MS-DOS 7.xx MEMory Specs

Take Control of Your System at DOS Level!

• LOL :-) : The Shadow knows... "640K ought to be enough for anybody." = Bill Gates, 1981. • FYI: Now seriously, did YOU know?! Take control of your Windows 95/98/ME machine at DOS level! After all Windows 95/98/ME is a MIXED (read "partially enabled") 32-bit AND 16-bit [for backward compatibility with MS-DOS (DOS16 and DOS32) and older 16-bit Windows/WfWG 3.xx (Win16) programs] Graphical User Interface (GUI) protected mode virtual environment [... sorry, Operating System :)], which still depends on the good ol' MS-DOS 7.xx TSR modules (IO.SYS + COMMAND.COM), MS-DOS mode memory manager (HIMEM.SYS) and compatibility (legacy) drivers (IFSHLP.SYS) to load on top of the plain DOS command line based layer! The good news is Microsoft released Windows XP (eXPerience), a true 32-bit multitasking, multithreading and Symmetrical MultiProcessing (SMP) graphical OS, which does away once for all with the "ancient" 16-bit MS-DOS command line OS. But the bad news is WinXP does NOT support native/real/true/pure MS-DOS mode, necessary for old DOS based programs/games that require exclusive access to memory/video/audio/network hardware resources, and most of which are still memory "hungry", especially the ones that canNOT run from a DOS session/box/window inside Windows. Therefore master your CONFIG.SYS + AUTOEXEC.BAT command lines and your MSDOS.SYS + SYSTEM.INI parameters to BOOT into your system the way YOU want!

Overview

• Here is my native/real/true/pure MS-DOS 7.10 mode [a.k.a. Windows 98 SE] MEMory stats screen [running "MEM /A/C/P" from the plain MS-DOS mode, similar to booting with "Command prompt only", option from the Windows 95/98 Startup Menu], using Microsoft's HIMEM.SYS v3.95 High/Extended MEMory Manager, Uwe Sieber's UMBPCI.SYS v3.75 Upper MEMory Extender + HIRAM.EXE v1.9 (to load HIMEM.SYS in the Upper Memory Area = UMA), with ALL devices/drivers/TSRs loaded in UPPER Memory, which gives me 629 KB of FREE conventional [low] memory [RAM], maximum available on any X86 IBM compatible PC/AT clone using a color VGA video card, and 38 KB of FREE upper memory.

  See also my PC hardware specs and a list of benchmarks results.

• And this is how I did it... just take a look at my Startup files:
  • CONFIG.SYS
  • AUTOEXEC.BAT
  • MSDOS.SYS

• NOTES:
  • All lines starting with a semicolon (;) in CONFIG.SYS + MSDOS.SYS, and double colon (::) in AUTOEXEC.BAT are comments, and are similar to using the REMark (REM) batch file command.
  • All 3rd party add-on/alternative/replacement MS-DOS mode device drivers/TSRs I am using in my Startup files below are linked at my ESSENTIAL DOS 5.00 - 8.00 Power Toys + Speed-Up + BenchMark Tools pages for direct download, as are also my related ©Tricks + Secrets articles.
  • Most of these settings are valid for ALL Windows 95/98/ME [a.k.a. MS-DOS 7.xx/8.00] releases, and some even for MS-DOS 6.xx [if not specified otherwise], except for MSDOS.SYS, which canNOT be modified in ANY MS-DOS release earlier than 7.00.
  • This page is a compilation of my DOS9XMEM.TXT + WIN9XMEM.TXT files, both part of my Windows 95/98/NT4/2000/ME/XP/2003 + DOS 7.xx/8.00 ©Tricks + Secrets files [W95-11D.EXE], freeware.
  • Download W95-11D.EXE and read MEMORY.TXT for detailed ©Tweaks + Guidelines to MAXimize and optimize your WinDOwS memory resources! [and much, much more... :)]

