The Hacker's Encyclopedia 1998

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----------- SYSINI3.TXT ----------- NOTE: This is the third 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. ------------------------------------------------------------ Keyboard=<filename-or-*devicename> (See "Device=", above) Default: none (Setup assigns an appropriate value based on your system configuration.) Purpose: Specifies the keyboard driver 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. ------------------------------------------------------------ KeyBoostTime=<seconds> Default: .001 Purpose: Specifies the amount of time (in seconds) an application gets to run with increased priority when it receives a keystroke. You can use this setting to increase the response to keystrokes when several background applications are running. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ KeyBufferDelay=<seconds> Default: .2 Purpose: Specifies the amount of time (in seconds) to delay pasting keyboard input after the keyboard buffer is full. Some applications might require more than .2 seconds. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ----------------------------------------------------------- KeyIdleDelay=<seconds> Default: .5 Purpose: Specifies how much time Windows ignores idle calls after simulating a keystroke into a virtual machine. You can set this value to 0 to speed up keyboard input, but some applications might respond sluggishly if you do. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ KeyPasteDelay=<seconds> Default: .003 Purpose: Specifies how much time (in seconds) to wait before pasting any characters after a key has been pasted. Some applications might require more time than .003 seconds for recognition of a keystroke. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ KeyPasteTimeout=<seconds> Default: 1 Purpose: Specifies how much time (in seconds) to allow an application to make the necessary BIOS calls for reading keyboard input before Windows will change from the fast paste (INT16h) to the slow paste (INT9h) mechanism. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ Local=<device-name> Default: none (In a standard SYSTEM.INI file, Setup will set Local=CON. See "Purpose.") Purpose: Defines MS-DOS device drivers that need to be local to each virtual machine. 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.) If a device driver is local, a separate copy of it will exist in each virtual machine, and each will keep different state information. Most device drivers will not function properly when this setting is used. An exception is CON, the DOS console device, which should be local to avoid filling a buffer with input from multiple virtual machines. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ LPT1AutoAssign=<seconds> LPT2AutoAssign=<seconds> LPT3AutoAssign=<seconds> LPT4AutoAssign=<seconds> Default: 60 Purpose: Indicates the contention detection value for each connected port. Windows uses these values 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 the user which application should be given control of the port. If the value is 0, 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. ------------------------------------------------------------ MapPhysAddress=<range> Default: none Purpose: Specifies the address range (in megabytes) in which the memory manager will preallocate physical page-table entries and linear address space. Use this setting if you are using a DOS device driver (such as an older version of RAMDrive that uses extended memory) that needs this contiguous memory. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ MaxPagingFileSize=<kilobytes> Default: none Purpose: Specifies the maximum size (in kilobytes) for a temporary swap file. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ MinTimeSlice=<milliseconds> Default: 20 Purpose: Specifies the minimum amount of time (in milliseconds) a virtual machine will be allowed to run before other virtual machines can take over. A smaller value (such as 10 milliseconds) will make multitasking appear smoother, but will diminish the overall system performance. To change: Choose the 386 Enhanced icon from the Control Panel window. ------------------------------------------------------------ MinUserDiskSpace=<kilobytes> Default: 500 Purpose: Tells Windows how much disk space (in kilobytes) to leave free when creating a temporary swap file. You would want to use this setting if your system's paging drive has less available space than Windows can use for paging. This setting has no effect if a permanent swap file exists. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ Mouse=<filename-or-*devicename> (See "Device=", above) Default: none (Setup assigns an appropriate value based on your system configuration.) Purpose: Specifies the virtual device that handles the mouse hardware in 386 enhanced mode. This setting is a synonym for Device=. To change: Choose the Windows Setup icon from the Main Group window. ------------------------------------------------------------ MouseSoftInit=<Boolean> Default: true Purpose: Specifies whether Windows should convert INT 33h function 0 hard initialization calls to function 33 soft initialization calls, which do not reset the mouse hardware. Leaving this switch enabled allows you to use a mouse with a non-Windows application that you start in a window. Disable this setting if you are having problems (extraneous display output or a distorted cursor) using the mouse with an application. If you disable this setting, you will not be able to use the mouse with a non-Windows application that you start in a window. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ NetAsynchFallback=<Boolean> Default: false Purpose: If enabled, tells Windows to attempt to save a failing NetBIOS request. When an application issues an asynchronous NetBIOS request, Windows will attempt to allocate space in its global network buffer to receive the data. If there is insufficient space in the global buffer, Windows will normally fail the NetBIOS request. If this setting is enabled, Windows will attempt to save such a request by allocating a buffer in local memory and preventing any other virtual machines from running until the data is received and the timeout period (specified by the NetAsynchTimeout setting) expires. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ NetAsynchTimeout=<seconds> Default: 5.0 Purpose: Specifies the timeout period (in seconds) when Windows needs to enter a critical section in order to service an asynchronous NetBIOS request. It is used only when NetAsynchFallback is enabled. This value can include a decimal (such as 0.5). To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ NetDMASize=<kilobytes> Default: 32 on Micro Channel (TM) machines 0 on non-Micro Channel machines Purpose: Specifies the DMA buffer size (in kilobytes) for NetBIOS transport software if a network has been installed. In this case, the buffer size is the larger value between this value and the value of DMABufferSize. