Did you ever wonder why Windows ME, which is based on the Windows 9x kernel, can't access Real DOS-Mode? Did you think that Windows ME architecture doesn't allow it?

Well, it seems that Microsoft simply decided to hide this option in Windows ME, for some unknown reason...

This patch will modify IO.SYS, COMMAND.COM and REGENV32.EXE in order to unhide the Real DOS-Mode on Windows ME systems, resulting in a similar boot process to the one available in Windows 9x. This will allow, for example, to reach DOS directly by pressing Shift-F8 at boot-up, to use CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT before Windows loads, and to set up a startup menu.

This patch was tested only with the final release of Win ME (build 4.90.3000). It might be compatible with other (future or previous) builds as well.