VETUSWARE.COM

On Monday August 30, 2010 William Blair said:

Extract the three .exe files in a Command Prompt window using this command:
>UnRAR x msdos401.rar
You will need WinRAR (or some other archive utility that supports the RAR format) to extract the files.
Rename the extracted .exe files to .com files instead, like this:
>RENAME disk*.exe disk*.com
Then execute each of the three files in turn to create three floppy disks:
>disk1.com A:
>disk2.com A:
>disk3.com A:
You must use _real_ 720K floppy diskettes. The program will NOT accept 1.44MB diskettes. They must have already been formatted.
To install MS-DOS 4.01, boot a PC from the first diskette, and then follow the displayed instructions.
The largest hard drive that DOS 4.01 actually supports is 4 GB, and the maximum partition size it supports is 2 GB. In addition, if you have a hard drive larger than approximately 6 GB, DOS 4.01 will not be able to execute the FORMAT command, nor will it even be able to boot from such a hard drive. This is 1988 technology.
If you just need a bootable DOS 4.01 diskette, then just use the first diskette from this set. First, edit the AUTOEXEC.BAT file to remove the SELECT command (which starts the installation process, which you would not need).
Bottom line: This is the real MS-DOS 4.01 and it most certainly does work.

On Tuesday August 10, 2010 D J Egan said:

Firstly extract the three files. Then rename them from *.exe to *.com files.
You can then run the files from the command line and you will need a 720K floppy (or indeed a virtual floppy would do):
For instance (if a: is your floppy drive):
disk1.com a:

On Tuesday October 7, 2008 kapi671 said:

doesn't extract, sys it is not a valid win32 app

On Monday June 30, 2008 Bruce (guest) said:

4.01 is a dog! Probably the worst version of DOS that MS produced. Also the first DOS I actually bought, I went back to 3.3. I could never get mine to work. The books were good and still on the shelf.

On Saturday March 29, 2008 Lodi (guest) said:

You have to boot from the 1. Disk. Make sure that the PC boot from the disk.
It's better you use an old PC becouse of the drivers. I used it and it works!
Enjoy it!
^^

On Wednesday January 30, 2008 And another guest (guest) said:

hey, can it be installed? it seems to be a boot disk.

On Monday September 24, 2007 Another guest (guest) said:

Of course not, It is one of the most bugged versions of DOS!

On Friday June 2, 2006 guest (guest) said:

It doesnt work