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Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 12:07 am
by EdgyRabbid
Yep! Then IDK why its saying that it cant find the file..
Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 12:37 am
by Steo
If you completely close your VM or "Hard Reset", can you show a screenshot of where it stops?
Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 12:47 am
by EdgyRabbid
Idk what you mean but it shows me this when I boot it up:
Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 12:49 am
by Steo
In that case, try removing "C:\" from the first line in the autoexec.bat. It seems to be trying to access C when it's already in C.
EDIT: By that I mean, change the top line so it just reads "DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE /X"
Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 12:53 am
by EdgyRabbid
Tried it, same warning. I genuinely think do wonder if my 3.1 file is defective? Or something else?
Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 12:55 am
by Steo
Seems mine still works even with it saying the "C:\" part. It's a bit confusing, but something must be messed up regarding the path for it to not know where the file is.
Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 12:57 am
by EdgyRabbid
Hmmm.. can you send me the command to manually start up windows? I wanna see if that works or if it’s just the auto run that’s all fucked. That way I can write the command down on a piece of paper and not have to deal with this shit. Or if I have to set up a new VM with another set of either MS dos floppies or 3.1 floppiest

Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 12:59 am
by Steo
Well I literally just type "win" into that DOS screen you're at, and Windows starts for me. If you can at least still get that to start, maybe ruling out the smartdrv issue might become a little simpler.
Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 1:01 am
by EdgyRabbid
Hmm, it gives me “bad command or file name” upon typing. I wonder if my machine is unable to read commands, and is just able to open up files and directories? I’m very new to this, don’t get me wrong, but i do think that might be the problem.
Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 1:05 am
by Steo
It's starting to just sound like the paths are messed up whatever has happened here. It's not able to find any of the files it needs.
Try:
"cd windows"
Then if that doesn't fail, try running "win". If "cd windows" fails, something is very wrong. I'd say make sure you don't have a disk inserted, but I'd imagine you'd be in A instead of C if so.
Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 1:07 am
by EdgyRabbid
Alright! That worked, for whatever reason. It’s just the auto run might be broken. I guess the MSdos might be messed ip slightly?
Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 1:16 am
by Steo
It must be path related in that case. It's supposed to have set paths to know where these programs are, such as smartdrv and win. If it worked before and then just suddenly stopped, despite you only changing autoexec.bat, then that's kind of odd.
EDIT: As mentioned, my path is:
The idea that windows is included in the path is why it would find win, without needing to cd to windows. It's still weird that it's not finding smartdrv though, that takes place on mine before the path is even set.
Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 1:23 am
by EdgyRabbid
Yeah.. I just wonder how my machine got all messed up like this, it also for some reason won’t let me download programs because it doesn’t have access to the “A:drive” or something…
Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 1:29 am
by Steo
Well A is only accessible when you have a floppy mounted. I think you should have a CD drive and mount a folder if you want to access programs. I'm not entirely sure off the top of my head what needs to be done, but it involves actually adding a CD drive in the VM settings.
Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 7:00 am
by Fifo
EdgyRabbid wrote: Wed Oct 15, 2025 10:22 pm
All I did was add "WIN" to the end of it, that's what Fifo told me to do!
I was telling you to add it to the end of the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, not to modify smartdrv.exe directly! I bet that’s why it says “bad command or file name”.
Also, Windows won’t launch for you
because you haven’t installed it yet.
Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 10:31 am
by EdgyRabbid
It’s alright, I can access it through a command. It’s weird because it’s only 1 path that’s severaly fucked.
Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 4:21 pm
by Reese Riverson
Sometimes your best bet is to just start over, if you think you've screwed up that bad. Which, if you want to make it easier on yourself, try something like this template:
https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=99992
Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 9:23 pm
by EdgyRabbid
Thanks Reese!
----
Now I have 1 mini PC set up and running, I'm now trying to think what OS to run on the other. I'm planning on using it to stream YouTube videos and Netflix, but also some other stuff. The PCs 2 GBs, and I'm trying to figure out if I should run a Linux distor on it or 32 bit windows 10. It also comes with a remote, which has the windows 7 logo on it for some reason?
Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 9:25 pm
by Reese Riverson
Any particular reason why you're wanting the 32-bit version of Windows 10 as an option?
Re: IT... Computing....
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2025 9:27 pm
by EdgyRabbid
Its what I have read about from my research, is one of the better options considering my systems small RAM. But I should go look into other os's, because there probably is better options. I also need to download a software that allows me to use the remote anyways.