getting floppy to eject automatically on shutdown

With a Dell Dimension with Windows 98, is there a way that when I shut
down the computer, it will automatically eject any floppy diskette that
happens to be in the floppy drive?

This would avoid the annoyance of starting to boot the computer later
and then realizing that it hasn't booted because I left a floppy in the
drive.

The computer is a Dimension vccccc with 333 MH I bought in 1998.

Thanks,

Larry

Windows 98 doesn't have this functionality. The standard floppy drive does
not have the required mechanism.

To avoid having the system try to boot to any floppy accidentally left in
the drive, access BIOS setup and make sure that the floppy drive is not
listed before the hard drive in the boot sequence.

Because leaving a floppy in the drive is a virus risk, many anti-virus
programs have an option to warn you if you try to shut down with a floppy
still in the drive.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (DTS)
"Larry" wrote in message
...
With a Dell Dimension with Windows 98, is there a way that when I shut
down the computer, it will automatically eject any floppy diskette that
happens to be in the floppy drive?

This would avoid the annoyance of starting to boot the computer later
and then realizing that it hasn't booted because I left a floppy in the
drive.

The computer is a Dimension vccccc with 333 MH I bought in 1998.

Thanks,

Larry

Because leaving a floppy in the drive is a virus risk, many anti-virus
programs have an option to warn you if you try to shut down with a
floppy still in the drive.

Ok, that would be good. The system doesn't have to eject the floppy
physically when the computer shuts down. It just needs to tell me that
the floppy is there so that I can remove it. Do you know what program
would do this?

Larry





Jeff Richards wrote:
Windows 98 doesn't have this functionality. The standard floppy drive
does not have the required mechanism.

To avoid having the system try to boot to any floppy accidentally
left in the drive, access BIOS setup and make sure that the floppy
drive is not listed before the hard drive in the boot sequence.

Because leaving a floppy in the drive is a virus risk, many anti-virus
programs have an option to warn you if you try to shut down with a
floppy still in the drive.
With a Dell Dimension with Windows 98, is there a way that when I
shut down the computer, it will automatically eject any floppy
diskette that happens to be in the floppy drive?

This would avoid the annoyance of starting to boot the computer
later and then realizing that it hasn't booted because I left a
floppy in the drive.

The computer is a Dimension vccccc with 333 MH I bought in 1998.

Thanks,

Larry

"Larry" wrote in news:#TZXS3vcEHA.2944
@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl:


Because leaving a floppy in the drive is a virus risk, many anti-virus
programs have an option to warn you if you try to shut down with a
floppy still in the drive.

Ok, that would be good. The system doesn't have to eject the floppy
physically when the computer shuts down. It just needs to tell me that
the floppy is there so that I can remove it. Do you know what program
would do this?

Larry





Jeff Richards wrote:
Windows 98 doesn't have this functionality. The standard floppy drive
does not have the required mechanism.

To avoid having the system try to boot to any floppy accidentally
left in the drive, access BIOS setup and make sure that the floppy
drive is not listed before the hard drive in the boot sequence.

Because leaving a floppy in the drive is a virus risk, many anti-virus
programs have an option to warn you if you try to shut down with a
floppy still in the drive.
With a Dell Dimension with Windows 98, is there a way that when I
shut down the computer, it will automatically eject any floppy
diskette that happens to be in the floppy drive?

This would avoid the annoyance of starting to boot the computer
later and then realizing that it hasn't booted because I left a
floppy in the drive.

The computer is a Dimension vccccc with 333 MH I bought in 1998.

Thanks,

Larry



Most virusscanners can do it.

