Running Bound Applications Under Windows NT

Last reviewed: December 17, 1996
Article ID: Q90913

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Win32 Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows NT versions 3.1, 3.5, 3.51, and 4.0

SUMMARY

Bound applications are designed and built so they can be run under either OS/2 or MS-DOS. The OS/2 subsystem is not available on MIPS; therefore, bound applications will not run as OS/2 applications on MIPS.

When a bound application is run under Windows NT on an 80x86 system, the application will automatically run under the OS/2 subsystem if it is available.

MORE INFORMATION

The OS/2 subsystem is available by default on an 80x86 system. To force bound applications to run as an MS-DOS-based application, you can disable the OS/2 subsystem, but this is not recommended. Instead use the FORCEDOS facility. Type "FORCEDOS /?" at the command line to get help on FORCEDOS. It is not advised that you disable the OS/2 subsystem unless there is a very specific need that FORCEDOS does not address.

To disable the OS/2 subsystem using RegEdit:

   Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
   Go to SYSTEM
   Go to Current Control Set
   Go to Control
   Go to Session Manager
   Go to SubSystems

   Modify 'Optional: REG_MULTI_SZ OS/2 Posix'. Specifically, remove OS/2
   and reboot.

Once this is done, bound applications will run as MS-DOS-based applications. Running an OS/2 application results in the following message:

   Cannot connect to OS/2 subsystem

WARNING: REGEDT32 is a very powerful utility that facilitates directly changing the Registry database. Using REGEDT32 incorrectly can cause serious problems, including hard disk corruption. It may be necessary to reinstall the software to correct some problems. Microsoft does not support changes made with REGEDT32. Use this tool AT YOUR OWN RISK.

KBCategory: kbprg
KBSubcategory: SubSys
Additional reference words: 3.10 3.50 3.51 4.00 OS/2 subsystem forcedos

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Last reviewed: December 17, 1996
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