The Hacker's Encyclopedia 1998

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----------- SYSINI2.TXT ----------- NOTE: This is the second of three files containing information about the SYSTEM.INI file. For general information about SYSTEM.INI and the listings in this file, read the introductory material in the SYSINI.TXT file. WARNING: If you change a setting incorrectly in SYSTEM.INI, you might disable your system. Before changing any setting, read "Changing Settings" in the SYSINI.TXT file. ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ [386ENH] SECTION The [386Enh] section contains information specific to running Windows in 386 enhanced mode, including information used for virtual-memory page swapping. The [386Enh] section can contain the following settings: ------------------------------------------------------------ AllVMsExclusive=<Boolean> Default: false Purpose: If enabled, this setting forces all applications to run in exclusive full-screen mode, overriding all contrary settings in the applications' program information files (PIFs). Enabling this setting might prolong the length of the Windows session when you are running network and memory- resident software that is incompatible with Windows. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ AltKeyDelay=<seconds> Default: .005 Purpose: Specifies how much time Windows waits to process a keyboard interrupt after it processes an ALT interrupt. Some applications expect a slower processing rate than Windows in 386 enhanced mode normally uses. Increase this value if such an application has trouble handling the ALT key. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ AltPasteDelay=<seconds> Default: .025 Purpose: Specifies how much time Windows waits before pasting any characters after the ALT key has been pasted. Some applications may require more time for recognition of the ALT keystroke. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ CGA40WOA.FON=<filename> Default: none Purpose: Specifies the filename of the fixed-pitch display font used for non-Windows applications with a display of 40 columns and 25 or fewer lines. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ CGA80WOA.FON=<filename> Default: none Purpose: Specifies the filename of the fixed-pitch display font used for non-Windows applications with a display of 80 columns and 25 or fewer lines. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ CGANoSnow=<Boolean> Default: no Purpose: If enabled, causes Windows to do special handling to avoid snow appearing on an IBM CGA display device. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ COM1AutoAssign=<seconds> COM2AutoAssign=<seconds> COM3AutoAssign=<seconds> COM4AutoAssign=<seconds> Default: 2 Purpose: Indicate the contention detection values for each connected communications port. These values are used by Windows to determine how to arbitrate requests for the use of a device by more than one application, at least one of which is a non- Windows application. If the value is -1, Windows will display a warning message that asks you which application should be given control of the port. If the value is zero, any application can use the device at any time. If the value is a positive integer less than 1,000, this value represents the number of seconds after an application stops using the device before another application can use the same device. To change: Choose the 386 Enhanced icon from the Control Panel window. ------------------------------------------------------------ COM1Base=<port> COM2Base=<port> COM3Base=<port> COM4Base=<port> Default: COM1Base=3F8h; COM2Base=2F8h; COM3Base=2E8h; COM4Base=2E0h Purpose: Specifies the base (first) port for the serial port adapter you are using. Check you hardware documentation for the appropriate value. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ COMBoostTime=<milliseconds> Default: 2 Purpose: Specifies the amount of time (in milliseconds) to allow a virtual machine to process a COM interrupt. If a communications application is losing keyboard characters on the display, you can try increasing this value. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ COM1Buffer=<characters> COM2Buffer=<characters> COM3Buffer=<characters> COM4Buffer=<characters> Default: 128 Purpose: Specifies the number of characters that will be buffered by the device on the corresponding communications port. Before changing one of these settings, make sure the corresponding COMxProtocol setting has the proper value. Buffering may slow down communications on a port, but might be necessary to prevent some communications applications from losing characters at high baud rates. The size of the buffer required will depend on the speed of the machine and the application's needs. Before increasing this value, see the COMxProtocol setting. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ COM1Irq=<number> COM2Irq=<number> COM3Irq=<number> COM4Irq=<number> Default: COM1Irq=4; COM2Irq=3; COM3Irq=4; COM4Irq=3 Purpose: Specifies which interrupt line is being used by the device on the specified communications port. Check your hardware documentation for the appropriate value. Setting a value to -1 disables input for that COM port. You would do this only if there is a hardware conflict between ports. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ COMIrqSharing=<Boolean> Default: true for Micro Channel (TM) and EISA machines; false for all other machines Purpose: Specifies whether COM IRQs will be sharable between mulitiple communications ports or with other devices. Enable this switch if your machine uses the same interrupt for COM3 or COM4 as it does for COM1 or COM2. