Word 5.5 in dos

[hejlik]

I was googling  this problem and came across this site. Looks like a nice site with lots of activity.

Anyway, here is my problem.  For reasons that are too lengthy to get into, I need to install word 5.5 on an old machine that runs dos. I found a free version of word 5.5, and downloaded it to my pc.  I was going to put it on a floppy, but it is to large. There are no other drives on this pc.   It is an exe file, so I think I have to split it. I can extract it in a folder also, then make several disks, but not sure how to install from this.

What I think I need is a way to split the exe file, put it on some disks, and install off them somehow. My guess is I will have to merge them again.

Now I know very little about dos.  I do not know what to type or how to type it as far as command lines go so bear that in mind

Thanks.
Dan

[patio]

There is no free ver. of MSWord.

[Broni]

You need this: http://www.freebyte.com/hjsplit/#classic

[hejlik]

Patio  if you go here  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ms_word   and scroll down to References, #5 is a FREE version of Microsoft Word 5.5


Thanks Broni.  I will give it a try.

[patio]

I'm not going to read a Wiki article to see what happens...
Post a link to the Free version and we'll go from there.
I'm not insisting i'm correct but i'm not doing the legwork as i don't have the time.

[Broni]

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/11/25/free-file/
Click on "Microsoft is giving it away" link

[hejlik]

Sorry I didn't post a link before.

And I have to admit, I didn't notice you were the admin, and I know you have a job to do. I realize you don't have time to check out everything and I really don't want to get off on the wrong foot here, but there is just something about being called a liar that gets under my skin.

I was going to post a link for you, but Broni (thanks) already did.

I am going to give this a try today and see what happens. I am not very confident I am going to get this to work, but who knows.

[hejlik]

When I downloaded Word 5.5 I get a file or application called WD55_ben.  If I double-click on WD55_ben in Windows XP it takes me to a small DOS screen and unpacks 300+ files.

Now, what I'd like to know is if I should try to use HJSPLIT on the WD55_ben to move it to the dos computer OR should I unpack all the files into a separate folder on my XP computer and then try to move that folder to the dos computer?

Thanks for your help
Dan

[Broni]

should I unpack all the files into a separate folder on my XP computer and then try to move that folder to the dos computer?

You can try. This way, you can move certain number of files (to fit into floppy) at a time.

[hejlik]

That did it.  Or at least I get to the setup screen.  Thanks for the help guys!!

[Broni]

Yoy're welcome
Happy DOS-ing!

[hejlik]

Well, that didn't word. Everything looked ok, but during the install, it told me I was missing a file.  Word.ex$. I think is what it was called.  Any advise?  I looked in the folder where I unpacked the program and there was no word.ex$ file  ??

[Broni]

It looks like installation needs that whole WD55_ben.exe file. You may try the other method, I posted before.

[hejlik]

I will give it a try tomorrow. Can't miss the BUD Shootout!!

[Dias de verano]

during the install, it told me I was missing a file.  Word.ex$. I think is what it was called.

Wd55_ben.exe is a self-extracting archive, that is, a Zip archive with a bit of code added to make it able to self extract without you having to have an archive app installed (like WinZip, WinRAR etc). I opened the archive in WinRAR and there is the Word.ex$ file, 190,826 bytes unpacked size. I also unpacked it and found word.ex$ in the top folder of the resulting folder tree.  I wonder if you missed this one when you were transferring the files?

You did know that a complete folder tree needs to be created, that your transfer method may not be doing that?

BEFORE....


AFTER....


What you really should be doing is somehow getting the whole wd55_ben.exe file into a folder on the target computer. Maybe you could span it over 4 floppies using winrar, winzip or hjsplit? Or burn it to a cd or dvd? Or upload it to Gmail or send it as an email attachment?

[hejlik]

 

I wonder if you missed this one when you were transferring the files?

How could you even suggest that?  Do you think I am an idiot?  Well let me tell you something, you are right, I am an idiot! Some how I did miss it.

After the install could find that file, it went off without a hitch.

Now I have another question, and this will probably make me sound even dumber, but here goes.

When the computer starts, it goes to a menu. #2 on the menu was the file he opens to do the paper. When I hit this, it tries to go to WORD5.  But hangs the pc.  Here is a list of what comes up when it tries to load word5.

C:\Menu>CD|WORD5
C:\WORD5>ERASE*.TMP
C:\WORD5>ERASE*.BAK
FILE NOT FOUND

At first, I thought that Word 5 was installed on this pc, but was removed before he got it. (he got this pc from someone else).  But then I looked at the directory on C: and it shows Word 5 on there.  This is all before I installed word 5.5mind you.
So I was wondering if someone put the 2 erase commands in so it would not run?

Something else is odd also. There are a bunch of his files in the original WORD5 directory. I was able to open them after I installed Word 5.5 Maybe he copied them from a floppy when he tried to get it running?

