VFD.EXE Command Reference
====================
GENERAL
====================
Usage:
VFD.EXE [command [options...]]
Commands:
INSTALL Install the Virtual Floppy driver.
REMOVE Uninstall the Virtual Floppy driver.
CONFIG Configure the Virtual Floppy driver.
START Start the Virtual Floppy driver.
STOP Stop the Virtual Floppy driver.
SHELL Enable/disable the shell extension.
OPEN Open a Virtual Floppy image.
CLOSE Close a Virtual Floppy image.
SAVE Save the current image into a file.
PROTECT Enable/disable drive write protect.
FORMAT Format the current Virtual Floppy media.
LINK Assign a drive letter to a Virtual Floppy drive.
ULINK Remove a drive letter from a Virtual Floppy drive.
STATUS Print the current status.
HELP | ? Print usage help.
VERSION Print version information
If a command is not specified, the interactive console is started.
Type 'VFD.EXE HELP CONSOLE' for more information about the interactive
console.
All commands and options are case insensitive.
Shorter command name can be used as long as the command can be
distinguished uniquely: I for INSTALL, REM for REMOVE, etc. are
accepted, but ST is invalid because it is ambiguous. You have
to type as much as STAR, STO or STAT in order to distinguish them.
'VFD.EXE command {/? | /h}' shows a brief hint about each command.
====================
CONSOLE
====================
In the interactive console, you can use the following commands in
addition to regular VFD commands:
CD | CHDIR
Displays the name of or changes the current directory.
Similar to the Windows CD/CHDIR command.
<drive>: Change the current directory to the root of the specified
drive. Similar to the Windows drive change command.
DIR Executes the Windows DIR command.
All options for the Windows DIR command are available.
ATTRIB Executes the Windows ATTRIB command.
All options for the Windows ATTRIB command are available.
EXIT | QUIT | BYE | <Ctrl+C>
Quits the VFD interactive console.
A command typed with a leading '.'(period) is executed by the Windows
command processor (cmd.exe).
e.g.) .FORMAT [options ...]
Executes the Windows format.exe. All options are passed to
the format.exe.
FORMAT [options ...]
Executes the VFD 'FORMAT' command.
To execute an external command with spaces in its name, put the
'.' (period) outside the quoteation.
e.g.) ."C:\Program Files\My App\My Program.exe" [options ...]
DIR and ATTRIB Windows commands are recognized without a period,
for they are used very frequently.
Commands to affect current directory and environment variable have
effects only inside the Windows command processor. You can execute
them but they have no effect on the VFD console.
.CD .CHDIR .<drive>: to change the current directory
.PUSHD .POPD
.PATH to change the search path
.PROMPT
.SET to change the value of an environment variable
====================
INSTALL
====================
Install the Virtual Floppy driver.
SYNTAX:
VFD.EXE INSTALL [driver] [/AUTO | /A]
OPTIONS:
driver Specifies the path to the Virtual Floppy driver file.
Default is VFD.SYS in the same directory as the VFD
console program (Note: *NOT* current directory).
/AUTO Configures the driver to start at the system startup.
/A (Note: *NOT* to start the driver after installation.)
By default the driver has to be started manually.
Administrator rights are required to install a devide driver.
Device drivers cannot be installed from network drives.
Make sure to place VFD.SYS on a local drive.
It is advised to install the driver with the /AUTO option if the
Virtual Floppy drive is going to be used by users other than
Administrators and Power Users, who don't have enough rights to
start device drivers.
====================
REMOVE
====================
Uninstall the Virtual Floppy driver.
SYNTAX:
VFD.EXE REMOVE [/FORCE | /F | /QUIT | /Q]
OPTIONS:
/FORCE Suppress prompting and forces the remove operation when
/F the driver cannot be stopped.
/QUIT Suppress prompting and quits the remove operation when
/Q the driver cannot be stopped.
Closes all images and stops the driver if necessary, then removes the
Virtual Floppy driver entries from the system registry.
This command does not delete the driver file from the local disk.
There are cases, due to the condition of the system, when
uninstallation does not complete immediately and restarting of the
system is required. In such cases you may not be able to install the
Virtual Floppy driver again until the system is restarted and
uninstallation process is complete.
Administrator rights are required to uninstall a device driver.
====================
CONFIG
====================
Configure the Virtual Floppy driver start method.
SYNTAX:
VFD.EXE CONFIG {/AUTO | /A | /MANUAL | /M}
OPTIONS:
/AUTO Configures the driver to start at the system startup.
/A
/MANUAL Configures the driver to start on demand.
/M
The change takes effect the next system start up.
Administrator rights are required to configure a devide driver.
====================
START
====================
Start the Virtual Floppy driver.
SYNTAX:
VFD.EXE START
OPTIONS:
NONE
If the driver is not installed, this command attempts to install it
with thedefault options.
At least Power User rights are required to start a device driver.
====================
STOP
====================
Stop the Virtual Floppy driver
SYNTAX:
VFD.EXE STOP [/FORCE | /F | /QUIT | /Q]
OPTIONS:
/FORCE Suppress prompting and forces the stop operation when any
/F of the drives are in use and cannot be closed.