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ COM1Protocol=<XOFF-or-blank> COM2Protocol=<XOFF-or-blank> COM3Protocol=<XOFF-or-blank> COM4Protocol=<XOFF-or-blank> Default: (Default is no entry, which is the same as any entry other than XOFF) Purpose: Specifies whether Windows in 386 enhanced mode should stop simulating characters into a virtual machine after the virtual machine sends an XOFF character. Set the value for a port to XOFF if a communications application using that port is losing characters while doing text transfers at high baud rates. Windows will resume simulating characters when the virtual machine sends another character after the XOFF character. Leave this setting disabled if the application is doing binary data transfers; enabling this switch might suspend binary transmissions. Windows will not check for XOFF characters if this setting is blank or set to anything other than XOFF. If the application continues to lose characters after this setting is properly set, try increasing the corresponding COMxBuffer value. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ Device=<filename-or-*devicename> Default: none (Setup assigns appropriate values based on your system configuration.) Purpose: Specifies which virtual devices are being used with Windows in 386 enhanced mode. This value can appear in two ways: either the name of a specific virtual device file, or an asterisk (*) followed immediately by the device name. The latter case refers to a virtual device that is in the WIN386.EXE file. Synonyms for Device= are Display=, EBIOS=, Keyboard=, Network=, and Mouse=. Filenames usually include the .386 extension. Multiple device lines are required to run Windows in 386 enhanced mode. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ Display=<filename-or-*devicename> (See "Device=", above) Default: none (Setup assigns an appropriate value based on your system configuration.) Purpose: Specifies the display device that is being used with Windows in 386 enhanced mode. This setting is a synonym for Device=. To change: Choose the Windows Setup icon from the Main Group window. ------------------------------------------------------------ DMABufferIn1MB=<Boolean> Default: no Purpose: Indicates, if enabled, that the direct memory access (DMA) buffer memory should be in the first 1MB of memory (above 640K, if possible) in order to be compatible with 8-bit bus master cards. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ DMABufferSize=<kilobytes> Default: 16 Purpose: Specifies the amount of memory (in kilobytes) to be reserved for buffered direct memory access (DMA). This memory will be allocated above 640K, if possible. Windows in 386 enhanced mode will default to a DMA buffer size that will handle disk access. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ DualDisplay=<Boolean> Default: See "Purpose." Purpose: Normally, when running in 386 enhanced mode, the memory between B000:0000 and B7FF:000F will be used by the general system unless a secondary display is detected. If this setting is enabled, this memory will be left unused and available for display adapters. If this setting is disabled, the address range will be available on EGA systems but not under VGA systems, since the VGA display device supports monochrome modes, which use this address space. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ EBIOS=<filename-or-*devicename> (See "Device=", above) Default: none (Setup assigns an appropriate value based on your system configuration.) Purpose: Specifies the extended BIOS device that is being used with Windows in 386 enhanced mode. This setting is a synonym for Device=. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ EGA40WOA.FON=<filename> Default: none Purpose: Specifies the filename of the fixed-pitch display font used for non-Windows applications with a display of 40 columns and more than 25 lines. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ EGA80WOA.FON=<filename> Default: none Purpose: Specifies the filename of the fixed-pitch display font used for non-Windows applications with a display of 80 columns and more than 25 lines. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ EISADMA=<Boolean> or <channel>,<size> Default: 0,8; 1,8; 2,8; 3,8; 5,16w; 6,16w; 7,16w (Each pair goes with its own EISADMA setting.) Purpose: Specifies the mode of operation of an extended DMA channel for Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) machines only. This setting's value can take one of two forms. If you disable this setting, Windows will treat the machine as non-EISA, therefore avoiding all EISA- related logic. You can try disabling this switch if you cannot run Windows in 386 enhanced mode on your EISA machine. If you are using an EISA machine, you can specify the default transfer size for one or more DMA channels. The channels can operate in the following modes: 8-bit (8), 16-bit specified in words (16w), 16-bit specified in bytes (16b), or 32-bit (32). If you are not using an EISA machine, Windows will ignore this setting. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ EMMExclude=<paragraph-range> Default: none Purpose: Specifies a range of memory that Windows will not scan to find unused address space. This has the side effect of turning off the RAM and ROM search code for the range. The range (two paragraph values separated by a hyphen) must be between A000 and EFFF. This scanning can interfere with some adapters that use the same memory area. The starting value is rounded down and the ending value is rounded up to a multiple of 16K. For example, you could set EMMExclude=C800-CFFF to prevent Windows from scanning the addresses C800:0000 through CFFF:000F. You can specify more than one range by including more than one EMMExclude line. