Thanks. These answers make me so happy!
I remember when DOS was a new thing.
Yeah, sure, I could do it. In fact, back in my temping days in the 1990’s I had an assignment which pretty much WAS that, using DOS to pull old shit off old computers and transfer it to newer models.
Sure. I still use command line once in a while.
yeah, I’m old enough where I remember plenty about DOS. although in recent years I’ve used the command line far more on Linux, so when I pop open a CMD session in Windows it takes a minute before I stop trying to use “ls.”
I’d know to start with DIR and that I’d need to COPY; it would just take me a few tries to remember the exact syntax. I’d have it before too long.
format C: and “I quit.”
TREE, isn’t it?
Yes, I can. Of course, at first I’ll be typing “find” and “ls”, but then I’ll get over my momentary confusion and remember I have to use the ass-backwards slashes as well.
Mac user here, used other folks’ PCs occasionally and have had PC operating systems in emulation to play with, but never owned a PC.
All you have to do is locate a folder called "SOMEOLDSHIT,"
No idea how to locate a folder by name using DOS commands
open it
Not even sure what it means to “open” a folder from a command line ?!??
find a file called "OLDFILE,"
just as I don’t know how to find folders by name from a DOS command line, I don’t know how to find files either; I assume it would be a similar command, but not always; I recall that copying a folder isn’t the same as copying a file, for instance
and copy it onto a disk
Finally 
Yeah I can copy a file from a DOS command line. I might get it wrong the first time (I’m more often on a Unix command line due to MacOS X; one of “copy” the other is “cp”)
** “Knock only when you’re finished.”**
I sure as hell don’t know how to issue a DOS command that will knock on the boss’ door 
Yeah, it’s been mumbly-odd years since I last used the command prompt on anything approaching a regular basis. I might be able to figure it out, but my first thought was the same as Inner Stickler’s: Step one, Google it.
I gather you’re talking about typical user tasks, not sysadmin stuff or whathaveyou. If so, can you give me a ferinstance of a task that’s harder/impossible with the GUI? (I did Google it, but initial hits just say things like “There are some things you can do with the command line that you can’t do with a GUI.” Yes. Like…?)
How much time do I have? Cause I could use a nap after that grueling minute. 
Since a working computer with a floppy drive is provided for in the OP, there aren’t any further problems for me. Otherwise, I’d have to fine some computer museum.
I miss DOS. Especially version 3.3, which IIRC was still compact enough to fit on one (or was it two?) disks.
I don’t think it would take me any longer to find and copy the file at a command line than it would with a GUI.
The only difficulty I’d have is that I always mix up UNIX and DOS commands. So I’ll probably type ls before I remember that dir is what I want. Fortunately, there’s plenty of overlap, and I do know all the basics for both systems.
Oh, man, UNIX. If you’d asked me to perform a similar very basic task in UNIX, I might’ve been screwed.
The eight-year-old Torqueling was trying to install something from a CD the other day. She said, “All that comes up is a frowny face.” So I put the disc in, and I wait, and it mounts on the desktop as D:. “See?” she said, pointing to the D:, “frowny face.”
I had to explain that D: was a drive letter before it was a frowny face.
Interesting – drive letters aren’t obsolete.
Everyone who thinks they’d never be able to do it–did you know that if you typed “help” you’d get a spew of commands you could use? And if typed “help copy” you’d get help about usage of the copy function? And if you looked over the first help spew carefully you’d notice something called DIR, and if you typed “help dir” you’d get a spew of dir usage?
I think after a while you’d probably type “help”, even if you didn’t know that there was such a thing as help. And when you saw the spew you’d realize that while you didn’t know how to do the task you might be able to learn how to do the task from the help spew? Even if it took you a long time to figure it out, I think you could do it before you died of dehydration.
If you really prefer to work with a command line, it’s still there. Just fancier–you can have file and folder names longer than 8 characters now, here in the future.
I use DOS commands on a daily basis, so yes. The long folder or file name may be a minor problem but not a showstopper.
Just sitting here giggling at the number of us that would be apt to type ls instead of dir.