It depends of the Keyboard layout you're using. If you are using MS-DOS 4 and late, there should be a option in the setup that let's you choose a keyboard from your language.
A alt-0-5-8 =a: Sometimes the important DOS keys are on key 102, which is not on a 101 keyboard. An example is the UK keyboard, where the 102 key has \ and | on it.
Comments
Are you in a virtual machine or on real hardware?
What's your keyboard layout?
Sometimes the important DOS keys are on key 102, which is not on a 101 keyboard. An example is the UK keyboard, where the 102 key has \ and | on it.