"Larry" wrote in message =
...
With a Dell Dimension with Windows 98, is there a way that when I shut
down the computer, it will automatically eject any floppy diskette =
that
happens to be in the floppy drive?
=20
This would avoid the annoyance of starting to boot the computer later
and then realizing that it hasn't booted because I left a floppy in =
the
drive.
=20
The computer is a Dimension vccccc with 333 MH I bought in 1998.
=20
Thanks,
=20
Larry
=20

Larry,

As Jeff suggested, there is no way to eject a floppy disk other than =
manually. If your current antivirus scanner doesn't check for the =
presence of a floppy disk, here's a sample script to do it for you =
(probably also possible using a batch file, but I don't do batch files.) =
You'd just have to remember not to use the usual Start\Shutdown method =
(in fact, it can be disabled: see below.) I'm putting the script code =
below my signature. Just open a new text file in Notepad, make *sure* =
that Word-Wrap is turned off in the Format menu, copy the code into the =
file, then save as C:\"Shutdown.vbs". Then create a shortcut on your =
Desktop or in the Start menu. Requires Windows Scripting Host, and if =
your system is set to have EDIT as the default action for scripts, =
you'll want to preface the shortcut's command with wscriptspace:
Example:
wscript "C:\Shutdown.vbs"

Unfortunately, I don't have a Win9x system available at this moment, and =
the commands involved don't work on XP, so if there's any errors, or you =
would like it to behave differently, feedback is certainly welcome. I'm =
sending this message in MIME-QP, so that it doesn't wrap, but if you =
have trouble making a VBS file out of it, drop me an email and I'll send =
you a TXT file that you can rename. Also, the command this uses to =
shutdown/restart requires a switch to indicate what kind of shutdown. =
I've made the obvious two choices the only ones available, but you might =
be interested in the rest of the possibilities that can be programmed =
in, so here's the article on that: =
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=3D234216

To disable the Shutdown button on your system, use REGEDIT to find the =
following key:
"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Policies\Exp=
lorer"
Right-click the key, choose New, D-WORD. Name it "NoClose", then =
double-click it and change its value to "1" (one).
(I found this and other straight-forward Policies descriptions at =
http://sudhirmangla.i6networks.com/win/winsecret.htm. It's amazing how =
*not* forthcoming the MSKB is about these things!)
--=20
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x
=20
(Copy everything *between*, but not including, the dashed lines)

-----------------Begin Script-------------------------
option explicit
dim d, dc, td, q
With CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set dc =3D .Drives
For Each d in dc
If d.DriveLetter =3D "A" Then
Do While d.IsReady
q =3D MsgBox("There is a floppy disk in drive A:\" & vbcrlf & _
"Remove floppy and click 'Retry'." & vbcrlf & _
"Click 'Ignore' to continue Shutdown, or" & _
" 'Abort' to cancel", 306, "Floppy disk present...")
If q =3D 3 Then Wscript.Quit
If q =3D 5 Then Exit Do
Loop
End If
If d.DriveLetter =3D "B" Then
Do While d.IsReady
q =3D MsgBox("There is a floppy disk in drive B:\" & vbcrlf & _
"Remove floppy and click 'Retry'." & vbcrlf & _
"Click 'Ignore' to continue Shutdown, or" & _
" 'Abort' to cancel", 306, "Floppy disk present...")
If q =3D 3 Then Wscript.Quit
If q =3D 5 Then Exit Do
Loop
End If
Next
End With
q =3D MsgBox("Restart Windows?" & vbcrlf & _
"Click Yes to Restart, No to Shutdown," & vbcrlf & _
"or Cancel to return to Windows.", 35, "Restart or =
Shutdown?")
If q =3D 2 Then WScript.Quit
If q =3D 6 Then
With WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
.Run "rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx 2"
End With
End If
If q =3D 7 Then
With WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
.Run "rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx 1"
End With
End If
Wscript.Quit
-----------------End Script--------------------------

There is a small freeware to remind you:
http://www.freebyte.com/bootminder/
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

"Larry" wrote in message
...

Because leaving a floppy in the drive is a virus risk, many anti-virus
programs have an option to warn you if you try to shut down with a
floppy still in the drive.

Ok, that would be good. The system doesn't have to eject the floppy
physically when the computer shuts down. It just needs to tell me that
the floppy is there so that I can remove it. Do you know what program
would do this?

Larry





Jeff Richards wrote:
Windows 98 doesn't have this functionality. The standard floppy drive
does not have the required mechanism.

To avoid having the system try to boot to any floppy accidentally
left in the drive, access BIOS setup and make sure that the floppy
drive is not listed before the hard drive in the boot sequence.