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ NetHeapSize=<kilobytes> Default: 12 Purpose: Specifies the size (in kilobytes) of the buffers that Windows in 386 enhanced mode allocates in conventional memory for transferring data over a network. All values are rounded up to the nearest 4K. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ Network=<filename-or-*devicename> (See "Device=", above) Default: none (Setup assigns an appropriate value based on your system configuration.) Purpose: Specifies the type of network you are using 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. ------------------------------------------------------------ NMIReboot=<Boolean> Default: no Purpose: If enabled, causes a reboot to occur when a nonmaskable interrupt is received. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ NoEMMDriver=<Boolean> Default: false Purpose: If enabled, prevents Windows in 386 enhanced mode from installing its expanded memory driver. This differs from setting EMMSize to zero, which does not prevent the EMM driver from being loaded. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ Paging=<Boolean> Default: yes Purpose: Enables or disables demand paging (virtual memory). You would disable this setting only if you need the disk space normally used for a temporary swap file. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ PagingDrive=<drive-letter> Default: none Purpose: Specifies the disk drive where Windows in 386 enhanced mode will allocate a temporary swap file. This setting is ignored if you have a permanent swap file. If you don't have a permanent swap file and no drive is specified or the specified drive does not exist, Windows will attempt to put your temporary swap file on the drive containing your SYSTEM.INI file. If the specified drive is full, paging will be disabled. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ PerVMFILES=<number> Default: 10 Purpose: Specifies the number of private file handles Windows should allocate to each virtual machine. Increase this value if an application does not have enough file handles to run. The total number of file handles, including the global handles specified in the FILES= statement in CONFIG.SYS, cannot exceed 255. If it does exceed 255, this value will be rounded down. Set this value to 0 to prevent the allocation of any private file handles. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ PSPIncrement=<number> Default: 2 Purpose: Specifies the amount of additional memory, in 16-byte increments, that Windows should reserve in each successive virtual machine when the UniqueDOSPSP setting is enabled. The setting that will work best for your machine might vary depending on your memory configuration and the applications you are running. Valid values are 2 through 64. See UniqueDosPSP for more information. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ ReflectDosInt2A=<Boolean> Default: false Purpose: Indicates whether Windows should consume or reflect DOS INT 2A signals. The default means Windows will consume these signals and therefore run more efficiently. Enable this setting if you are running memory-resident software that relies on detecting INT2A messages. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ ReservePageFrame=<Boolean> Default: true Purpose: Tells Windows whether to give preference to EMS page frame space or conventional memory when it has to use one of the two to allocate DOS transfer buffers. This choice is necessary when Windows can not find space between 640K and 1MB other than EMS page frame space. If enabled, this setting will preserve EMS page frame space at the expense of conventional memory. If you are not going to run non-Windows applications that use expanded memory, you can disable this setting to give non-Windows applications more conventional memory. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ SGrabLPT=<port-number> Default: none Purpose: Routes all printer interrupts on the specified port to the system virtual machine rather than to the current virtual machine. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ SystemROMBreakPoint=<Boolean> Default: true Purpose: Specifies whether Windows should use ROM address space between F000:0000 and 1MB for a break point. Windows in 386 enhanced mode normally searches this space to find a special instruction that is used as a system break point. If this address space contains something other than permanently available ROM, you should disable this setting. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ SysVMEMSLimit=<kilobytes> Default: 2048 Purpose: Specifies how many kilobytes of expanded memory Windows should be permitted to use. Setting this value to 0 prevents Windows from gaining access to any expanded memory. Setting it to -1 gives Windows all the available expanded memory that it requests. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ SysVMEMSLocked=<Boolean> Default: no Purpose: Indicates whether to swap Windows' expanded memory to the hard disk. Locking expanded memory can improve the performance of a Windows application that uses it, but locking it slows down the rest of the system. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ SysVMEMSRequired=<kilobytes> Default: 0 Purpose: Specifies how many kilobytes of expanded memory must be free in order to start Windows. Leave this setting at zero if no Windows application requires expanded memory. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ SysVMV86Locked=<Boolean> Default: false Purpose: If enabled, causes the virtual-mode memory being used in the system virtual machine to remain locked in memory rather that being swappable out to disk. Because Windows handles this process, there is no known reason to enable this setting. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ SysVMXMSLimit=<kilobytes> Default: 2048 Purpose: Specifies the maximum amount of memory (in kilobytes) the extended memory driver will allocate to DOS device drivers and memory- resident software in the system virtual machine. Set the value to -1 to give an application all the available extended memory that it requests. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ SysVMXMSLocked=<Boolean> Default: no Purpose: Indicates whether to swap the memory allocated by the extended memory driver to the hard disk. Locking the XMS memory (enabling this setting) can improve an application's performance, but it slows down the rest of the system. