DOCUMENT ID: 1182-02 SYNOPSIS: DOS partition is not bootable after Solaris installation OS RELEASE: 2.x PRODUCT: Solaris x86 KEYWORDS: DOS partition boot install DOS12 DOS16 DOSHUGE DESCRIPTION: When installing Solaris X86, the installation gives an option to create a DOS partition. The options are DOS12, DOS16, and DOSHUGE. DOS12 is a 12 megabyte partition that would be sufficient for loading DOS and diagnostic utilities. DOS16 is a 16 megabyte partition that would be used for the same reason as DOS12, but with an extra 4 megabytes. DOSHUGE is the largest DOS partition. You must define how large that partition will be. SOLUTION: After deciding what size the DOS partition will be continue with the install. After the installation is complete take the DOS install diskette and insert it into the bootable drive. The DOS install screen will appear prompting the user to choose either ENTER to continue the DOS install or F3 to exit the DOS install. Examples of each of these situations: 1. Press ENTER to continue the DOS installation If using DOS 5 or DOS 6 the install determines whether the partition is formatted. If the partition is not formatted DOS install will prompt the user to format the DOS partition. After formatting the partition DOS install starts copying DOS files over to a C:\DOS> directory. After the DOS install is complete the system will prompt the user to press any key to reboot. The system then is reset and boots to DOS, at this point the user will use fdisk.exe, and change the active partition. The option the user will choose is "2 - change active partition". There will be a DOS partition marked as "A" for active, and an OTHER with no "A". Choose to change the active partition to OTHER, which is the Solaris partition, make it the active partition, press Esc twice. The system will prompt you once again to press any key to reboot. After the system reboot, it will now boot to the Solaris X86 Boot Manager, and the DOS partition will now boot if chosen. 2. Press F3 to exit the DOS installation When F3 is chosen, you will be at A:\>, and now can use format.exe to format the DOS partition (i.e. A:\>format C:/s). This command will format the DOS partition and transfer the DOS system files over that are needed to boot to a DOS partition. When the system is done with the format, it will prompt the user that the system files were transferred, and at this time the system should be rebooted with Ctrl-Alt-DEL. The system will boot DOS, but run fdisk, and make the "OTHER" partition the "A" (active) partition. Press Esc twice, and the system will now boot the DOS partition from Solaris X86 Boot Manager. Note: When the user uses this method there are no DOS directories or DOS files, just the system files along with command.com. DATE APPROVED: 09/28/95