Because leaving a floppy in the drive is a virus risk, many anti-virus
programs have an option to warn you if you try to shut down with a
floppy still in the drive.
With a Dell Dimension with Windows 98, is there a way that when I
shut down the computer, it will automatically eject any floppy
diskette that happens to be in the floppy drive?

This would avoid the annoyance of starting to boot the computer
later and then realizing that it hasn't booted because I left a
floppy in the drive.

The computer is a Dimension vccccc with 333 MH I bought in 1998.

Thanks,

Larry

Thanks, all. You've given me a bunch options to choose from. I
downloaded the bootminder and may try that, but the thing is, there's no
way to know if it's running or not unless you actually try to shut down
the computer with a floppy in the drive.

Larry



Gary S. Terhune wrote:
"Larry" wrote in message
...
With a Dell Dimension with Windows 98, is there a way that when I
shut down the computer, it will automatically eject any floppy
diskette that happens to be in the floppy drive?

This would avoid the annoyance of starting to boot the computer
later and then realizing that it hasn't booted because I left a
floppy in the drive.

The computer is a Dimension vccccc with 333 MH I bought in 1998.

Thanks,

Larry


Larry,

As Jeff suggested, there is no way to eject a floppy disk other than
manually. If your current antivirus scanner doesn't check for the
presence of a floppy disk, here's a sample script to do it for you
(probably also possible using a batch file, but I don't do batch
files.) You'd just have to remember not to use the usual
Start\Shutdown method (in fact, it can be disabled: see below.) I'm
putting the script code below my signature. Just open a new text file
in Notepad, make *sure* that Word-Wrap is turned off in the Format
menu, copy the code into the file, then save as C:\"Shutdown.vbs".
Then create a shortcut on your Desktop or in the Start menu. Requires
Windows Scripting Host, and if your system is set to have EDIT as the
default action for scripts, you'll want to preface the shortcut's
command with wscriptspace:
Example:
wscript "C:\Shutdown.vbs"

Unfortunately, I don't have a Win9x system available at this moment,
and the commands involved don't work on XP, so if there's any errors,
or you would like it to behave differently, feedback is certainly
welcome. I'm sending this message in MIME-QP, so that it doesn't
wrap, but if you have trouble making a VBS file out of it, drop me an
email and I'll send you a TXT file that you can rename. Also, the
command this uses to shutdown/restart requires a switch to indicate
what kind of shutdown. I've made the obvious two choices the only
ones available, but you might be interested in the rest of the
possibilities that can be programmed in, so here's the article on
that: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=234216

To disable the Shutdown button on your system, use REGEDIT to find
the following key:

"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Policies\Ex
plorer"
Right-click the key, choose New, D-WORD. Name it "NoClose", then
double-click it and change its value to "1" (one).
(I found this and other straight-forward Policies descriptions at
http://sudhirmangla.i6networks.com/win/winsecret.htm. It's amazing
how *not* forthcoming the MSKB is about these things!)

When you install it, a shortcut to Bootminder is made in the Start Menu Programs
StartUp folder, and it will start with Windows. There should be no reason to see it
otherwise.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Thanks, all. You've given me a bunch options to choose from. I
downloaded the bootminder and may try that, but the thing is, there's no
way to know if it's running or not unless you actually try to shut down
the computer with a floppy in the drive.

Larry



Gary S. Terhune wrote:
"Larry" wrote in message
...
With a Dell Dimension with Windows 98, is there a way that when I
shut down the computer, it will automatically eject any floppy
diskette that happens to be in the floppy drive?

This would avoid the annoyance of starting to boot the computer
later and then realizing that it hasn't booted because I left a
floppy in the drive.

The computer is a Dimension vccccc with 333 MH I bought in 1998.