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ EMMInclude=<paragraph-range> Default: none Purpose: Specifies a range of memory that Windows will scan for unused address space regardless of what may be there. EMMInclude takes precedence over EMMExclude if you specify ranges that overlap. The range (two values separated by a hyphen) must be between A000 and EFFF. The starting value is rounded down and the ending value is rounded up to a multiple of 16K. For example, you could set EMMInclude=C800-CFFF to ensure that Windows scans the addresses C800:0000 through CFFF:000F. You may specify more than one range by including more than one EMMInclude line. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ EMMPageFrame=<paragraph> Default: none Purpose: Specifies the starting paragraph where the 64K page frame will begin when Windows in 386 enhanced mode cannot find a suitable page frame. Allows an EMM page frame in an area containing some unused RAM or ROM. For example, you could set EMMPageFrame=C400 to start the page frame at C400:0000. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ EMMSize=<kilobytes> Default: 65,536 Purpose: Specifies the total amount of memory to be made available for mapping as expanded memory. The default allocates the maximum possible amount of system memory as expanded memory. You should specify a value for this setting if you run an application that allocates all of the available expanded memory. This will be apparent if, when you run the application, you can never create any new virtual machine. If this value is zero, then no expanded memory will be allocated, but the EMM driver will be loaded. This setting does not prevent the EMM driver from being loaded; use the NoEMMDriver to disable EMM. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ FileSysChange=<Boolean> Default: on (But in a standard SYSTEM.INI file, Setup will set FileSysChange=off, disabling this setting.) Purpose: Indicates whether File Manager will automatically receive messages any time a non-Windows application creates, renames, or deletes a file. When this setting is disabled, a virtual machine can be run exclusively even when it manipulates files. Enabling this setting can slow down system performance significantly. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ Global=<device-name> Default: (all devices) Purpose: Defines DOS devices loaded in CONFIG.SYS that need to be global to the system. The default setting for all devices is global. But certain virtual devices might specify that a DOS device be local (for example, MS$MOUSE). Use this setting to override that local specification. The <device-name> value must exactly match the case of the device name, or this setting will not work. (Most device names are in all captial letters, therefore this value must usually be in all caps.) To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ HighFloppyReads=<Boolean> Default: yes Purpose: Normally, Windows turns a DMA verify to the area E000:0000-EFFF:000F into a read in order to work around problems with certain machines. In rare cases, this might cause the system to fail because some software might, as a result, write over the system's shadow RAM if you have it in this area. If this happens, disable this setting and set EMMExclude to E000-EFFF. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ IgnoreInstalledEMM=<Boolean> Default: no Purpose: If enabled, this setting allows Windows to start in 386 enhanced mode even when there is an unknown expanded memory manager (EMM) running. This can cause the system to fail if memory- resident software was using EMM before Windows started. Enable this setting only if no such software is installed or you are sure it will not be active when you are running Windows. This setting applies only to expanded memory managers servicing physical EMS hardware; Windows will not disable unrecognized 80386 expanded memory emulators. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ InDOSPolling=<Boolean> Default: no Purpose: If enabled, prevents Windows from running other applications when memory-resident software has the InDOS flag set. Enabling this setting is necessary if the memory-resident software needs to be in a critical section to do operations off an INT21 hook. Enabling this setting will slow down system performance slightly. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ INT28Critical=<Boolean> Default: true Purpose: Specifies whether a critical section is needed to handle INT28h interrupts used by memory-resident software. Some network virtual devices do internal task switching on INT28h interrupts. These interrupts might hang some network software, indicating the need for an INT28h critical section. If you are not using such software, you might improve Windows' task switching by disabling this setting. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ IRQ9Global=<Boolean> Default: no Purpose: If enabled, converts IRQ9 masks to global. Enable this setting if your system hangs when your system touches a floppy drive. Or make sure your system touches the floppy drive before starting Windows. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ NOTE: See the SYSINI3.TXT file for the remainder of the [386Enh] section listings. ---------- Micro Channel is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.