Abort, Retry, Fail?
Microsoft MS-DOS
Severity: ModerateWhat Does This Error Mean?
Abort, Retry, Fail? is MS-DOS asking what to do after a disk read or write error. Press R to Retry (try again), A to Abort (cancel the operation), or F to Fail (tell the program the operation failed so it can handle it).
Affected Models
- MS-DOS 3.x
- MS-DOS 4.x
- MS-DOS 5.x
- MS-DOS 6.x
- PC-DOS
- FreeDOS
- DOSBox
Common Causes
- Floppy disk not in the drive when DOS tried to access it
- Floppy disk damaged, wrong format, or not formatted
- Drive door not fully latched on older 5.25-inch drives
- Hard drive sector error or read failure
- Disk write protected but DOS tried to write to it
How to Fix It
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Press R to Retry after inserting or reseating the disk.
If you forgot to insert a floppy or the disk was not fully seated, insert/reseat it and press R. DOS will try the disk operation again from the beginning.
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Press A to Abort if you want to cancel the entire operation.
Abort stops the current command entirely and returns you to the DOS prompt. Use this when you decide not to proceed with the operation.
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Press F to Fail if you want the calling program to handle the error.
Fail tells the current program that the disk operation failed, letting the program decide what to do next. Some programs handle Fail gracefully; others crash.
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Check the disk format — DOS cannot read disks formatted for different systems.
A disk formatted for Atari ST, Amiga, or Mac gives Abort, Retry, Fail because DOS cannot read its filesystem. Format the disk with DOS before using it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was the prompt changed to Abort, Retry, Ignore in earlier DOS versions?
Very early MS-DOS versions (1.x, 2.x) offered Abort, Retry, Ignore. Ignore was dangerous — it told DOS to pretend the operation succeeded, often causing data corruption. Microsoft replaced Ignore with Fail in DOS 3.3, which at least told the program the truth about the failure.
Is Abort, Retry, Fail the same as Abort, Retry, Ignore?
Almost. Ignore in older DOS versions pretended the error did not happen. Fail in DOS 3.3+ honestly reports the failure to the calling program. Fail is strictly safer than Ignore.