DOS ain't dead - Add Two Floppy Drives In VirtualBox

CLINT

Tennessee,
15.07.2021, 16:00

Add Two Floppy Drives In VirtualBox (Emulation)

I am now looking for a way to add two floppy drives

Just spent ten or twenty minutes with the wiki on this site, and the online messages in this forum.

I Didn't see anything immediately obvious.

I was Wondering if I already have a Floppy Drive, "A:>" or not

So, I pressed "A:" on the keyboard.

I saw this on my screen...

[image]

Does that mean that I have a virtual Floppy "A:\>" drive or not ?

If it exists, how do I put a file in there ?

tom Germany (West), 15.07.2021, 18:10 @ CLINT	Add Two Floppy Drives In VirtualBox Post reply
	you have an empty floppy drive. you have to put a virtual diskette into it, just as in real live.

tkchia

15.07.2021, 19:13

@ CLINT

Add Two Floppy Drives In VirtualBox

Post reply

Hello CLINT,

If your virtual PC has floppy drives, the setup should look something like this:

If the virtual PC lacks floppy drives, you can add a floppy controller using the green "+" button thingy at the bottom (or whichever corresponding button is in your version of VirtualBox). Then you can start inserting floppy "disks" (images) into the new drives.

Thank you!

---
https://gitlab.com/tkchia · https://codeberg.org/tkchia · 😴 "MOV AX,0D500H+CMOS_REG_D+NMI"

CLINT

Tennessee,
15.07.2021, 21:39

@ tkchia

Add Two Floppy Drives In VirtualBox

Post reply

From Tom...
>
> you have an empty floppy drive.

This is really good news; keep this dialog going.

> you have to put a virtual diskette into it, just as in real live.

I want to know how to do that.

From TKCHIA
>
> If your virtual PC has floppy drives, the setup should look something like...

Yes found that (Looks close enough on my screen)

> you can add a floppy controller
> using the green "+" button thingy at the bottom

I think I did what you instructed; please check me

>
> Then you can start inserting
> floppy "disks" (images) into the new drives.

I'm excited, I haven't seen this screen in years.

This is such a relief from the past twenty-plus years. I actually know what's wrong and understand what caused it.

What I don't know is how I caused it.

Tell me where I went wrong.

[image]

How do I get this thing to boot from C: instead of A: ?

Or, should I wait until I have FreeDOS active in a VirtualBox, and then "change" my floppy disk drives ?

Whatever I've done wrong; so be it. For the moment, just tell me how to get my VirtualBox machine to boot from the Virtual Hard Drive (and not the virtual Floppy)

Is this already documented in the wiki somewhere ?

How do I search for it ? What phrase do I want to find ?

CLINT Tennessee, 15.07.2021, 21:40 @ CLINT	Add Two Floppy Drives In VirtualBox Post reply
	And I forgot to say Thanks. I think you guys are the greatest.

tkchia

15.07.2021, 21:50

@ CLINT

Add Two Floppy Drives In VirtualBox

Post reply

Hello CLINT,

> How do I get this thing to boot from C: instead of
> A: ?

In your machine settings (as above), go to "System" and look for "Boot Order". Then change that.

(Well, I guess this is one of the things that VirtualBox does differently from a real machine...)

Thank you!

Edit: alternatively, there is another way to change the boot device that is more like how one might do it on a real machine. When you start up your virtual PC, it will first say on the virtual screen, "Press F12 to select boot device." So... do that. :-D

---
https://gitlab.com/tkchia · https://codeberg.org/tkchia · 😴 "MOV AX,0D500H+CMOS_REG_D+NMI"

CLINT

Tennessee,
16.07.2021, 11:44

@ tkchia

Add Two Floppy Drives In VirtualBox

Post reply

(Not at my real computer here; can't test or try alternatives)

I have a critically important need/requirement in this: I must be able to change floppy diskettes while the application is running.

The immediate purpose of all this is to simulate the installation of software from multiple floppy diskettes.

The way this worked, way back when, was to instruct the user to insert diskette number one and enter something like "Setup"

After a while, the executing program would then instruct the user to remove diskette number one and insert diskette number two and then press any key to continue.

Will I be able to do the same thing here with this technique ?

Putting these questions together in my mind gives me an even better question...

Could I just ?...

- Leave Drive "A:" empty

- Boot FreeDOS in VirtuaBox

- Then, after FreeDOS is active, put something in the floppy drive

- Start the installation software which is on that floppy

- Change floppy diskettes as instructed by the installation code.

CLINT Tennessee, 16.07.2021, 14:25 @ CLINT	Add Two Floppy Drives In VirtualBox Post reply
	Very good progress over here. (Back at my real machine for now) Fixed the boot order as you stated. FreeDOS 1.2 is able to see the `DISK-1` image as if we were back in the 1980s

CLINT Tennessee, 16.07.2021, 14:54 @ CLINT	Add Two Floppy Drives In VirtualBox Post reply
	Hooray I have just changed floppy diskettes (well, the digital fakes) twice. `DISK-1` `DISK-2` `DISK-3` All worked perfectly and I executed a little *`.COM`** program from one of them. Thank you; major big time.