Installing MS-DOS on 2nd Partition

Do you want MSDos, or just a command prompt?  It is almost impossible to put MSDos on a second partition since when seting up a multi boot system the older OS needs to be installed first.  Otherwise there are all sorts of file system conflicts.  Simply put MSDOS cannot read the same FAT32 filesystem that XP reads.
The bet you can do is install a second copy of y our OS on the second partition and then in the boot.ini configure the OS as /safeboot /nogui to boot directly to a command prompt.

I hope this helpd

I already have the Ghost on bootable cd solution figured out.  Point is that I don't have to carry discs with me in the event I need to restore.  I think GeoffSutton is understanding my dilema a little more in that all I need to execute the "ghost.exe" command is a command line or some version of DOS.  The only problem I have with a second copy of the OS is that 1.) I'm not sure how that is viewed by MS in terms of licensing, and 2.) in addition to the 6GB ghost image I then have another 2-4GB in OS files.
Right now I'm attempting the install of Windows PE 2.0.  Haven't quite got it figured out but I think I'm close anyhow.  I definitely appreciate any other type of brainstorming.

see

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2014359,00.asp

http://www.tech-forums.net/computer_articles/restore/restore-disk.php
and

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Storage/Backup_Restore/Backup_Exec/Q_22496021.html


You can also simply use the Ghosy CD to have the program available, and store the image on a separate partition.

I normally have an OS partition ( or more than 1 ), a dATA partition, and a restore partition with ghost images of the other partitions.

some cosmetic arrangement
a better menu.lst only the right choice and 3 seconds delay
# menu.lst
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
timeout 3
title Find and load IO.SYS of Dos 7.0 or win9x
find --set-root /io.sys
chainloader /io.sys
#end menu.lst

As for licensing, technically MS demands a seperate license for every installation of the OS.  In real world terms though, unless you install several thousand copies of it, or try to make money off it, they are not going to bother you.  Did you have any luck getting the Command prompt only, or at least getting the second OS installed?
Reading over this question after so long a couple of additional thoughts have occurred to me:  If you configure your registry correctly you can use the recovery console as a bootable restore partition, and use it to execute *some* batch commands (it has a command, batch, which allows you to use txt files as batch files).  You have to give permissions outside of the windows folder and also give execute other program permissions:  I am not certain how far you can go with, but it is worth experimenting with.  Also, recovery console can be easily installed to the hard drive using the winnt32.exe application in the i386 folder.  Just add the /cmdcons switch from the command line and it will install it.  This may not be an ideal solution (or even a workable option) for you but will certainly give you more options to work with without changing your system architecture as you are proposing.  
This page will give you some ideas of what is available to you, and how to set permissions: http://commandwindows.com/recovery.htm
Hope this isn't too late, and that it does give you some idea.

Geoff

Thank you all for your responses and sorry I haven't been as responsive.  I've actually gone the Grub4Dos route in conjunction with BartPE.  Works pretty well.  Ideally I would have had Norton Ghost 8 so I could have used the plugin available in PE Builder. Ghost 2003 does not have a 32bit executable that I can use in BartPE.  For now though, I'm looking and playing with Macrium restore utility and have had some luck.  Canali has some good ideas about how to install DOS using Grub and I'll likely give that a whirl.  Some of you missed the point of me not wanting to carry a ghost disk with me but thank you anyway for your ideas.