MS DOS Conventional Memory

[Guest]

I am calling an MS DOS database application through a shortcut on the desktop
in Vista. I get "Insufficient Conventional Memory" errors. Changing the
memory parameters in the shortcut properties has no effect. Also, I changed
the program icon in the shortcut parameters but it was not changed on the
general tab of the properties menu or on the desktop. None of these problems
occur in any version of XP. It appears that the .pif settings of the
shortcut are not being applied to the application. Anybody got any
suggestions or workarounds?

 

[JW]

AFAIK Vista does not support any MD DOS applications like XP did.

 

[Guest]

The application works OK until it tries to do a sort which requires more
Conventional Memory. That's when it fails. The shortcut properties menu
looks the same as in XP but does not seem to have any effect.

 

[JW]

Did you install the app and are you running the app in XP compatibility
mode?

 

[Tom Lake]

AFAIK Vista does not support any MD DOS applications like XP did.

Vista 64 doesn't but Vista 32 does if you run in a window rather than full
screen.

Tom Lake

 

[Darrell Gorter[MSFT]]

Hello,
In the elevated Command.com prompt run mem /c to display memory usage.
Note we load items in config.nt and autoexec.nt located in
\windows\system32 folder.
I show 577k free.
I also show a mouse driver loading which could free up 12k and a REDIR
which could free another 2K
DOSX takes 34k but that is for DPMI which may be needed.
62065 DPMI Specification Available from Intel
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;62065


Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
--------------------
|>Thread-Topic: MS DOS Conventional Memory
|>thread-index: Acd3yh/VePGNamiQTvqrS4IaXYvr1Q==
|>X-WBNR-Posting-Host: 24.61.211.235
|>From: =?Utf-8?B?VHJ1ZXN5?= <[email protected]>
|>References: <[email protected]>
<#zDKv#[email protected]>
|>Subject: Re: MS DOS Conventional Memory
|>Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 14:34:00 -0700
|>Lines: 24
|>Message-ID: <[email protected]>
|>MIME-Version: 1.0
|>Content-Type: text/plain;
|> charset="Utf-8"
|>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
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|>Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup
|>Path: TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl
|>Xref: TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl
microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup:14657
|>NNTP-Posting-Host: tk2msftsbfm01.phx.gbl 10.40.244.148
|>X-Tomcat-NG: microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup
|>
|>The application works OK until it tries to do a sort which requires more
|>Conventional Memory. That's when it fails. The shortcut properties menu
|>looks the same as in XP but does not seem to have any effect.
|>
|>"JW" wrote:
|>
|>> AFAIK Vista does not support any MD DOS applications like XP did.
|>>
|>> |>> >I am calling an MS DOS database application through a shortcut on the
|>> >desktop
|>> > in Vista. I get "Insufficient Conventional Memory" errors. Changing
the
|>> > memory parameters in the shortcut properties has no effect. Also, I
|>> > changed
|>> > the program icon in the shortcut parameters but it was not changed on
the
|>> > general tab of the properties menu or on the desktop. None of these
|>> > problems
|>> > occur in any version of XP. It appears that the .pif settings of the
|>> > shortcut are not being applied to the application. Anybody got any
|>> > suggestions or workarounds?
|>>
|>>
|>>
|>

 

[Guest]

Darell pointed me in the right direction. I REM'd out the CD ROM extensions,
the network redirector and the DPMI support in windows/system32/autoexec.nt.
I also disabled the sound blaster. That freed up enough memory to get things
working with no ill effects. Thanks

Hello,
In the elevated Command.com prompt run mem /c to display memory usage.
Note we load items in config.nt and autoexec.nt located in
\windows\system32 folder.
I show 577k free.
I also show a mouse driver loading which could free up 12k and a REDIR
which could free another 2K
DOSX takes 34k but that is for DPMI which may be needed.
62065 DPMI Specification Available from Intel
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;62065


Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
--------------------
|>Thread-Topic: MS DOS Conventional Memory
|>thread-index: Acd3yh/VePGNamiQTvqrS4IaXYvr1Q==
|>X-WBNR-Posting-Host: 24.61.211.235
|>From: =?Utf-8?B?VHJ1ZXN5?= <[email protected]>
|>References: <[email protected]>
<#zDKv#[email protected]>
|>Subject: Re: MS DOS Conventional Memory
|>Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 14:34:00 -0700
|>Lines: 24
|>Message-ID: <[email protected]>
|>MIME-Version: 1.0
|>Content-Type: text/plain;
|> charset="Utf-8"
|>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
|>X-Newsreader: Microsoft CDO for Windows 2000
|>Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message
|>Importance: normal
|>Priority: normal
|>X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.3790.2757
|>Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup
|>Path: TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl
|>Xref: TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl
microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup:14657
|>NNTP-Posting-Host: tk2msftsbfm01.phx.gbl 10.40.244.148
|>X-Tomcat-NG: microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup
|>
|>The application works OK until it tries to do a sort which requires more
|>Conventional Memory. That's when it fails. The shortcut properties menu
|>looks the same as in XP but does not seem to have any effect.
|>
|>"JW" wrote:
|>
|>> AFAIK Vista does not support any MD DOS applications like XP did.
|>>
|>> |>> >I am calling an MS DOS database application through a shortcut on the
|>> >desktop
|>> > in Vista. I get "Insufficient Conventional Memory" errors. Changing
the
|>> > memory parameters in the shortcut properties has no effect. Also, I
|>> > changed
|>> > the program icon in the shortcut parameters but it was not changed on
the
|>> > general tab of the properties menu or on the desktop. None of these
|>> > problems
|>> > occur in any version of XP. It appears that the .pif settings of the
|>> > shortcut are not being applied to the application. Anybody got any
|>> > suggestions or workarounds?
|>>
|>>
|>>
|>

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

In the elevated Command.com prompt run mem /c to display memory usage.
Note we load items in config.nt and autoexec.nt located in
\windows\system32 folder.
I show 577k free.
I also show a mouse driver loading which could free up 12k and a REDIR
which could free another 2K
DOSX takes 34k but that is for DPMI which may be needed.
62065 DPMI Specification Available from Intel
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;62065

Just a FYI from the XP (and earlier) days; I often find the Auto
allocation of environment space (for Set variable strings) is often
not enough, causing CLI parameters to be truncated, e.g.

HD-Back.bat D: \DATA F: \BACKUP DATA

....may become...

HD-Back.bat D: \DATA F: \BAC

....probably due to bloated strings from Java and some development
tools that use up the default space.

In such cases, setting Environment to 2048 (k) fixes the problem.

Mind you, this has been SOP for me for a while now; I haven't
re-tested in Vista to see if the need still applies.

This batch file should be useful there:

@Echo Off
Echo.
Echo %0 parameters:
Echo.
If "%*"=="" GoTo NoMore
Echo %*
Echo.
:More
If "%1"=="" GoTo NoMore
Echo %1
Echo.
Shift
GoTo More
:NoMore
Pause