Regardless, I have the new program running, but I would like to get the one I installed (Word5.5) to run off the main menu when the pc starts up. I tried to edit the menu, but it didn't work.  (on the menu there are 11 options. i is to edit the menu, but all you can do is change the name of an entry, not the program that the entry starts.)

  I hope all this makes sense. What I would like to do is get the #2 on the main menu to open Word 5.5 which I installed. How do I go about this? 

Thanks for all your help and patience!
 
 

[Dias de verano]

Those erase entries are normal. These old DOS apps come from an era of tiny hard drives when space was precious, and it was a good idea to erase anything you didn't need.

It looks like the old Word 5 program files have been removed but not the folder and there are some doc files  left in the folder.


C:\Menu>CD|WORD5      < change to directory WORD5
C:\WORD5>ERASE*.TMP   < erase any temporary files in that directory
C:\WORD5>ERASE*.BAK   < erase any backup files made by Word
FILE NOT FOUND        < probably because Word 5 is not there any more


1. I presume you put Word 5.5 in a named folder? What was that name?

2. In the root (top) folder of your C drive will be a file called AUTOEXEC.BAT. There may be others called WORD.BAT and MENU.BAT. You need to look in these. You could copy them to a floppy and post them on here.

[hejlik]

Well I thought I had saved it on a floppy because I did try to mess with it, but I look on the floppy with my xp computer, and it is not there.  I put it it the dos computer, and I see it???  Why is that?

Here is what the autoexec.bat file reads

PROMPT $p$g
PATH C:\DOS;C:\WORD;C:\WORD.exe
C:\DOS\MODE LPT1,,B
SET NU=C:\NU
SET TEMP C:\DOS
C:\DOS\SMARTDRV C a- b-
cls
go

This is after I did some changes to it.  I was very leary (sp?) of changing this file. That is why I backed it up. What I changed didn't help, but didn't seem to hurt either.

The only line I changed was the second one.  There is still a file on the c: that reads AUTOEXEC OLD but I can't figure out how to open it.  I assume that is the original autoexec.bat file. Then I could have shown you exactly what I changed.

I forgot to tell you I named the new directory WORD

[Dias de verano]

is there a file called go.bat on the C drive of the DOS computer?

[hejlik]

The only bat file I see is the autoexec.bat  Would it be in another directory?  I will look but here are some other directories on the dos pc

CHECKIT
AUTOMAP
DOS
GLXFONTS
MENU
NU
WKEEP
GKEEP

That is most of them.

[hejlik]

There is a go.bat in the dos directory Here is what it reads.

echo off
cls
c:
cd\menu
xmenu
be beep/D2/F1000
be beep/D3/F500
be beep/d2/F1000
Echo .

[Dias de verano]

so there is either a menu.bat or menu.exe file in the folder c:\menu.

If it is a bat file you can edit it to point to the Word 5.5 executable.

If it is an exe file I would consider renaming the old Word directory to something else, and then renaming the Word 5.5 directory to match the old Word directory name. That way the menu app will be fooled.

[hejlik]

It is a menu.exe  The old word directory is word5  The new one is word.

I tried to rename the word5 directory, but I don't think I am doing it right. Her is what I typed

c:\ren word5 word2 

That didn't work. It told me it was a duplicate file or file not found. I tried a few other ways but I am just guessing here. Google was some help, but I still could not figure it out.

[hejlik]

Well I have everything moved, but I still can't get the program to word from the menu. This isn't the worst thing, but it would be nice. Any more suggestions?

[Dias de verano]

To rename a directory in DOS, you use the MOVE command.

MOVE word5 word2

MOVE word word5

[hejlik]

Thanks Dias de verano, I finaly figured that out with the help of google. 

I got everything moved, but the menu still does not work. It tries to load, but quits, and then the screen goes by so fast I can't read what it says. Unless you have another Idea, I think I will just have to leave it the way it is.

[patio]

PATH C:\DOS;C:\WORD;C:\WORD.exe

Try to change this to: PATH C:\DOS;C:\WORD\word

And see what happens. Make a backup first.
How are you editing your autoexec. ? ?Autoexec.old should open with whatever text editor you are using.

Also from the C: prompt try this CD\C:\Word.......at the C:\Word prompt just type Word and hit enter and see if it runs.

Were any changes made in the config.sys ? ?

[Dias de verano]

PATH C:\DOS;C:\WORD;C:\WORD.exe

That PATH variable looks odd, and suggests that an inexpert hand has been at work... The purpose of the PATH variable is to inform the system where to look for an executable file (.exe, .bat or .com) if it is not found in the current folder. It is a list of directories and as such should not contain the name of a file.

I would like to know the result of typing VER at the prompt?

[hejlik]

MS-DOS Version 6.00

[hejlik]

Got it working.   Thanks for all the help guys!!