First take a look at my MS-DOS 7.10 [a.k.a. Windows 98 SE] "MEM /A/C/P" screen, in native/real/true/pure MS-DOS mode, using Microsoft's HIMEM.SYS v3.95 High/Extended MEMory Manager, Uwe Sieber's UMBPCI.SYS v3.75 Upper MEMory Extender + HIRAM.EXE v1.9 (to load HIMEM.SYS in Upper Memory Area) in my CONFIG.SYS:

Modules using memory below 1 MB:

 Name           Total            Conventional       Upper Memory
 --------   ---------------   -----------------   ----------------
 SYSTEM      16,064   (16K)	  9,712   (10K)      6,352    (6K)
 HIMEM        1,120    (1K)	      0    (0K)      1,120    (1K)
 NANSI        3,536    (3K)	      0    (0K)      3,536    (3K)
 IFSHLP       2,864    (3K)	      0    (0K)      2,864    (3K)
 UIDE         2,272    (3K)	      0    (0K)      2,272    (3K)
 COMMAND      9,664    (9K)	      0    (0K)      9,664    (9K)
 RECALL       2,544    (2K)	      0    (0K)      2,544    (2K)
 MSCDEX      48,704   (48K)	      0    (0K)     48,704   (48K)
 SMARTDRV    35,072   (34K)	      0    (0K)     35,072   (34K)
 ZENO174      1,120    (1K)           0    (0K)      1,120    (1K)
 CTMOUSE      3,584    (3K)	      0    (0K)      3,584    (3K)
 XMSDSK         688    (1K)	      0    (0K)        688    (1K)
 NOOFF          336    (0K)           0    (0K)        336    (0K)
 Free       682,976  (667K)	644,048  (629K)     39,184   (38K)

Memory Summary:

 Type of Memory       Total         Used          Free
 ----------------  -----------   -----------   -----------
 Conventional          654,336        10,304       644,048
 Upper                 163,888       124,704        39,184
 Reserved                    0             0             0
 Extended (XMS)    267,255,760    30,310,352   219,086,848
 ----------------  -----------   -----------   -----------
 Total memory      268,040,192    30,445,840   219,756,240

 Total under 1 MB      818,224       135,248       682,976

 Largest executable program size	644,022	  (629K)
 Largest free upper memory block	 30,944	   (30K)
 Available space in High Memory Area	  2,624	    (3K)
 MS-DOS is resident in the high memory area.

Now take a look at my MS-DOS 7.10 [a.k.a. Windows 98 SE] "MEM /A/C/P" screen, in a DOS box/session/window under Windows 98 SE GUI, using Microsoft's HIMEM.SYS v3.95 High/Extended MEMory Manager, Uwe Sieber's UMBPCI.SYS v3.75 Upper MEMory Extender + HIRAM.EXE v1.9 (to load HIMEM.SYS in Upper Memory Area) in my CONFIG.SYS:

Modules using memory below 1 MB:

 Name           Total            Conventional       Upper Memory
 --------  ----------------    ----------------   ----------------
 SYSTEM      16,096   (16K)	  9,712   (10K)      6,352    (6K)
 WIN          2,624    (3K)	  2,624    (3K)          0    (0K)
 vmm32       47,024   (46K)	  7,840    (8K)     39,184   (38K)
 COMMAND      7,424    (7K)	  7,424    (7K)          0    (0K)
 COMMAND      9,728   (10K)	      0    (0K)      9,664    (9K)
 HIMEM        1,120    (1K)	      0    (0K)      1,120    (1K)
 NANSI        3,536    (3K)	      0    (0K)      3,536    (3K)
 IFSHLP       2,864    (3K)	      0    (0K)      2,864    (3K)
 UIDE         2,272    (3K)	      0    (0K)      2,272    (3K)
 RECALL       2,544    (2K)	      0    (0K)      2,544    (2K)
 MSCDEX      48,704   (48K)	      0    (0K)     48,704   (48K)
 SMARTDRV    35,072   (34K)	      0    (0K)     35,072   (34K)
 ZENO174      1,120    (1K)           0    (0K)      1,120    (1K)
 XMSDSK         688    (1K)	      0    (0K)        688    (1K)
 NOOFF          336    (0K)           0    (0K)        336    (0K)
 Free       622,752  (608K)	622,752  (608K)          0    (0K)

