I read a good article on Troubleshooting MS-DOS-Based Programs in Windows (Q314106) at
Microsoft knowledgebase website. One of the first thing to test when you are having problems with
MS-DOS-based programs is the Windows Virtual DOS Machine (NTVDM) subsystem. Open STARTRUN
and enter command.com or cmd.exe. If you don't see a MSDOS windows coming up you of
course have a problem. Check the Config.nt and Autoexec.nt files in the SystemRoot%\System32
folder for nonstandard settings.
Use a REM statement to remark out all entries except the following default entries:
Config.nt
---------
dos=high, umb
device=%SystemRoot%\System32\Himem.sys
files=20
Autoexec.nt
-----------
lh %SystemRoot%\System32\Mscdexnt.exe
lh %SystemRoot%\System32\Redir
lh %SystemRoot%\System32\Dosx
lh %SystemRoot%\System32\Nw16 (only if CSNW is installed)
lh %SystemRoot%\System32\Vwipxspx (only if CSNW is installed)
The registry entries that are associated with the NTVDM subsystem are:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment
This key stores the environment variables from the Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files for use in
Windows.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\ VirtualDeviceDrivers
This key stores the device drivers that are used in an NTVDM session. Windows Setup creates these
entries when a device driver is installed.
Read the article at Troubleshooting MS-DOS-Based Programs in Windows (Q314106) for complete details as I am simply repeating what's already available in the article.
