BETWEEN THESE LINES == LANMAN 2.0 == A:.DOS NET START WORKSTATION REM === LANMAN 2.0 === DO NOT MODIFY BETWEEN THESE LINES === LANMAN 2.0 ==

The rest of this solution is now exactly like the one above (method 1) except that instead of using drive A, just use the RAM drive D. In LOGON.BAT and LOGOFF.BAT, all occurrences of “A:” should be changed to “D:”.

Advantages

 * 1) Use of floppy disk drive is allowed.
 * 2) Logons and logoffs are allowed.
 * 3) No RAM drive is needed.
 * 4) NET.EXE full screen works properly.

Disadvantages
This solution will work only if there is one drive in the machine.

This solution is a workaround of the above solution and may fit some systems’ configurations. In method 1 above, the LANMAN.DOS file is installed on the server as normal. In this solution, the LANMAN.DOS file must be moved to a directory called LANUSER, so that the only thing in the directory is the following:

Directory of C:

. <DIR> .. <DIR> LANMAN DOS <DIR> The following command should be used to create the share:

NET SHARE DOSLAN=C:

The bootable floppy disk is started the same as in method 1, except when you use the Net Use command. The AUTOEXEC.BAT file looks like the following:

SET PATH=A:.DOS PROMPT=$P$ G

REM === LANMAN 2.0 === DO NOT MODIFY BETWEEN THESE LINES === LANMAN 2.0 == A:.DOS NET START WORKSTATION REM === LANMAN 2.0 === DO NOT MODIFY BETWEEN THESE LINES === LANMAN 2.0 ==

The LOGON.BAT contains the following:

@ECHO OFF A: SET PATH=A:;A:.DOS;A:.DOS NET LOGON %1 %2 /Y : : THIS CONNECTS TO THE NET SHARE DOSLAN=C: : ON THE SERVER <Server> : NET USE A: \<Server> SET COMSPEC=A:.DOS.COM

Workaround
Since you have now set your floppy disk drive A to be the network drive, the LANROOT setting is still correct and you now have a much larger floppy disk drive A. To access drive A, type “B:” and press the ENTER key. Since there is only one physical floppy disk drive in the machine, it will remap drive A to be drive B, and you can now use it as drive B.

When you use the LOGON.BAT file, an error message will be displayed stating that the batch file no longer exists. This error occurs because when you enter “NET USE A:”, the floppy disk drive vanishes from the system and so does the batch file that you were running. The LOGOFF batch file used earlier cannot be used in this case because you CANNOT logoff while you are on the network drive. The LOGOFF.BAT file is now on drive B and it contains the following:

@ECHO OFF B: SET COMSPEC=A:.COM NET LOGOFF /Y

When you log off, a message will be displayed stating that the NET.MSG file cannot be found; this message is expected.

METHOD 4
This solution is a combination of the above solutions and the best created so far. Use the solution for the RAM drive, but instead of creating a new drive with Net Use, remap the RAM drive into the network drive as in the last solution.

Finally, there are several other solutions that could be used, some including the use of the MS-DOS Subst command to fool the LANROOT= line. Hopefully, the information above has cleared up some of the bootable floppy disk installation. It is not difficult to do if you know what files are expected to be where and what the purpose of the files is. As mentioned before, all the files included here are described on Page 193 of the “Microsoft LAN Manager Administrator’s Guide” (if you want more information regarding these files).

ERRORS YOU MAY ENCOUNTER
You may encounter the following errors:

<ol style="list-style-type: decimal;"> <li> Error Spawning A:.DOS Specified program in NETPROG directory is missing. </li> <li> Error Spawning A:.DOS Specified service in SERVICES directory is missing. </li> <li> Bad Command or File Name A file is missing. Check for NET.EXE in the NETPROG directory. </li> <li> NET3710: There was an error opening the help file. The file NET.HLP is missing from the NETPROG directory. </li> <li> SYS0318: Message file A:.DOScannot be found It is looking for the NET.MSG file in the NETPROG directory. For some reason, the path is cut off. </li></ol>