Memory Summary:

 Type of Memory       Total         Used          Free
 ----------------  -----------   -----------   -----------
 Conventional          651,264        28,512       622,752
 Upper                 163,888       163,888             0
 Reserved                    0             0             0
 Extended (XMS)    267,255,760             ?   219,086,848
 ----------------  -----------   -----------   -----------
 Total memory      268,040,192             ?   219,756,240

 Total under 1 MB      815,152       192,400       622,752

 Largest executable program size	   622,736   (608K)
 Largest free upper memory block		 0     (0K)
 Available space in High Memory Area	     2,624     (3K)
 MS-DOS is resident in the high memory area.

; Skip 2 seconds boot delay [/F] + load part of IO.SYS high [/E:xxx] SWITCHES line:
SWITCHES=/F /E
; Load DOS HIGH + enable DOS UMA (Upper Memory Area):
DOS=HIGH,UMB,AUTO
; UMBPCI.SYS v3.75 Upper MEMory Extender [enables UMA]:
DEVICE=C:\MAX\UMBPCI.SYS
; HIRAM.EXE v1.9 Upper MEMory Provider [maps UMA and loads HIMEM.SYS high]:
DEVICE=C:\MAX\HIRAM.EXE
; HIMEM.SYS v3.95 HIGH + Extended MEMory Manager [MANDATORY for Windows 9x!]:
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /NUMHANDLES=128 /TESTMEM:OFF /Q
; Optimal BUFFERS line when using SMARTDRV:
BUFFERS=11,0
; Optimal FILES line:
FILES=60
; My LASTDRIVE line:
LASTDRIVE=I
; Disable old FCBS support:
FCBS=1,0
; Disable DOS STACKS support:
STACKS=0,0
; UIDE.SYS universal MS-DOS mode IDE/ATAPI CD/DVD driver:
DEVICEHIGH=C:\CDROM\UIDE.SYS /D:DVDROM /D:CDRW
; Enable MS-DOS mode NANSI.SYS v4.0d CONsole accelerator driver [ANSI.SYS replacement]:
DEVICEHIGH=C:\MAX\NANSI.SYS /X
; Enable MS-DOS support for Windows 32-bit Disk Access [MANDATORY for Windows 9x/ME!]:
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
; Zeno v1.74 DOS text mode VGA BIOS accelerator:
DEVICEHIGH=C:\MAX\ZENO174.EXE /Q
; Increased COMMAND environment SHELL line:
SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /E:1280 /L:160 /U:160 /P /F
; Disable files last ACCessed DATE in DOS:
ACCDATE=C- D- E- F-
; My PATH line:
SET PATH=C:\;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM;C:\BAT;C:\MAX;C:\ZIP;C:\3D;
; TEMPorary files path [next 2 lines]:
SET TEMP=H:\TEMP
SET TMP=H:\TEMP
; Disable last typed command in DOS:
SET CMDLINE=