/QUIT Suppress prompting and quits the stop operation when any
/Q of the drives are in use and cannot be closed.
This command closes all images before stopping the driver.
An image cannot be closed if the virtual drive is used by any other
programs. Forcing the stop operation with a drive in use may leave
the driver in stop pending state. In such cases the driver cannot be
restarted until all programs stop using the drive and the driver is
properly unloaded.
At least Power User rights are required to stop a device driver.
====================
SHELL
====================
Enable / disable the Virtual Floppy drive shell extension.
SYNTAX:
VFD.EXE SHELL [/ON | /OFF]
OPTIONS:
/ON Enables the shell extension.
/OFF Disables the shell extension.
If an option is not specified, this command prints the current state
of the shell extension.
====================
OPEN
====================
Open a Virtual Floppy image.
SYNTAX:
VFD.EXE OPEN [drive:] [file] [/NEW] [/RAM] [/P | /W]
[/size] [/media] [/F | /FORCE | /Q | /QUIT]
OPTIONS:
drive: Specifies a target Virtual Floppy drive, either by a drive
number or a drive letter, such as "0:", "1:", "B:", "X:".
The trailing ':' is required.
The drive 0 is assumed if not specified.
file Specifies a Virtual Floppy image file to open.
An empty RAM disk is created if not specified.
/NEW Creates a new image file.
Ignored if a file is not specified.
/RAM RAM mode - mounts an on-memory copy of the image, instead
of directly mounting the image file.
Changes made to the virtual media are lost when the image
is closed, unless the image is explicitly saved to a file
with the 'SAVE' command.
Ignored if a file is not specified.
/P Opens the image as a write protected media.
Write protection state can be chenged later with the
'PROTECT' command.
/W Opens the image as a writable media.
Write protection state can be chenged later with the
'PROTECT' command.
/size Specifies a media size. Acceptable options are:
/160 (160KB) /820 (820KB)
/180 (180KB) /120 or /1.20 (1.20MB)
/320 (320KB) /144 or /1.44 (1.44MB)
/360 (360KB) /168 or /1.68 (1.68MB DMF)
/640 (640KB) /172 or /1.72 (1.72MB DMF)
/720 (720KB) /288 or /2.88 (2.88MB)
/5 Specifies a 5.25 inch media. Takes effect only with
/525 640KB, 720KB and 1.2MB media and otherwise ignored.
/5.25 160KB, 180KB, 320KB and 360KB media are always 5.25".
820KB, 1.44MB, 1.68MB, 1.72MB and 2.88MB media are always
3.5".
/FORCE Suppress prompring on minor conflicts and/or omission of
/F necessary parameters and continues the operation as best
as possible, employing default values if necessary.
See below for details.
/QUIT Suppress prompring on minor conflicts and/or omission of
/Q necessary parameters and quits the operation on the first
such occasion.
See below for details.
If the target drive does not have a drive letter, this command also
assigns a local drive letter (see 'VFD.EXE HELP LINK') using the first
available letter.
Read only files, NTFS encrypted/compressed files and ZIP compressed
image files (such as WinImage IMZ file) cannot be mounted directly
and must be opened in RAM mode.
Without a size option, size of a virtual media is decided from the
actual image size. With an explicit size option you can mount a
file as a smaller media, in such cases surplus data at the end of
the image is ignored.
A virtual media size cannot exceed the actual image size.
The /F and /Q options affect the behavior of the OPEN command in
many ways:
When the target file does not exist and the /NEW option
is not present
(none) ask user whether to create the target
/F create the target without asking
/Q abort the operation without asking
The target file exists and the /NEW option is present
(none) ask user whether to overwrite the existing file
/F overwrite the file without asking
/Q abort the operation without asking
The target file cannot be mounted directly and the /RAM
option is not present
(none) ask user whether to open in RAM mode
/F open in RAM mode without asking
/Q abort the operation without asking
A size option is not present for creating a new image
(none) ask user whether to create a 1.44MB (default) image
/F create a 1.44MB image without asking
/Q abort the operation without asking
A size option is not present and the target file size is
not an exact match for any of supported media
(none) ask user whether to mount as a largest media to fit
in the actual image
/F mount as a largest media to fit in the actual image
without asking
/Q abort the operation without asking
====================
CLOSE
====================
Close a Virtual Floppy image.
SYNTAX:
VFD.EXE CLOSE [drive:] [/FORCE | /F | /QUIT | /Q]
OPTIONS:
drive: Specifies a target Virtual Floppy drive, either by a drive
number or a drive letter, such as "0:", "1:", "B:", "X:".
The trailing ':' is optional.
"*" stands for both drives.
The drive 0 is used if not specified.
/FORCE Suppress prompting and forces the close operation when RAM
/F disk data is modified or the drive is in use.
Forcing with the drive in use will work only on Windows
2000 and later (not on NT).
/QUIT Suppress prompting and quits the close operation when RAM
/Q disk data is modified or the drive is in use.
If neither /Q nor /F is specified, the user has to choose whether to
retry, force, or quit.
Unlike the previous versions of the VFD, this command does *NOT*
remove the drive letter of the target drive.
