MULTIPLE CONFIGURATION FILES
IMPORTANT!! DO NOT COPY THESE LINES VERBATIM!! THEY ARE SYSTEM / HARDWARE SPECIFIC!! THEY ARE TO BE USED FOR ILLUSTRATION ONLY!!
Here is a sample basic CONFIG.SYS file:

rem -- himem.sys is required by Windows-95
rem -- Windows 98 doesn't need it or config.sys at all
rem -- but if you need MSDOS mode you'll need it anyway
rem -- testmem:off prevents himem from retesting
rem -- memory already tested by the system BIOS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
rem -- allows emm386.exe to be used as expanded/extended
rem -- memory manager and disables expanded memory
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
rem -- allows DOS to reside in 1st block of ext memory
DOS=HIGH
rem -- allows DOS to also occupy upper memory blocks
DOS=UMB
rem -- a device=line such as the following must
rem -- be installed by CDROM driver diskette
rem -- to allow CDROM to work in DOS
DEVICE=C:\CDROM\CDROM.SYS /D:CD001 /UDMA2


Here is a sample starting AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
rem -- disables echoing of commands
@ECHO OFF
rem -- the next 4 lines are added by soundcard
rem -- setup, in this example a SoundBlaster-16
SET CTCM=C:\WINDOWS
SET SOUND=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H1 P330 T6
rem -- allows common DOS commands to be run from
rem -- any directory
PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND
rem -- line placed for joystick software
SET MSINPUT=C:\WINDOWS\MSINPUT

Here is a sample starting DOSSTART.BAT file (in C:\WINDOWS):
rem -- added by soundcard setup to initialize the card
rem -- in MS-DOS mode (this is for SoundBlaster-16)
C:\WINDOWS\CTCM
rem -- Added by CDROM DOS setup to enable DOS
rem -- support but needs to be in DOSSTART.BAT
rem -- so that it is only invoked when the computer
rem -- is restarted in MSDOS mode (you don't want to
rem -- have it active when Windows is in operation
rem -- because it prevents Windows from loading its
rem -- own CDROM drivers which support long filenames
C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:CD001 /L:D /M:32
rem -- similarly the DOS mouse driver is only
rem -- invoked only in MSDOS mode
C:\MOUSE\MOUSE

The first step is to edit the MSDOS.SYS file so that the computer automatically starts in command mode. The second step is to copy the DOSSTART.BAT file onto the end of the AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that MEMMAKER can optimize its contents as well.

For this computer, optimization resulted in the following files:
CONFIG.SYS:
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
BUFFERS=30,0
FILES=30
DOS=UMB
DOS=HIGH
DEVICEHIGH /L:1,24752 =C:\CDROM\CDROM.SYS /D:CD001 /UDMA2

AUTOEXEC.BAT:
@ECHO OFF
SET CTCM=C:\WINDOWS
SET SOUND=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H1 P330 T6
PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND
SET MSINPUT=C:\WINDOWS\MSINPUT
rem -- next 3 lines will eventually be moved
rem -- back to dosstart.bat
C:\WINDOWS\CTCM
rem -- in this instance, reduced CDROM sector buffers from
rem -- /M:32 to /M:16 to gain more conventional memory
LH /L:1,48704 C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:CD001 /L:D /M:16
LH /L:0;1,26272 /S C:\MOUSE\MOUSE

The next step is to carry out MEMMAKER again with the following changes

  • Enable expanded memory
  • Enable use of monochrome region for programs
  • Enable MSCDEX to use expanded memory for sector buffers. Do this by adding a /E parameter to the MSCDEX line in AUTOEXEC.BAT before running MEMMAKER

    • In this case, optimization produced the following:

    CONFIG.SYS
    DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
    rem -- emm386 line modified by memmaker to enable
    rem -- expanded memory and use of monochrome area
    DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM I=B000-B7FF
    BUFFERS=30,0
    FILES=30
    DOS=UMB
    DOS=HIGH
    DEVICEHIGH /L:1,24752 =C:\CDROM\CDROM.SYS /D:CD001 /UDMA2

