# Command: sys / sys config

      SYS makes a floppy disk or hard disk or another writable medium
      bootable. SYS CONFIG configures the FreeDOS KERNEL.

## Syntax:

      SYS [source] drive: [bootsect] [{option}]
      SYS [/?]
          source    = A:,B:,C:\KERNEL\BIN\,etc., The (optional) location of
                    the system files. If not given, the current directory
                    is assumed.
          drive     = A,B,C etc. The drive to make bootable.
          bootsect  The name of the 512-byte boot sector file image for drive:
                    to write to *instead* of real boot sector.

      SYS CONFIG [drive][path]kernel.sys [option=value...]
      SYS CONFIG [/help][/?]

      SYS CONFIG
        This will simply display the current settings for the file
        KERNEL.SYS in the current directory. It is useful to see what
        the options are currently set to, what options are supported,
        and should show valid values along with defaults (defaults are
        the valid values with a '*' next to them).

      SYS CONFIG [drive][path]KERNEL.SYS
        This form behaves as above, except will display the settings
        for the kernel file you specify. Drive and path are optional,
        and generally just a '\' will be used to indicate root directory
        of current drive. KERNEL.SYS specifies the filename of the
        kernel, which may not be "KERNEL.SYS", for example when testing
        you want to alter KERNTEST.SYS and later copy (or rename) this
        to KERNEL.SYS for booting.

#### [Main menu] [top] (Syntax) [Options] [Comments] [Examples] [See also] [File]

## Options:

      SYS OPTIONS:
      /BOTH          The new boot sector will be written to the image file
                     and to the actual drive boot sector.
      /BOOTONLY      The boot sector (or image) will be updated, but the
                     KERNEL and COMMAND.COM will not be copied to the
    		 destination.
      /UPDATE        Copy KERNEL and update boot sector (do *not* copy shell).
      /OEM[:AUTO]    Indicates boot sector, filenames, and load segment
                     to use.
      /OEM:DE        Use DEll Real Mode Kernel settings.
      /OEM:DR        Use DR DOS 7+ compatible settings.
      /OEM:EDR       Use Enhanced DR DOS 7+ compatible settings.
      /OEM:FD        Use FreeDOS compatible settings.
      /OEM:MS        Use MS-DOS compatible settings.
      /OEM:PC        Use PC-DOS compatible settings.
      /OEM:Rx        Use RxDOS compatible settings
      /OEM:W9x       Use MS Win9x DOS compatible settings.
                     Default is /OEM[:AUTO], select DOS based on existing
                     files.
      /K name        Gives the filename of the kernel file to be copied.
                     This option is only required when the kernel is not
                     called "kernel.sys"
      /L segm        The load segment, in hexadecimal, to use. The default
                     is 60.
      /B btdrv :     hex BIOS # of boot drive set in bs, 0=A:, 80=1st hd,...
      /FORCE         Override automatic selection of BIOS related settings.
      /FORCE:AUTO    Select LBA or CHS depending on BIOS availability.
      /FORCE:BIOSDRV Use boot drive # provided by BIOS.
      /FORCE:BSDRV   Use boot drive # set in bootsector.
      /FORCE:LBA     Always use LBA.
      /FORCE:CHS     Always use CHS.
      /NOBAKBS       Skips copying boot sector to backup bs, FAT32 only
                     else ignored.
      /SKFN filename            Copy from filename to KERNEL.SYS; settings
                                same as /OEM:FD.
      /SCFN filename            Copy from filename to COMMAND.COM.
      /BACKUPBS [path]filename  Save current bs before overwriting.
      /DUMPBS   [path]filename  Save current bs and exit.
      /RESTORBS [path]filename  Overwrite bs and exit.
      /VERBOSE                  Display additional (debug) output.
      /help          Shows the help.
      /?             Shows the help.

      SYS CONFIG OPTIONS:
      /help          Shows the help.
      /?             Shows the help.
      Current options are:
      DLASORT=0|1
        This option is for specifying whether Drive Letter Assignment
        should follow the normal MSDOS way of all primary partitions
        across drives and then extended partitions, or the more logical
        all partitions (primary and extended) on the 1st drive, then
        repeat for all following drives (all primary and extended, then
        try next drive). 0 corresponds to MS way and 1 corresponds to
        first drive completely, then next ...
      SHOWDRIVEASSIGNMENT=0|1
        If 1 then the normal drive assignment information is displayed
        upon booting. If 0 then this information is supressed (not shown).
      SKIPCONFIGSECONDS=# (maybe -128 to 127)
        A negative value ( < 0 ) indicates that F5/F8 processing will
        be skipped (the kernel won't check if you pressed these keys,
        so you can't skip config file (CONFIG.SYS) processing).  A 0
        means you must have pressed the key precisely for when the
        kernel checks for it - essentially skipping, though a well timed
        finger will still get to use it.  And any value greater than 0
        is the number of seconds the kernel will display the prompt and
        wait for you to press the key before assuming you didn't.
      FORCELBA=0|1
        If 1 then the kernel will use LBA (extended INT13) techniques
        to address all partitions if possible, even if these have a
        non-LBA partition type and are completely below cylinder 1023
        (usually the 8GB boundary). This is 0 by default, for compati-
        bility reasons. Setting this to 1 may bypass some buggy
        BIOSes and gives slightly better performance.
      GLOBALENABLELBASUPPORT=0|1
        If 0 then LBA will be completely disabled, irrespective of the
        FORCELBA setting. You need this if FreeDOS thinks you have LBA
        available, but in reality you do not. This setting is set to
        1 by default.

        For more information about SYS CONFIG see:
        http://www.fdos.org/kernel/sys/.

#### [Main menu] [top] [Syntax] (Options) [Comments] [Examples] [See also] [File]

## Comments:

      SYS:
      The SYS command creates a bootsector on sector 0 of the diskette or
      harddrive. Then it copies KERNEL.SYS and COMMAND.COM to the medium.
      After this the computer is able to boot FreeDOS from this medium.
      SYS CONFIG:
      If no options are given, the current values are shown. /help or /?
      displays the usage information. [drive][path]kernel.sys specifies the
      kernel file to modify, if not given defaults to KERNEL.SYS.
      Option=value ... specifies one or more options and the values to
      set each to. If an option is given multiple times, the value set will
      be the rightmost one.

#### [Main menu] [top] [Syntax] [Options] (Comments) [Examples] [See also] [File]

## Examples:

      sys c: (from a diskette; the sys command and COMMAND.COM and KERNEL.SYS
             should be on the diskette, after the execution the HD will be
             bootable)
      sys a: (from a HD or CD; the sys command and COMMAND.COM and KERNEL.SYS
             should be on the source drive, after the execution the diskette
             will be bootable)

#### [Main menu] [top] [Syntax] [Options] [Comments] (Examples) [See also] [File]

## See also:

      command.com
      format
      fdisk
      kernel
      kernel-devel
      label
      vol

#### [Main menu] [top] [Syntax] [Options] [Comments] [Examples] (See also) [File]

## File:

      Please read this command's lsm file also.
      You will find the updated version (internet) here and
      the version described in this manual page here.
      The lsm file contains information about the name of the programmer,
      the download site, and some other command related information.

#### [Main menu] [top] [Syntax] [Options] [Comments] [Examples] [See also] (File)

      Copyright © 1998 Jim Hall, updated 2011 by W. Spiegl.

      This file is derived from the FreeDOS Spec Command HOWTO.
      See the file H2Cpying for copying conditions.