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Certain systems may encounter a few errors due to version conflicts or other things, so I'll explain the common errors here and what to do about them. Also, you'll find all the files here that I've used in this article, as well as the list of switches you can use with the "MSCDEX" line.


COMMON ERRORS

Wrong DOS Version This message means the wrong version of DOS is being used with MSCDEX.EXE  Make sure your MSCDEX is version 2.20 or greater to work with DOS 5.0 or greater.

You may also need to add the SETVER statement to CONFIG.SYS.
SETVER loads a version table into memory so MSCDEX can work with existing file versions. 
Add the line as such: DEVICE=SETVER.EXE
Note - you must also copy the actual file "SETVER.EXE" to your bootdisk, and make sure theres only one instance of SETVER on the disk.
For the techno-curious, There is additional info on SETVER.EXE and what you can do with it.
Not Enough Memory/Insufficient Memory There isnt enough conventional memory to fit all the files you're trying to load. The fix is to load one or more drivers in the high memory area. To do this, instead of typing "DEVICE=" Type "DEVICEHIGH=" This will put the file in memory above 64k, which should solve the problem.

NOTE---HIMEM.SYS MUST be loaded into conventional memory. 
Interface Board or Cd-Rom Drive Not Detected/No Valid Cd-Rom Drivers Detected Chances are your cd-rom is on the sound card and your disk isn't loading the sound card or your cd-rom is on the motherboard and the system is looking for it on the soundcard. You need to modify the bootdisk to load the correct drivers.

Also, the wrong cd-rom driver could cause this error. try using a different driver.
CDR101:Read Fail or Not Reading Drive This message is sometimes confusing because it comes up if a cd is not in the drive. Check that first. However, it is also caused by the wrong driver. If you know your cd-rom works and theres a disk in the drive, you may be using the wrong driver.
Setup Has Detected A Disk Caching Program. Exiting Install. You will get this message if you try to install an OS while some caching program is running. The caching program needs the hard disk and the OS will not alter the Hard disk while its in use. You are probably using an older bootdisk which was created when Caching was needed to speed up slow CD-Roms. The fix is to disable the program on your disk...the resident DOS caching program is SMARTDRIVE. Simply type REM in front of any lines that contain SMARTDRV.EXE in your AUTOEXEC.BAT. You could also just delete those lines since you dont need a caching program on a bootdisk anyway.

Like I said, these are the common errors...there are many others that could come up depending on your machine.


MSCDEX Switches

MSCDEX SWITCH                                                                                                               EXPLANATION
/D:xxxxxxx
 This is the device name used by the cd-rom device driver in the device table. It must match the /D:xxxxx written in the CONFIG.SYS file
/M:x
 x is the number of buffer files used. Normally, 8 are used for one drive, and add another 4 for each additional drive. Buffer files can increase performance, but free memory is more important than buffers, so setting it too high may actually slow things down.
/L:x
 x specifies the drive letter assigned to the cd-rom. It is optional and will default to the first available drive letter. a "LASTDRIVE=" is needed in the CONFIG.SYS to use letters beyond the next available drive. A warning though...any applications installed prior to changing the drive letter may not be able to find the cd-rom afterwards.
/V
 Verbose option. when booting, memory statistics used by MSCDEX are displayed on-screen
/S
 Share option used by networks dos/win 3.x systems
/E
 Use EXPANDED MEMORY option. An expanded memory driver is needed for this switch (e.g. EMM386.EXE) 

To use this switch you must include the line: DEVICE=EMM386.EXE in your CONFIG.SYS and include EMM386.EXE on the bootdisk

THE FILES

Any of the files I mentioned in this article are available here, and any other Cd-rom drivers or sound card drivers I run across I will put up here for your convenience. The cd-rom drivers with their corresponding /D:xxxxxx names are listed below.
SBIDE.SYS
/D:SBIDE001
 IMES_CD.SYS
/D:IMESCD01
        
SBCD.SYS
/D:SBCD001
          
CTSB16.SYS
          
SSCDROM.SYS
/D:SSCDROM01
          
HIT_IDE.SYS
/D:HITIDE01
          
HIMEM.SYS
          
MSCDEX.EXE
          
EMM386.EXE
          
SETVER.EXE
          
 BLASTER.DRV
          

 
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