Changing the default drive

To change the default drive, type the letter of the drive you want to change to, followed by a colon. Then press Enter. For example, to change the default from A to C, type the following and press Enter:

C:

MS-DOS acknowledges the change by displaying the command prompt C>. Changing to a new drive is also called logging onto that drive.

Specifying the drive designator

If you want to access a program or file on another drive without first changing the default drive, type the drive designator along with the filename. For example, if you are logged onto drive A and want to use a file named PROGRAM on drive B, you would type the following:

B:PROGRAM

MS-DOS loads and executes the file named PROGRAM from drive B, but stays logged onto drive A.

Types of MS-DOS Commands

Each MS-DOS command is either internal or external. Internal commands are commands that are built into MS-DOS and can he used at any time once MS-DOS is loaded into memory.

External commands are stored on your system diskettes as program files.

If you display a directory of the files on your MS-DOS diskettes, you see the names of the external commands but not the internal ones. The following lists show which external commands are on which diskette.

3-4 Using MS-DOSWith Your Computer