:: Disable CONsole display [similar to using > NUL]:
@CTTY NUL
:: Enable FastVid v1.10 DOS/Windows video acceleration [Pentium Pro/II/III/IV ONLY!]:
C:\3D\FASTVID.EXE XX1 128 C0000000
:: Enable Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold ISA sound card Audio + MIDI in all MS-DOS modes [next 7 lines]:
SET CTCM=C:\AWE64
SET SOUND=C:\AWE64
C:\AWE64\CTCM.EXE /B
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E MODE:0
C:\AWE64\AWEUTIL.COM /S
C:\AWE64\MIXERSET.EXE /P /Q
:: LFNs [Long File Names] DOS BATch support:
LFNFOR ON
:: MicroSoft CD-rom EXtensions driver v2.25 [using UIDE.SYS in CONFIG.SYS]:
LOADHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:DVDROM /D:CDRW /M:16
:: MS-DOS SmartDrive v5.02 disk cache driver:
SMARTDRV.EXE 8192 16 A- B- C+ D+ E+ F+ G H- /N
:: DOS Mouse driver INItialization path [location of MOUSE.INI]:
SET MOUSE=C:\MAX
:: Logitech Mouse INItialization path [location of MOUSEDRV.INI]:
SET LMOUSE=C:\MAX
:: Cute Mouse v2.0 DOS Mouse driver:
LOADHIGH=C:\MAX\CTMOUSE.EXE /R44
:: Fastest MS-DOS mode Keyboard response:
MODE.COM CON: RATE=32 DELAY=1
:: DOS Recall v1.2c driver [DOSKEY.COM replacement]:
LOADHIGH=C:\MAX\RECALL.COM -I
:: XMSDSK v1.9i RAM Disk driver [RAMDRIVE.SYS replacement]:
LOADHIGH=C:\RAM\XMSDSK.EXE 24576 H: /T /Y
IF NOT EXIST H:\TEMP\NUL MD H:\TEMP
:: NoOff v1.4 OSR2/Win98 ATX shut down to MS-DOS TSR:
LOADHIGH=C:\MAX\NOOFF.COM
:: Quantum3D Obsidian2 X-24 PCI TV 3dfx Voodoo2 SLI 3D video card SET <variable> [next 3 lines]:
SET FX_GLIDE_NO_SPLASH=1
SET FX_GLIDE_SWAPINTERVAL=0
SET SSTV2_GRXCLK=100
:: Disable COPY/MOVE/XCOPY commands confirmation prompt:
SET COPYCMD=/Y
:: DIR command sort settings:
SET DIRCMD=/A/O:GEN/P/V
:: MS-DOS + Windows HREF=lastweek.htm#MSDOSPROMPT>PROMPT [next 2 lines]:
SET PROMPT=UMBPCI: DOS 7.10 + Windows 98 SE$_$P$G
SET WINPMT=DOS Box: Hit Insert 2 return 2 Windows!$_$P$G
:: Reenable CONsole display:
CTTY CON
:: F1-F12 remapped keys [using NANSI.SYS in CONFIG.SYS]:
@TYPE C:\MAX\KEY.TXT

Take a look at my "Complete MSDOS.SYS Reference" page to learn how to master ALL MSDOS.SYS parameters [even those UNDOCUMENTED], and how to tweak them to MAXIMIZE your Windows 95/98 machine performance.

; MSDOS.SYS [Paths] section:
[Paths]
; Set Windows 9x OS Directory:
WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
; Set Windows 9x OS Boot Directory:
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
; Set Host Windows 9x OS Boot Drive:
HostWinBootDrv=C
; MSDOS.SYS [Options] section:
[Options]
; Disable ScanDisk check after system lockup [OSR 2.x + Win98/ME ONLY!]:
AutoScan=0
; Skip 2 seconds boot delay [In Win98/ME defaults to 0!]:
BootDelay=0
; Boot to MS-DOS mode:
BootGUI=0
; Enable Startup Menu keys:
BootKeys=1
; Display Windows 9x Startup Menu:
BootMenu=1
; Select Normal boot option [loads Windows 9x]:
BootMenuDefault=1
; 5 seconds boot delay:
BootMenuDelay=5
; Enable Dual-Boot:
BootMulti=1
; Enable Windows 9x as OS:
BootWin=1
; Disable DoubleSpace:
DblSpace=0
; Disable BOOTLOG.TXT creation:
DisableLog=1
; Disable Double Buffer:
DoubleBuffer=0
; Disable DriveSpace:
DrvSpace=0
; Disable loading of COMMAND.COM at top of conventional RAM:
LoadTop=0
; Display bootup Logo:
Logo=1
; Enable boot with Network/TCP/IP support:
Network=1
; Disable System Registry scan:
SystemReg=0
; Windows 98/ME version check [Win98/ME ONLY!]:
WinVer=4.10.2222

;The following lines are required for compatibility with other programs.
;Do not remove them (MSDOS.SYS needs to be >1024 bytes).
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxa
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