CD-ROM Drivers

MS-DOS and Windows 3.x
(CD-ROM's for Windows are installed via MS-DOS but may have a Windows Setup available)

In order to use a CD-ROM Drive, your computer must first have a CD-ROM software driver installed. This is usually supplied with the drive but may not necessarily have been installed. The CD-ROM software driver is normally supplied on a floppy disk and includes a SETUP or INSTALL program. Following installation, the CD-ROM software driver is normally loaded at system startup time via a series of entries in the machine's C:\CONFIG.SYS & C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT files.
For example:

[config.sys]

DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\oakcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
LASTDRIVE=F

[autoexec.bat]

LH C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001 /l:D

The first /D: switch is the drive number, which must be the same in both config.sys and autoexec.bat. In the above example its "/D:mscd001". (If you had 2 drives fitted the second may be /D:mscd002) The /l:D switch sets a drive letter for your CD-ROM. (In this case Drive D:\) You can make this anything you want after your Hard Drives that is not taken, but make sure you put a "LASTDRIVE=" line at the end of config.sys to allow for enough environmental space. This can be made as the letter after your last drive in use (i.e. =F) as each letter used, uses a small piece of available environment. (LASTDRIVE=Z would enable ALL available Drive Letters) In this example HIMEM.SYS is used to load driver into upper memory block.

oakcdrom.sys = CD-ROM Driver (Which is named differently by each manufacturer) and can be located in its own directory.

MSCDEX.EXE is provided as part of MS-DOS and sometimes on Install Disk as well.

HIMEM.SYS is provided as part of MS-DOS and enables use of the upper memory area.

Windows 95

Windows 95 does not need a CD-ROM Driver installed as above, as it installs its own driver. However you may want to install a DOS Driver in this way to enable you to use your CD-ROM at the DOS Prompt. Remember that Windows 95 stores its DOS files at C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND not C:\DOS as in older versions!

Some CD-ROM Drivers you can try:

Oak Technologies Universal IDE CD-ROM Driver ~ 162Kb Download
This will get you into almost all of the IDE CD-ROM Drives on the market. ~ Oak Technologies manufacture the Semi-Conductors fitted into almost all CD-ROM Drives.(With Setup Program)

Goldstar (LG) CD-ROM Driver.~ 148Kb Download
Also a very good CD-ROM Driver, that starts almost any IDE CD-ROM Drive. (With Install Program)

Adaptec Drivers  part of the Adaptec Support Site. Or available here:
Adaptec SCSI Driver Kit for DOS and Windows

CD-ROM God v5.5
CD-ROM God Ver 5.5 is a boot disk that has 50+ CD-ROM drivers.(Including SCSI) It has basic ATAPI drivers, and model specific drivers. This version unzips drivers to a ramdrive! It has a better - sleeker - shareware free menu. This disk uses DEVICE.COM to load. This way you won't have to re-boot a million times! ISO-9660 CD Support and SMARTDRV.EXE

Bootdisk Page ~ A selection of DOS Bootdisks with Add-On IDE & SCSI CD-ROM Drivers.
Note ~ The MS-DOS 6.22 Emergency Boot Disk (EBD) has been replaced on this site with the Bootdisk Project Files, to give a wider selection of MS-DOS versions and to include both IDE & SCSI drivers while reducing download size and web storage space..

http://www.cdrom-drivers.com/
Try this link to locate your CD-ROM Manufacturer to see if a MS-DOS or Windows 3.1 Driver is available.

http://www.bootdisk.com/ or http://support.mpccorp.com/downloads/boot.html
Have a nice selection of CD-ROM Bootdisks that will start most systems. The Autoexec.bat & Config.sys files and drivers can be copied and used to start your system, Or in the case of Windows 95/98, To start your CD-ROM to install Windows.

Microsoft MSCDEX Extensions Version 2.23 (30Kb Download)

The following Pages may provide additional help:

The CD-ROM Drivers Guide ~ A Guide to CD-ROM driver resources on the Internet!

PCMCIA Card Services Resource Download Page ~ PCMCIA Support for DOS & Windows 3.1