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ SysVMXMSRequired=<kilobytes> Default: 0 Purpose: Specifies how many kilobytes of extended memory must be reserved by the XMS driver in order to start Windows. Leave this setting at zero if there are no XMS users in the system virtual machine. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ TimerCriticalSection=<milliseconds> Default: 0 Purpose: Instructs Windows to go into a critical section around all timer interrupt code, and specifies a timeout period (in milliseconds). Specifying a positive value will assure that only one virtual machine at a time will receive timer interrupts. Some networks and other global memory-resident software may fail unless this setting is used. However, using it will slow down performance and can make the system sluggish or seem to stop for short periods of time. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ TokenRingSearch=<Boolean> Default: true Purpose: Tells Windows whether to search for a token ring network adapter on machines with IBM PC/AT (R) architecture. Disable this setting if you are not using a token ring card and the search interferes with another device. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ TranslateScans=<Boolean> Default: no Purpose: Indicates whether Windows will translate a keyboard's scan codes to make them compatible with standard IBM scan codes. This setting is necessary only for keyboards that generate non- standard scan codes. This setting is used only for the Switcher Screen and message boxes. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ UniqueDOSPSP=<Boolean> Default: false (see below for exception) Purpose: If enabled, tells Windows to start every application at a unique address (PSP). Each time Windows creates a new virtual machine to start a new application, Windows reserves a unique amount of memory (i bytes) below the application. For example, the first application would be loaded at address M, the second at address M+i, the third at M+2i, and so forth. The amount of memory i is determined by the PSPIncrement setting (earlier in this section). These settings should help assure that applications in different virtual machines all start at different addresses. Some networks use applications' load addresses to identify the different processes using the network. On such networks, failing to enable this setting might cause one application to fail when you exit another, because the network interprets them as the same. However, enabling this setting will leave slightly less memory for non-Windows applications. If you are running a network based on Microsoft Network or LAN Manager, the default value is true. See the NETWORKS.TXT online document to find out whether the network you are running is one of these. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ UseInstFile=<Boolean> Default: false Purpose: Specifies whether Windows should look in the INSTANCE.386 file for information it can use to determine whether data structures within DOS need to be local. There are two other methods for giving Windows this information: internal tables within the device, and an INT 2Fh call documented in the OEM Adaptation Kit. Both methods are preferable to using this setting; it is provided only for compatibility with Windows/386 version 2.x. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ VCPIWarning=<Boolean> Default: true Purpose: Specifies whether Windows should display a warning message when an application attempts to use the Virtual Control Program Interface (VCPI), which Windows does not support. Disable this setting if you do not want to see this message every time you run software that does a VCPI call but still runs without this support. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ VirtualHDIrq=<Boolean> Default: on Purpose: Allows Windows in 386 enhanced mode to terminate interrupts from the hard disk controller, bypassing the ROM routine that handles these interrupts. Some hard drives might require that this setting be disabled in order for interrupts to be processed correctly. If this setting is disabled, the ROM routine handles the interrupts, which slows the system's performance. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ WindowKBRequired=<kilobytes> Default: 256 Purpose: Specifies how much conventional memory (in kilobytes) must be free in order to start Windows. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ WindowMemSize=<number-or-kilobytes> Default: -1 Purpose: Limits the amount of conventional memory Windows can use for itself. The default value (-1) indicates that Windows can use as much of this space as it needs. You can try entering a positive value less than 640 if there is not enough memory to run Windows in 386 enhanced mode. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ WindowUpdateTime=<milliseconds> Default: 50 Purpose: Specifies the amount of time (in milliseconds) Windows takes between updates of the display for a windowed non-Windows application. To change: Use Notepad to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. ------------------------------------------------------------ WinExclusive=<Boolean> Default: no Purpose: Indicates whether Windows always gets all of the computer's processing time whenever a Windows application is in the foreground. If this setting is enabled and a Windows application is in the foreground, no non-Windows application will run. To change: Choose the 386 Enhanced icon from the Control Panel window. ------------------------------------------------------------ WinTimeSlice=<number,number> Default: 100,50 Purpose: This setting contains two numbers. The first number specifies the relative amount of processing time (based on the MinTimeSlice setting) given to all Windows applications running in the foreground relative to the time allocated to all non-Windows applications running in the background. The second number specifies the relative amount of processing time given to all Windows applications running in the background when a non-Windows application is running in the foreground. The range of numbers that can be entered is 1 through 10000. The important value is the ratio of these settings to the corresponding settings in the program information files (PIFs) of the active non- Windows applications. To change: Choose the 386 Enhanced icon from the Control Panel window. ------------------------------------------------------------ PC/AT is a registered trademark and Micro Channel is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.