Doug Simmons wrote:

> Thanks Earl.
> My Win95a installation didn't respond to the HELP command either.  Wonder
> if it works for only certain Win95/98 versions or if something else needs
> to be installed?  I had tried the DOS HELP at both Windowed DOS and at the
> boot-to-DOS Command Line prompt. Neither worked.  It would be handy to have
> that reference available for other DOS commands.  Anyone know how to get
> DOS Help on Win95?

Doug (& others)

There doesn't appear to be any all inclusive "Help DOS" command in the WIN95
version of DOS (of course we all know that MS initially said that there was no
need for DOS anymore when WIN95 first went on sale) but help is there for
individual DOS programs.

Make sure you are in the "c:\windows\command" directory first then type the
name of the program you want to see the usage syntax for followed by a space, a
slash and a question mark. Some programs such as MSCDEX will respond with a
"illegal operation" message but will still provide the usage syntax.

For example, these entries all work . . .

    format /?
    command /?
    diskcopy /?
    mscdex /?    results in an illegal operation message but usage is shown
anyway

To see all the programs for which you can ask for help, do a

    Dir *.com and
    Dir *.exe

Larry Stewart
[log in to unmask]
Ottawa, Canada

             Do you want to signoff PCSOFT or just change to
                    Digest mode - visit our web site:
                    http://nospin.com/pc/pcsoft.html