Command: fdisk

  FDISK creates one or several partitions on a hard disk. After this,
  the partitions can be formatted and are ready to work with FreeDOS.

Syntax:

  fdisk [options]
  FDisk can be used in two ways:
    * Without options. FDisk provides an interactive menu.
    * With options. 
    Note that an exception is that the /MONO option is used 
    with the interactive menu mode.

Options:

  General Notes on the Options:
    * partitions, partition types and drives are all specified by numbers.
    * sizes are specified in Mega Bytes, or as a percentage if followed by
      ,100. For example 50 would be 50MB and 50,100 would be 50%. 

    (no options)    Runs in interactive mode.
    /REBOOT         Reboots the Computer
    /? [/NOPAUSE]   Displays this help information.

  Interactive user interface switches:
    /ACTOK          Skips integrity checking.
    /FPRMT          Prompts for FAT32/FAT16 in interactive mode.
    /MONO           Forces the user interface to run in monochrome mode.
    /Q              Keeps the system from rebooting after you exit FDisk.
                    (Note:  FDisk will not reboot after you exit unless
                    rebooting is enabled in the "fdisk.ini" file.)
    /X              Do not use LBA partitions.
    /XO             Enables extended options.

  Creating primary partitions and logical drives: 
  Sizes are in MB or [,100] in percent.
    /PRI:'size'[,100] [/SPEC:'type#'] [drive#]
                    Creates a primary partition.
    /PRIO:'size'[,100] [/SPEC:'type#'] [drive#]
                    Creates a primary FAT16 partition.
    /EXT:'size'[,100] [drive#]
                    Creates an extended DOS partition.
    /EXTO:'size'[,100] [drive#]
                    Creates an extended DOS FAT16 partition.
    /LOG:'size'[,100] [/SPEC:'type#'] [drive#]
                    Creates a logical partition in the extended partition.
    /LOGO:'size'[,100] [/SPEC:'type#'] [drive#]
                    Creates a logical FAT16 partition in the extended
                    partition.
    /AUTO [drive#]
                    Automatically partitions the disk.
    [/SPEC:'type#'] 
                    Specifies the partition type number.

  Activating/Deactivating partition tables:
    /ACTIVATE:'partition#' [drive#]
                    Sets 'partition#' active.
    /DEACTIVATE [drive#]
                    Deactivates all partitions on 'drive#'.

  Deleting partitions - USE WITH CAUTION!
    /CLEAR [drive#]
                    Deletes all Partitions.
    /CLEARALL [drive#]
                    Deletes all Partitions and the Master Boot Record.
    /DELETE {/PRI[:#] | /EXT | /LOG:'partition#'|/NUM:'partition#'}
            [drive#]
                    Deletes a partition (primary, extended, logical).
                    Note: Logical drives start at /NUM=5.

  MBR (Master Boot Record) modification:
    /AMBR [drive#]  Writes the MBR stored in the "boot.mbr" file to
                    'drive#'.
    /BMBR [drive#]  Writes the BOOTEASY MBR to 'drive#'.
    /CMBR [drive#]  Creates the MBR.
    /MBR  [drive#]  Writes the standard MBR to 'drive#'.
    /SMBR [drive#]  Saves the current MBR on 'drive#', into a file
                    called 'boot.mbr'.
    /RMBR [drive#]  Removes the MBR from 'drive#'.

  Partition table modification
    /MODIFY:'partition#','type#' [drive#]
                    Changes partition type to 'type#'. Logical drives
                    start at "5".
    /MOVE:'source_partition#','dest_partition#' [drive#]
                    Moves the entry in the primary partition table,
                    from source_partition to destination_partition.
    /SWAP:'first_partition#','second_partition#' [drive#]
                    Swaps two partition entries.

  For handling flags on a hard disk:
    /CLEARFLAG[{:'flag#'} | /ALL} ] [drive#]
                    Resets 'flag#' or all on 'drive#'
    /SETFLAG:'flag#'[,'flag_value'] [drive#]
                    Sets 'flag#' to 1 or 'flag_value'
    /TESTFLAG:'flag#'[,'flag_value'] [drive#]
                    Tests 'flag#' for 1 or 'flag_value'

  For obtaining information about the hard disk(s):
    /DUMP           Dumps (displays) partition information from all
                    hard disks (for debugging).
    /INFO [/TECH]   Displays partition information from 'drive#'.
    /STATUS         Displays the current partition layout.

Comments:

  As FDISK creates / deletes partitions you should handle it carefully.
  If you want to make a HD bootable, don't forget to set the 'Active' flag.
  FreeDOS supports only one primary partition. If you want to create more
  than one partition on a HD you should first create a primary partition,
  then an extended partition and in this extended partition one or more
  logical partitions. 
  FDISK has the following EXITCODES (ERRORLEVEL):
     0  Normal program completion, no errors
     1  Syntax error
     3  Error in the fdisk.ini file
     4  Error in the part.dat file
     5  Non-existant hard disk
     6  Buffer allocation failure
     7  Hard disk is already partitioned. (This is only
        returned if the "/AUTO" function is used and there are
        already partitions other than a Compaq Diagnostic
        Partition on the hard disk.)
     8  Error reading from or writing to the boot.mbr file.
     9  Miscellaneous error. It is best to examine
        the output printed to the screen from Free FDISK to
        determine the exact cause of the problem.
    20  Flag has been set (see /SETFLAG, /TESTFLAG, and
        /CLEARFLAG for details)
    21  Flag has not been set (see errorlevel 20, above)

Examples:

  fdisk
  fdisk /status

Command: fdisk

Syntax:

Options:

Comments:

Examples:

See also: