Windows 286/2.11 and IBM PC-DOS 3.3 miscommunication?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Windows 1.x and 2.x were pretty much just graphical shells for DOS.
However when I tried to copy the contents of a floppy disk from a: to c:\windows\magic
Windows 286/2.11 told me "Cannot copy multiple files to a single destination".
I exited Windows, went back into pure DOS and did XCOPY a:\*.* c:\windows\magic
and it copied over everything perfectly.
Now I know I am using PC-DOS and not MS-DOS, but back then they were the same, and just under different brands, I believe it was like that until PC-DOS 6.1.
So why can DOS do a simple copy job, but Windows cannot?
However when I tried to copy the contents of a floppy disk from a: to c:\windows\magic
Windows 286/2.11 told me "Cannot copy multiple files to a single destination".
I exited Windows, went back into pure DOS and did XCOPY a:\*.* c:\windows\magic
and it copied over everything perfectly.
Now I know I am using PC-DOS and not MS-DOS, but back then they were the same, and just under different brands, I believe it was like that until PC-DOS 6.1.
So why can DOS do a simple copy job, but Windows cannot?
Comments
You probably can't find them easily but there were a number of replacement tools.
Pubtech having the its a Mac look got a lot of notice plus has a text editor not as limited as Notepad,
Command Post in its early incarnation was a set of add-on menu items for MSDOS EXEC that by default added most of the lacking features.
MS's BBS offered prototype copies of Program Manager and File Manager. Other than bugs and a lack of color, these matched the ones shipped with Windows 3.
Windows could do a lot. The bundled utilities left room for other products to fill the gaps. Wait to you see other limitations like Write having hidden hooks for a spell checker that never got added.
However this is not really about missing features.
It's about how Windows cannot seem to copy the contents from my floppy to my hard drive (all of the contents at once) at least.
I have no doubt that it can copy 1 file at a time, but why can't it copy all my selected files at one time, when the XCOPY command can?
Available from Winworld. You should get a copy.
Copying a Group of Files
You can copy a group of files to a directory in one procedure .
To copy several files at once, follow these steps:
1. Select all the files you want to copy.
For details on selecting groups of files, see the section called
"Extending a Selection" earlier in this chapter.
2. Select the File menu and choose the Copy command . A dialog
box appears. You will see the selected filenames in the Copy
text box. If you select many files, there may not be room for
all the filenames to appear in the Copy text box; however, all
the files you've selected will still be copied.
3. In the To text box, type the pathname of the directory that
you want the files copied to.
If you have a two-drive system and are copying the files to
another disk, put the destination disk in drive B. (After you
finish copying, reinsert the system disk in drive B.)
4 Choose the OK button.
Note: You cannot copy more than one file to a single file. You
can copy multiple files to a directory only.
yes and that's exactly what I was trying to do I choose C:\windows\magic\ as the destination.
There is no magic folder inside the windows folder, but I thought it'd create it.
I just tried it out and MS-DOS EXEC can copy multiple files to both a different directory or floppy disk. There is something wonky with the parser. It seemed to have problems with a target "C:\NEW\" but worked if the directory was defined as "C:\NEW" The directory has to be created before starting the copy. So make the MAGIC directory then highlight the files.
I tried <shift>-<click> on multiple files which were copied to the target. Note <shift>-<click> under Windows 2 works like <ctrl>-<click> in later versions; it is not easy to select a range with the mouse. Shift+arrow with the keyboard will extend the region.
I also entered *.PCX in the file copy dialog which copied all the PCX files in the PBRUSH directory to the target.
I think the file copy only implements COPY functionality not XCOPY so transferring multiple directories is awkward.
I copied the windws 2.0 floppy including PB I just downloaded, as already coped that other disk in DOS with XCOPY last night.
I'm interested in this too. If I get time, I will try to find it online.
I didn't find a copy in my disk collection back when I sent out a bunch of Windows 2 shareware. There may be a copy online but none of my searches proved successful. Windows 1 and 2 software was quickly replaced on Compuserve and various BBSes after Windows 3 was released but most of the early CD-ROM collections skipped Windows software. I think PC Blue made a mistake and included a single piece of Windows 2 shareware.
I know it would have been a mildly interesting article to compare the Bogus Software File Manager and Program Manager with the alternate versions used in Windows 3.x and OS/2. For those unfamiliar with 80s Microsoft, Bogus Software was used as a label for after hours projects by some employees.