    AUTOEXEC.BAT
    @ECHO OFF
    SET CTCM=C:\WINDOWS
    SET SOUND=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND
    SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
    SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H1 P330 T6
    PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND
    SET MSINPUT=C:\WINDOWS\MSINPUT
    rem -- dosstart.bat lines
    C:\WINDOWS\CTCM
    rem -- line modified to allow use of expanded
    rem -- memory for sector buffers
    LH /L:2,23680 C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:CD001 /E /L:D /M:32
    LH /L:0;2,26272 /S C:\MOUSE\MOUSE

    Now lets put it all together:

    CONFIG.SYS
    rem -- the following lines specify the menu items
    [menu]
    MENUITEM=std, Most MS-DOS mode games
    MENUITEM=ems, DOS games requiring expanded memory
    rem -- optional line displays menu in yellow type
    rem -- on green background
    MENUCOLOR=14,2
     rem sets default menu option
    MENUDEFAULT=std
    rem -- this section is executed when std
    rem -- configurtation is chosen
    [std]
    DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
    DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
    BUFFERS=30,0
    FILES=30
    DOS=UMB
    DOS=HIGH
    DEVICEHIGH /L:1,24752 =C:\CDROM\CDROM.SYS /D:CD001 /UDMA2
     rem -- this section is executed when ems-enabled
    rem -- configurtation is chosen
    [ems]
    DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
    DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM I=B000-B7FF
    BUFFERS=30,0
    FILES=30
    DOS=UMB
    DOS=HIGH
    DEVICEHIGH /L:1,24752 =C:\CDROM\CDROM.SYS /D:CD001 /UDMA2

    AUTOEXEC.BAT
    @ECHO OFF
    SET CTCM=C:\WINDOWS
    SET SOUND=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND
    SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
    SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H1 P330 T6
    PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND
    SET MSINPUT=C:\WINDOWS\MSINPUT
    rem -- dosstart.bat is in the c:\windows directory
    CD WINDOWS
     rem -- here's where the startup file makes a choice
    goto %config%
    :std
    rem -- overwrites dosstart.bat with dosstart.std
    COPY DOSSTART.STD DOSSTART.BAT
    GOTO end
    :ems
    rem -- overwrites dosstart.bat with dosstart.ems
    COPY DOSSTART.EMS DOSSTART.BAT
    :end


    The following is the DOSSTART.STD file
    rem -- these commands are copied into the dosstart.bat file
    rem -- which is executed when the system starts MSDOS mode
    C:\WINDOWS\CTCM
    LH /L:1,48704 C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:CD001 /L:D /M:16
    LH /L:0;1,26272 /S C:\MOUSE\MOUSE


    The following is the DOSSTART.EMS file
    rem -- these commands are copied into the dosstart.bat file
    rem -- if expanded memory is enabled on system startup
    C:\WINDOWS\CTCM
    LH /L:2,23680 C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:CD001 /E /L:D /M:32
    LH /L:0;2,26272 /S C:\MOUSE\MOUSE

    FINISHING UP

  • Edit your MSDOS.SYS file, taking out any lines relating to BootMenu
  • When Windows restarts, find the MSDOS.SYS file and reset the read-only attribute

    • HOW IT ALL WORKS

  • The CONFIG.SYS file requires the user to tell Windows what startup option it should use
  • Using the labels already defined in CONFIG.SYS, the AUTOEXEC.BAT file decides what information is put into the DOSSTART.BAT file.
  • DOSSTART.BAT is automatically executed if the system is restarted in MSDOS mode.

    • TWO BITS OF CAUTION

  • It might be wise to execute the command MEM once you are in MSDOS mode just to confirm that you actually have the free memory available, because occasionally some Windows programs mess up the upper memory blocks. The cure for this is a system restart followed by immediate shutdown to MSDOS mode.
  • If you start the system with expanded memory enabled, it should be for the express purpose of shutting down to MSDOS mode to run your EMS-hungry DOS application.

    • If you want to increase the stability of Windows or you play DOS games a lot you might want to consider the following option instead