Microsoft KB Archive/73316

= MS-DOS Shell Error Message: Unable to Load COMMAND.COM =

Article ID: 73316

Article Last Modified on 10/14/2003

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft MS-DOS 5.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 5.0a
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 6.0 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q73316



SYMPTOMS
You may get the following error message when trying to run an application from MS-DOS Shell:

Unable to load COMMAND.COM or DOSSWAP.EXE.



CAUSE
Your DOSSHELL.INI may be corrupt.



WORKAROUND
To correct this problem, the DOSSHELL.INI file must be expanded from the Microsoft MS-DOS 5 or 6 Upgrade disks. There are different DOSSHELL.INI files for various video systems. Because there is no compressed .INI file for VGA video systems, the EGA.IN_ must be expanded for VGA video systems. The names of the compressed INI files are as follows:   MONO.IN_     2990     04-09-91     5:00a CGA.IN_     3330     04-09-91     5:00a EGA.IN_     3333     04-09-91     5:00a For MS-DOS 5, these files can be found on Disk 3 (5.25-inch disk set) or Disk 2 (3.5-inch set).

For MS-DOS 6, these files are on Disk 1 (both disk sets).

The following command is an example of how to expand the EGA MS-DOS Shell .INI file to the \DOS directory on drive C. Type the following from the drive that contains the MS-DOS 5.0 upgrade disk:

EXPAND EGA.IN_ C:\DOS\DOSSHELL.INI

