DOS Shell is a

file manager A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage computer files, files and folder (computing), folders. The most common Computer file#Operations, operations performed on files or groups of files incl ...

that debuted in

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

and PC DOS version 4.0, released in June 1988. It was no longer included in MS-DOS version 6, but remained part of the Supplemental Disk. The Supplemental Disk could be ordered or could be downloaded through Microsoft's

FTP The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and dat ...

server. DOS Shell was retained in PC DOS until PC DOS 2000.

Overview

DOS Shell was one of the first successful attempts to create a basic

graphical user interface A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows user (computing), users to human–computer interaction, interact with electronic devices through Graphics, graphical icon (computing), icons and visual indicators such ...

(GUI) type file manager in DOS, although it is properly referred to as a text user interface (TUI) or Character-Oriented Windows (COW) even though graphical modes were available on supported hardware ( VGA-equipped PCs). The shell is very much like a DOS version of

File Manager A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage computer files, files and folder (computing), folders. The most common Computer file#Operations, operations performed on files or groups of files incl ...

found in Windows up to versions 3.11 and NT 3.51, and

File Explorer File Explorer, previously known as Windows Explorer, is a file manager application and default desktop environment that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user i ...

on later versions. An early incarnation of DOS Shell, titled MS-DOS Manager, was bundled exclusively with the Eazy PC, an IBM PC clone manufactured by Zenith Data Systems in 1987. In MS-DOS 4.x and 5.x, the program was implemented as COM file (DOSSHELL.COM). In MS-DOS 6 the executable had an .EXE

filename extension A filename extension, file name extension or file extension is a suffix to the name of a computer file (for example, .txt, .mp3, .exe) that indicates a characteristic of the file contents or its intended use. A filename extension is typically d ...

(DOSSHELL.EXE).

Features

The shell includes common features seen in other file managers such as copying, moving and renaming files as well as the ability to launch applications with a

double-click A double-click is the act of pressing a computer mouse button twice quickly without moving the mouse. Double-clicking allows two different actions to be associated with the same mouse button. It was developed by Tim Mott of Xerox Palo Alto Resear ...

. The shell could be run by the

command Command may refer to: Computing * Command (computing), a statement in a computer language * command (Unix), a Unix command * COMMAND.COM, the default operating system shell and command-line interpreter for DOS * Command key, a modifier key on A ...

"DOSSHELL". It had the ability to set simple colours and styles. The shell also has a help system, a program list, and a task swapper. Like many modern file managers, it had the ability to display dual

hierarchy A hierarchy (from Ancient Greek, Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy ...

directory and file lists, i.e. left and right panes, displaying both a list of directory contents and the hierarchical file path to the current working directory. A

mouse A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

was supported, however, like any other DOS application, it required an appropriate

device driver In the context of an operating system, a device driver is a computer program that operates or controls a particular type of device that is attached to a computer or automaton. A driver provides a software interface to hardware devices, enabli ...

. One feature was the ability to list all files on a hard drive in a single alphabetized list along with the path and other attributes. This permitted the user to compare versions of a file in different directories by their attributes and easily spot duplicates.

Shortcomings

DOS Shell was incapable of full multitasking. It supported rudimentary task switching; it could switch between programs running in

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, at the cost of performance hit. However, all the running programs had to fit into conventional memory area, as there was no support for swapping to disk. In time, Windows 3.1x, with its own graphical user interface, became much more popular among computer users. Windows was capable of multitasking. System performance was much higher, with complete access to extended memory.

Overview

Features

Shortcomings

See also

References

Further reading