Thanks,

Larry


Larry,

As Jeff suggested, there is no way to eject a floppy disk other than
manually. If your current antivirus scanner doesn't check for the
presence of a floppy disk, here's a sample script to do it for you
(probably also possible using a batch file, but I don't do batch
files.) You'd just have to remember not to use the usual
Start\Shutdown method (in fact, it can be disabled: see below.) I'm
putting the script code below my signature. Just open a new text file
in Notepad, make *sure* that Word-Wrap is turned off in the Format
menu, copy the code into the file, then save as C:\"Shutdown.vbs".
Then create a shortcut on your Desktop or in the Start menu. Requires
Windows Scripting Host, and if your system is set to have EDIT as the
default action for scripts, you'll want to preface the shortcut's
command with wscriptspace:
Example:
wscript "C:\Shutdown.vbs"

Unfortunately, I don't have a Win9x system available at this moment,
and the commands involved don't work on XP, so if there's any errors,
or you would like it to behave differently, feedback is certainly
welcome. I'm sending this message in MIME-QP, so that it doesn't
wrap, but if you have trouble making a VBS file out of it, drop me an
email and I'll send you a TXT file that you can rename. Also, the
command this uses to shutdown/restart requires a switch to indicate
what kind of shutdown. I've made the obvious two choices the only
ones available, but you might be interested in the rest of the
possibilities that can be programmed in, so here's the article on
that: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=234216

To disable the Shutdown button on your system, use REGEDIT to find
the following key:

"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Policies\Ex
plorer"
Right-click the key, choose New, D-WORD. Name it "NoClose", then
double-click it and change its value to "1" (one).
(I found this and other straight-forward Policies descriptions at
http://sudhirmangla.i6networks.com/win/winsecret.htm. It's amazing
how *not* forthcoming the MSKB is about these things!)

I just tried it: stuck a floppy in the drive and did shut down, and got
that little dialog box telling me there was a floppy in the floppy
drive. That's just what I wanted. Computers should have this utility
as a built-in feature.

Thanks.

Larry





glee wrote:
When you install it, a shortcut to Bootminder is made in the Start
Menu Programs StartUp folder, and it will start with Windows. There
should be no reason to see it otherwise.

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Thanks, all. You've given me a bunch options to choose from. I
downloaded the bootminder and may try that, but the thing is,
there's no way to know if it's running or not unless you actually
try to shut down the computer with a floppy in the drive.

Larry



Gary S. Terhune wrote:
"Larry" wrote in message
...
With a Dell Dimension with Windows 98, is there a way that when
I shut down the computer, it will automatically eject any floppy
diskette that happens to be in the floppy drive?

This would avoid the annoyance of starting to boot the computer
later and then realizing that it hasn't booted because I left a
floppy in the drive.

The computer is a Dimension vccccc with 333 MH I bought in 1998.

Thanks,

Larry


Larry,

As Jeff suggested, there is no way to eject a floppy disk other
than manually. If your current antivirus scanner doesn't check
for the presence of a floppy disk, here's a sample script to do
it for you (probably also possible using a batch file, but I
don't do batch files.) You'd just have to remember not to use the
usual Start\Shutdown method (in fact, it can be disabled: see
below.) I'm putting the script code below my signature. Just open
a new text file in Notepad, make *sure* that Word-Wrap is turned
off in the Format menu, copy the code into the file, then save as
C:\"Shutdown.vbs". Then create a shortcut on your Desktop or in
the Start menu. Requires Windows Scripting Host, and if your
system is set to have EDIT as the default action for scripts,
you'll want to preface the shortcut's command with wscriptspace:
Example:
wscript "C:\Shutdown.vbs"

Unfortunately, I don't have a Win9x system available at this
moment, and the commands involved don't work on XP, so if there's
any errors, or you would like it to behave differently, feedback
is certainly welcome. I'm sending this message in MIME-QP, so
that it doesn't wrap, but if you have trouble making a VBS file
out of it, drop me an email and I'll send you a TXT file that you
can rename. Also, the command this uses to shutdown/restart
requires a switch to indicate what kind of shutdown. I've made
the obvious two choices the only ones available, but you might be
interested in the rest of the possibilities that can be
programmed in, so here's the article on that:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=234216

To disable the Shutdown button on your system, use REGEDIT to find
the following key:


"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Policies\Ex
plorer"
Right-click the key, choose New, D-WORD. Name it "NoClose", then
double-click it and change its value to "1" (one).
(I found this and other straight-forward Policies descriptions at
http://sudhirmangla.i6networks.com/win/winsecret.htm. It's amazing
how *not* forthcoming the MSKB is about these things!)

I posted a message yesterday but it got crossed out for some reason. I
wanted to tell you that the Bootminder works fine. Thank you.

Larry