- Grogan -

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Do you have Norton Zip Rescue? This utility creates a Rescue disk set using a standard 1.44 Mb floppy disk and a ZIP 100 disk. This disk set actually boots the computer and loads Windows from the ZIP disk. It is a very handy utility to have. As a side effect of that, you can steal drivers from the boot floppy and create your own DOS boot disk that can access an Iomega Zip drive. If you do not have Norton Utilities, you can download a standalone Norton Zip Rescue for free.

Download Norton Zip Rescue Here

To make your own boot disk with ZIP 100 support, take a look at the config.sys file on the Norton Zip Rescue boot floppy after creating your rescue set. Note which files are loading and copy them to a bootable floppy disk. Create a similar config.sys file on your boot disk. Here is an example, from a Zip Rescue disk for a PARALLEL PORT EXTERNAL ZIP DRIVE. Please note that if you have anything other than this, you will have to create your own, based on what is loading in the config.sys file.

DEVICE=\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
DEVICE=\WINDOWS\SETVER.EXE
DEVICE=\WINDOWS\DBLBUFF.SYS /D+
LASTDRIVE=Z
DEVICEHIGH=ASPIPPM1.SYS FILE=ECR.ILM /SCAN
DEVICEHIGH=ASPIPPM1.SYS FILE=NIBBLE.ILM /SCAN /QUIET
install DriveLtr.EXE /E: /ZP06
DEVICE=SCSICFG.EXE
DEVICEHIGH=SCSIDRVR.SYS
set WinComParams=
set path=E:\
set ZipDrv=E:
set SmartDrvParam=E+

This is straight from my Norton Zip Rescue boot floppy's config.sys file. Yours may be similar, but loading different modules depending on your zip drive type. You may not need all this for your boot disk. I have a parallel port external zip drive, here is the config.sys file that I am using for my own DOS boot disk. Since I don't actually intend to boot windows using this, I have omitted some lines and tailored it to my own environment, loading a real mode IDE CDROM driver.

Config.sys File from My Boot Disk:

DEVICE=A:\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=A:\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
BUFFERS=15,0
FILES=250
STACKS=9,256
DEVICE=A:\DBLBUFF.SYS /D+
LASTDRIVE=Z
DEVICEHIGH=A:\ASPIPPM1.SYS FILE=NIBBLE.ILM
install A:\DriveLtr.EXE /X: /ZP06
DEVICE=A:\SCSICFG.EXE
DEVICEHIGH=A:\SCSIDRVR.SYS
set ZipDrv=X:
set SmartDrvParam=X+
DEVICEHIGH=A:\oakcdrom.sys /D:mscd001

Autoexec.bat File from My Boot Disk

@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $p$g
PATH A:\;X:\
LH A:\MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001

I took the liberty of making a .zip file that you can download and extract to a bootable disk that has Himem.sys and Emm386.exe copied to it. Instructions are in the ReadMe.txt file within the .zip file ZipBoot.zip. Be sure to read them carefully.

Click Here to download ZipBoot.zip

Here is a check list to make sure you have all necessary files if you want to create your own Zip boot floppy:

CONFIG.SYS
AUTOEXEC.BAT
ASPIPPM1.SYS
D_ASPI.AT
D_ASPI.OP
D_GEN.DT
D_ISDASD.DT
D_ISDASD.OP
DBLBUFF.SYS
DRIVELTR.EXE
ECR.ILM
EPP.ILM
MODULE.INI
MSCDEX.EXE
NIBBLE.ILM
OAKCDROM.SYS
SCSI.SCF
SCSICFG.EXE
SCSIDRVR.SYS
ReadMe.txt

- Grogan -

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