====================
SAVE
====================
Save the current image data into a file.
SYNTAX:
VFD.EXE SAVE [drive:] [file] [/O | /OVER | /T | /TRUNC]
[/FORCE | /F | /QUIT | /Q]
OPTIONS:
drive: Specifies a target Virtual Floppy drive, either by a drive
number or a drive letter, such as "0:", "1:", "B:", "X:".
The trailing ':' is required.
The drive 0 is used if not specified.
file Specifies a file name to save data.
If not specified, the current image file name is used.
Required if the current image is a pure RAM disk.
/OVER Overwrite the file if the target file exists.
/O If the existing file is larger than the current image,
file size is not changed and the surplus data at the end
of the file is left unchanged.
If the target is the current image file, this is the
default behavior of this command.
Ignored if the target does not exist.
/TRUNC Overwrite the file if the target file exists.
/T If the existing file is larger than the current image,
the file is truncated to the image size and the surplus
data at the end of the file is discarded.
Ignored if the target does not exist.
/FORCE Suppress prompting when the target volume can not be
/F locked and forces the operation without locking.
/QUIT Suppress prompting when the target volume can not be
/Q locked and quits the operation.
If the target is the current image file, the file is always
overwritten without a question and the /O option is not necessary.
Otherwise this command fails if the target file exists and neither
/O or /T is present.
If the existing file is smaller than the current image, the file
is always expanded to the current image size either with /O or /T.
This program NEVER overwrites a ZIP compressed file regardless of /O
or /T option, or even if it is the current image file.
The SAVE command always fails if the target is a ZIP compressed file.
====================
PROTECT
====================
Enable / disable drive write protect.
SYNTAX:
VFD.EXE PROTECT [drive:] [/ON | /OFF]
OPTIONS:
drive: Specifies a target Virtual Floppy drive, either by a drive
number or a drive letter, such as "0:", "1:", "B:", "X:".
The trailing ':' is optional.
The drive 0 is used if not specified.
/ON Enables the drive write protect - the drive becomes read only.
/OFF Disables the drive write protect - the drive becomes writable.
If an option is not specified, this command prints the current write
protect state of the drive.
After write protection is disabled with this command, Windows may not
notice the change immediately and claim that the media is still write
protected. Refreshing the Explorer or retrying the faild operation
will fix that.
====================
FORMAT
====================
Format a Virtual Floppy media with FAT.
SYNTAX:
VFD.EXE FORMAT [drive:] [/FORCE | /F | /QUIT | /Q]
OPTIONS:
drive: Specifies a target Virtual Floppy drive, either by a drive
number or a drive letter, such as "0:", "1:", "B:", "X:".
The trailing ':' is optional.
The drive 0 is used if not specified.
/FORCE Suppress prompting when the target volume can not be
/F locked and forces the operation without locking.
/QUIT Suppress prompting when the target volume can not be
/Q locked and quits the operation.
====================
LINK
====================
Assign a drive letter to a Virtual Floppy drive.
SYNTAX:
VFD.EXE LINK [number] [letter] [/L]
OPTIONS:
number Specifies a target drive number.
If not specified, drive 0 is used.
"*" stands for both drives.
letter Spesifies a drive letter to assign.
If not specified, the first available letter is used.
If the target is both drives, letters for each drives can
be specified like "BF" (B for 0, F for 1).
/L Assign an ephemeral / local drive letter.
The default (without this option) is persistent / global.
Persistent / global drive letters are reclaimed each time the driver
starts.
On Windows 2000 SP2 and later they are not deleted on user logoff.
On Terminal Servers they are globaly visible to all users on the
system.
Ephemeral / local drive letters are not reclaimed on driver start up.
On Windows 2000 SP2 and later they are deleted on user logoff.
On Terminal Servers, they are visible only to the current user and
each user can assign different drive letter to the same drive.
====================
ULINK
====================
Remove a drive letter from a Virtual Floppy drive.
SYNTAX:
VFD.EXE ULINK [drive]
OPTIONS:
drive Specifies a target Virtual Floppy drive, either by a drive
number or a drive letter.
If not specified, drive 0 is used.
"*" stands for both drives.
Drive letters can be removed even if the drive is being used.
Some applications such as Windows Explorer detects it and acts
accordingly, for example closes folder windows for the drive.
====================
STATUS
====================
Print the current status.
SYNTAX:
VFD.EXE STATUS
OPTIONS:
NONE
This command prints the following information:
Driver file path
Driver version
Driver start type
Driver running state
Shell extension status
Drive letter
Image name
Image description (file type, size, file attributes, etc.)
Disk type (RAM or FILE)
Write protection
====================
HELP
====================
Print the VFD console help.
SYNTAX:
VFD.EXE HELP [command | topic]
OPTIONS:
command Specifies one of the following commands
INSTALL REMOVE CONFIG START STOP
SHELL OPEN CLOSE SAVE PROTECT
FORMAT LINK ULINK STATUS HELP
VERSION
topic Specifies one of the following topics
CONSOLE
If an option is not specified, the general help is printed.
====================
VERSION
====================
SYNTAX: VFD.EXE VERSION
Print version information.
Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.