Running DOS programs in Windows XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Phill Black
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Phill Black

Basically my problem is that I'm trying to run an old DOS
program (Frontier Elite 2) in Windows XP on my Toshiba
Satellite 2435 laptop, but with no luck. The error
message I get reads:

Unable to run Frontier- no expanded memory (EMS) driver
installed. Frontier requires 768k of expanded memory, and
an EMS driver installed.

Please consult.....etc

I've had a look on the internet for fixes and this
suggested tinkering with the CONNFIG.NT and AUTOEXEC.NT
files (to free up base memory) which I've done with no
success, but I think my problem runs deeper than this.

Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do or how I
enable EMS support?

Thanks.

phill
 
You can sometimes get DOS programs to run by using the DOS
compatability mode, but if that fails to work, you can use a DOS
emulator, such as DOSbox....

http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/information.php

When downloading an emulator, make sure you choose the download
for windows. You also may want to download the front-end for windows
from that same site, to enable a GUI for DOSbox (Graphical User
Interface) so the emulator will have a "windows" look and feel....

Emulators will usually slow down the program running in them, but this
should not be a problem, as most DOS programs were written to be
run on significantly slower computers than most of us presently use.

hth,
JM
 
Phill said:
Basically my problem is that I'm trying to run an old DOS
program (Frontier Elite 2) in Windows XP on my Toshiba
Satellite 2435 laptop, but with no luck. The error
message I get reads:

Unable to run Frontier- no expanded memory (EMS) driver
installed. Frontier requires 768k of expanded memory, and
an EMS driver installed.
Click to expand...

For best DOS conventional memory, and EMS support, edit the
windows\system32\config.nt and autoexec.nt files.

In config.nt have (apart from the large number of REM lines) just
EMM = B=4000 RAM
(note the exact spaces - either side of the first = and before RAM,
none next to the second =) and

dos=high, umb
device=%SystemRoot%\system32\himem.sys
files=40
(or higher files= if needed)

and in autoexec.nt have

REM Install DPMI support
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\dosx

with other earlier lh lines REM ed out, and then any SET or PATH lines
that may already be present at the end.

This should give about 612K for a program, run from a shortcut made to
its .exe file. R-click the shortcut, Properties and on the Memory page
you can set an explicit value - rather than Auto - for any EMM or XMS
memory it may need, and for initial environment space
 
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