do we still need DOS to boot our computer? yes or no and why?

Answer 1

That depends on what operating system you are using if it is linux then no you don't need DOS. However if it is windows 3.x, windows 95,windows 98, 98SE, ME then yes you need DOS. Anything else doesn't need DOS because DOS is not a real part of the operating system.

Answer 2

Yes we still require the DOS to boot up. During boot process only minimal resources can be used and that should be fast.

We will try to understand this by going into the detail of the bboot process from a harddisk. I am listing the processes one after the other

01. The BIOS, having completed its test and setup functions, loads the boot code found in the master boot record and then transfers control of the system to it. At that point, the master boot record code is executed. If the boot device is a floppy disk, the process skips to step 7 below.

02. The next step in the process is the master boot code examining the master partition table. It first must determine if there is an extended DOS partition, then it must determine if there is a bootable partition specified in the partition table.

03. If the master boot code locates an extended partition on the disk, it loads the extended partition table that describes the first logical volume in the extended partition. This extended partition table is examined to see if it points to another extended partition table. If it does, this second table is examined for information about the second logical volume in the extended partition. Logical volumes in the extended partition have their extended partition table chained together one to the next. This process continues until all of the extended partitions have been loaded and recognized by the system.

04. Once the extended partition information (if any) has been loaded, the boot code attempts to start the primary partition that is marked active, referred to as the boot partition. If no boot partitions are marked active, then the boot process will terminate with an error. The error message is often the same as that which occurs if the BIOS could not locate a boot device, generally shown on screen as "No boot device", but also can show up as "NO ROM BASIC - SYSTEM HALTED". If there is a primary partition marked active and there is an installed operating system, the boot code will boot it. The rest of the steps presume this example is of an MS- DOS primary partition.

05. At this stage, the master or volume boot sector is loaded into memory and tested, and the boot code that it contains is given control of the remainder of the boot process.


06. The boot code examines the disk structures to ensure that everything is correct. If not, the boot process will end in an error here.


07. During the next step, the boot code searches the root directory of the device being booted for the operating system files that contain the operating system. For MS-DOS, these are the files "IO.SYS", "MSDOS.SYS" and "COMMAND.COM".


08. If no operating system files are found, the boot program will display an error message similar to "Non-system disk or disk error - Replace and press any key when ready". Keep in mind that his message does not means that the system was never booted. It means that the BIOS examined the floppy disk for example and just rejected it because it couldn't boot an operating system. The volume boot code was indeed loaded and executed, as that is what posts the message when it can't find the operating system files.


09. In the final stages of the boot process, presuming that the operating system files are found, the boot program will load those operating system files into memory and transfer control to them. In MS-DOS, the first is IO.SYS and its code is executed. IO.SYS will then execute MSDOS.SYS. Then the more complete operating system code loads and initializes the rest of the operating system structures beginning with the command interpreter COMMAND.COM and then the execution of the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. At this point the operating system code itself has control of the computer.

So from this you understand the number of files used for this process are minimal.

Answer 3

Not if you are using a Linux operating system for example. :)

You do need some programs that will tell your computer how it should be behaving. These programs, or set of programs are called an Operating System or OS. These programs will give your computer rules on how to do things. How to access your files for example.

Unless this set of rules is built in your computer, that is...

Back in the 80's there were a lot of computers that didn't need to have an operating system to boot them up. The likes of Commodore 64's. Those computers booted real fast with all the rules they needed to do whatever, but weren't as versatile as today's computers.

So to answer your question. Yes, most likely you need some programs to boot up your computer, but it doesn't have to be DOS.

Answer 4

If you are using Windows XP, DOS is no longer part of the system. There is the command prompt, which is an emulation of DOS. So the answer to you question would be no, not for all systems. It would depend on the OS that you have loaded.

Answer 5

WIN XP doesn't use DOS, it has a DOS-Mode, but it isn't true DOS. So the answer is, No.