> On Nov 22, 2025, at 9:25 AM, Ralf Quint via Freedos-devel > <[email protected]> wrote: > > On 11/21/2025 2:54 PM, Jerome Shidel via Freedos-devel wrote: >> >> >> First, the default option on this page be changed to “return to DOS.” This >> is a simple change and would be consistent with other pages that provide the >> option to abort. I plan on finding a few minutes to adjust this before the >> next interim test build. >> > This was what I suggested during the meeting. As stated it would make it > consistent and it would prevent a possible disaster for those people that > don't read and just continue (those have become more numerous in the last > couple decades). > >
While I am not opposed to this change and intend to implement this for the December interim build, let’s not forget a very import fact about the installers current behavior. Even without this change, there is no screen in the installer that will result in intentional modifications to the users system which do not default to “exit to DOS” When asked to Partition the Disk, default is to exit. When asked to Format the Drive, default is to exit. No other changes are performed to the hard disk until the user selects the type of install. BASE, BASE+SRC, FULL, FULL+SOURCE and Exit to DOS. Default is to Exit. Once the installation type is selected, there is no further interaction with the user until the installation is complete or an error occurs. All the things the installer decides in normal mode, or are selected by the user in advanced mode are not acted upon until after the user selects the type of installation. Such questions that come prior to that screen are simple gathering data for the installation. This includes advanced mode questions like “Overwrite MBR”, “Setting an Active Partition” and others. Since every screen which can result in changes to the system default to “Exit to DOS”, changing the default option on the Welcome + Warning screen is redundant. Although changing the default on this screen will not actually change the possibility of “just pressing enter” resulting hard disk changes, it will not hurt and the behavior will be more consistent with other screens that provide the “exit to DOS” option.
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