Microsoft KB Archive/79303

= Microsoft Knowledge Base =

FastTips: MS-DOS 5.0 Compatibility Sequence Q&A
Last reviewed: April 9, 1996

Article ID: Q79303

The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft MS-DOS operating system version 5.0

SUMMARY
This article contains the complete text of the &quot;MS-DOS 5.0 Compatibility Sequence&quot; fax script.

This fax script is available to customers who call the Microsoft FastTips Service for Operating Systems at (800) 936-4200.

MS-DOS 5.0 COMPATIBILITY SEQUENCE
1.Q. I can't use Lotus 1-2-3 version 3.1 and EMM386.EXE with the

NOEMS switch. However, Lotus runs fine with the RAM switch. What is the problem?

A. Lotus 3.1 is a virtual control program interface, or VCPI, application. The VCPI specification allows DOS applications to directly access extended memory on a 80386 or higher microprocessor. When the NOEMS switch is used with EMM386.EXE, expanded or EMS memory is unavailable. Since VCPI services are an extension of expanded memory services, no VCPI services are available and Lotus 3.1 cannot run. It    is possible to run Lotus 3.1 or any VCPI application with EMM386.EXE and the RAM switch by allocating a 16K page frame to provide expanded memory and VCPI services. To do this, include the following statement in your CONFIG.SYS file:

device=emm386.exe ram p0=d000

D000 is the starting address of a 16K page frame and can be    replaced by any address that is available. Note that doing this will not provide a full 64K page frame for expanded memory. 2.Q. I have upgraded to MS-DOS 5.0. When I run Microsoft Windows

in enhanced mode, my fonts are not the same as before the upgrade. What should I do?

A. If your fonts appear to have changed since upgrading to    MS-DOS 5.0, there may not be enough file handles to display the screen fonts that were available before upgrading MS-DOS 5.0. The FILES statement in the CONFIG.SYS file sets the number of file handles that can be open at one time. During setup, MS-DOS 5.0 may set the number of file handles to 10 if it cannot locate a FILES statement or if there is no    CONFIG.SYS file. To restore your screen fonts in Windows, increase the file handles to 30 by editing the FILES statement in the CONFIG.SYS file to read FILES=30. 3.Q. I can't run Microsoft Windows in 386 enhanced mode. How can

I correct this problem?

A. WINA20.386 provides support for Windows when running in 386 enhanced mode.

If this file is deleted from the root directory, you may be    unable to run Windows in 386 enhanced mode. If you have deleted this file, you can expand it from Disk 6 to your hard disk using the Expand program.

If your computer system has 2 megabytes of memory and you were able to run Windows in 386 enhanced mode prior to    installing MS-DOS 5 Upgrade, you may be allocating a portion of your memory for expanded memory or upper memory blocks. If you want to start Windows in 386 enhanced mode, you may need to disable EMM386.EXE in the CONFIG.SYS file.

For more information on running Windows with MS-DOS 5.0 and EMM386.EXE, refer to pages 605 through 609 in the Microsoft MS-DOS &quot;User's Guide and Reference&quot; and to Sections 4.1 through 4.6 in the README.TXT file. 4.Q. I can't run Microsoft Windows in standard mode. What can I

do?

A. When EMM386 is used to provide upper-memory-block support for the LOADHIGH or DEVICEHIGH commands, Windows must be    loaded in real or enhanced mode. If it is necessary to load Windows in standard mode, you will need to remove the device equals EMM386 and DEVICEHIGH lines from the CONFIG.SYS file. Any LOADHIGH commands in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file should also be removed. For more information on running Windows in    standard mode, please refer to Section 4.6 in the README.TXT file. 5.Q. How do I make a GWBasic program compatible with QBasic?

A. To convert a GWBasic program for use with QBasic, use the following four steps:

1. Start GWBasic and load a GWBasic program.

2. Some GWBasic keywords are not supported in QBasic. These keywords are listed in QBasic's online Help menu. List the GWBasic program and note any unsupported keywords.

3. Save the GWBasic program in ASCII format by typing:

save &quot;programname&quot;,a

4. Exit GWBasic by typing:

system

5. Start QBasic and load your GWBasic program. If any GWBasic data file in binary format is used in association with a GWBasic program, the information will be scrambled when using QBasic. To correct this problem, run QBasic with the /MBF switch by typing

qbasic /mbf

at the MS-DOS command prompt.

For more information about QBasic, refer to the QBasic online Help menu.