Mtools is a public domain collection of tools to allow Unix systems to manipulate MS-DOS files: read, write, and move around files on an MS-DOS filesystem
Mtools are typically used to manipulate FAT formatted floppy disks. Each program attempts to emulate the MS-DOS equivalent command, these are different from Windows NT/2000 commands.
Mtools is sufficient to give access to MS-DOS filesystems. For instance, commands such as `mdir a:” work on the `a:” floppy without any preliminary mounting or initialization (assuming the default `/etc/mtools.conf” works on your machine). With mtools, one can change floppies too without unmounting and mounting.
MTOOLS Programs
| floppyd | floppy daemon to run on your X server box |
| floppyd_installtest | small utility to check for the presence of floppyd |
| mattrib | change MS-DOS file attribute flags |
| mbadblocks | tests a floppy disk, and marks the bad blocks in the FAT |
| mcat | same as cat. Only useful with floppyd. |
| mcd | change MS-DOS directory |
| mcopy | copy MS-DOS files to/from Unix |
| mdel | delete an MS-DOS file |
| mdeltree | recursively delete an MS-DOS directory |
| mdir | display an MS-DOS directory |
| mdu | list space occupied by directory and its contents |
| mformat | add an MS-DOS filesystem to a low-level formatted floppy disk |
| minfo | get information about an MS-DOS filesystem. |
| mlabel | make an MS-DOS volume label |
| mkmanifest | makes a list of short name equivalents |
| mmd | make an MS-DOS subdirectory |
| mmount | mount an MS-DOS disk |
| mpartition | create an MS-DOS as a partition |
| mrd | remove an MS-DOS subdirectory |
| mmove | move or rename an MS-DOS file or subdirectory |
| mren | rename an existing MS-DOS file |
| mshowfat | shows the FAT map of a file |
| mtoolstest | tests and displays the configuration |
| mtype | display contents of an MS-DOS file |
| mzip | zip disk specific commands |
| xcopy | recursively copy a dos directory into another |
Equivalent Windows XP commands:
In the same way that `mtools” are DOS/Windows commands ported to run under UNIX, most UNIX commands have been ported to run under NT.
A very limited selection of POSIX tools are included in the NT resource kits, more can be found on the net.
Be aware that most UNIX commands running on Windows are case sensitive.