Running DOS Program under Win 2000

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Running DOS Program under Win 2000

I have a MS-DOS based program running successfully in Windows 98 with the following config.sys file:

Device=C:Windowshimem.sys
Device=C:Windowsemm386.exe ram
Dos=high,umb
Files=50
Buffers=32

I

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Hi John,

I don’t think a second-grader would know what DOS is, so I’ll just explain it without Geek-speak. Deal?

To configure the DOS environment in Windows 2000, you will need to modify two files. Both are located in C:WINNTsystem32 (or wherever you installed Win2k, the system32 directory is what you want). The files are:

• AUTOEXEC.NT
• CONFIG.NT[/list]These files will set global values for any command prompt session – a DOS box that is – and if you need to change them in the future for a different program, you can do that wihtout disrupting the global settings you create in these two files. I’m not going to go into unnecessary detail on that process because it’s irrelevant right now, but open these two files and take a look. Each has documentation inside of it that explains how they work with DOS programs.

  Hope that helps.

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Hi Mark

That is what I was looking for.

Can you point me to articles that discuss DOS under W2k based on my config.sys needs (readers digest version)

Thanks,

PS: Does DOS under Windows Millennium work similar or is this a question for a different board?

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The best thing I can point you to online is . I strongly recommend grabbing a book on Windows 2000 scripting or some such – I have on my desk the Windows NT Scripting Administrator’s Guide, which is more than I need (it explains the WSH – Windows Scripting Host for example), which I use as a reference for DOS-based applications. There are several at any given bookstore. This book at Amazon looks like an excellent choice too – I think I need to get the boss to pony up for it.

DOS support under Windows NT/2000/XP is not truly DOS, and any program that attempts to access the hardware directly – old DOS programs did this regularly – will get slapped down by the command interpreter. This is one of the reasons NT-based operating systems are more stable.

Lastly, DOS support under Windows ME is, as far as I have seen, full compatible with all previous Win9x versions, meaning that you should be able to do what you want wihtout big modofications. The difference with ME is that you cannot boot to DOS any longer, but once in Windows you can run a DOS program inside of a window. (tip – for seeing DOS programs full screen, press Alt+Enter – all versions of Windows). Specific questions on ME DOS should be posted on the WinME board.

Hope that helps…..cheers!

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Can I quickly butt in with a small question ? – it may just be related to the current topic.

How can I run batch files without them popping up DOS windows?

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Yikes, I don’t know of any way to do it unless you call it from a program, and the program itself runs the instance hidden. You could use a little tray app like Hide Windows and tell it to make CMD.EXE invisible, but I think there that the window title has to be consistent….? I found and there is also a GUI version.

If you used this, and put the TITLE command in your batch file, you could control its consistency….

TITLE HideMePlease
@ECHO You will not see this message

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Thanks Mark – I’ll look into it….

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Hi Leif
Before logging off (in 98SE, 2kP and XP) I clear files out of the the appropriate Temp folder, using a batch program. No Window pops up. This may be down to one of two things:

a. for the Del command within the batch file, I use the /q switch.

b. to make the batch file run, I use a cmd.exe shortcut, with the /k switch in the command line followed by the path name of the batch file.

You might like to investigate which works for you.

Rgds

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MerC,
Could you expand on solution b, please?

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Sure : drag cmd.exe to the Dtop and make it produce a shortcut.
Click properties and on the Target line there should be something like :
H:WINNTsystem32cmd.exe

on the end of this type a space then :

/k C:BatchESC5.bat
(where the path is to the batch file you want to Run.)

For even more detail, have a look on my website at Autoclean Temp Files (from the Index). This gives the method for three different Windows versions.

Cheers

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Thanks, not having much success yet, but it has given me some ideas……

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The following simple solution won’t completely hide the batch file but will make it unobtrusive.

Create a shortcut to the .bat file. Right click on the shortcut and select properties. On the Shortcut tab there will be an option to select the type of window. Select Minimized and, while an entry will appear on the task bar, no window will pop up.

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Thanks for that, but….
The batch file is triggered by an incoming email (actually about 15) using ExLife. This simply runs a command line so I need to add a switch or something.
It’s not the end of the world, only ocurring once a day at 6:00am. Trouble being that the windows grab focus before the cafeine has got to work…..

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Hi Mark

I copied both config.nt & autoexec.nt to config.nbs & autoexec.nbs.

Added EMM = RAM to config, pointed shortcut pif to the .nbs files and my app still dosen’t see the additional memory.

When I click the shortcut I see the following flash by quickley:

Out of Enviornment Space
File not found
File not found

Then my app loads OK, however not enought memory to operate correctly.

Any clues?

John

PS: When I tried to edit the *.nt files directly, they were read only.

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