Windows Err Msg: Insufficient File Handles...

• Microsoft Windows operating system versions 3.0, 3.0a, 3.1, 3.11

SYMPTOMS

When an MS-DOS-based application is run from Microsoft Windows in 386 enhanced mode, the following error messages may occur:

   Insufficient file handles, Increase Files in the CONFIG.SYS

   -and/or-

   Cannot find file; check to ensure the path and filename are correct

WORKAROUND

If the problem occurs while running on a network, check to be sure that the network is correctly installed. Refer to "Troubleshooting a Network Setup," below.

If the problem is not related to the network setup, try increasing the number of files in the CONFIG.SYS file (FILES=<number>) or in the SYSTEM.INI file (PerVMFILES=<number>) to solve the problem. Refer to "Additional Troubleshooting," later in this article.

Troubleshooting a Network Setup

1. Confirm that you have the proper network and version installed, as follows:

   a. Choose the Windows Setup icon from the Program Manager Main group.

   b. The Windows Setup dialog box is displayed. This dialog box

         identifies the type of network that you have installed on
         your system. If the dialog box says "No Network Installed,"
         You need to install the proper network.
   

         If the network is correctly installed, go to step 2.
   

   c. To install the correct network, from the Options menu, select

         "Change System Settings..." and press ENTER.
   

   d. Under the Networks option, select the proper network from the

         list provided, then choose OK.
   

2. If the problem still occurs under a Novell Network, check to see if Windows is set up with the No Network option selected or an incorrect network driver. If either of these is the problem, run Windows Setup in maintenance mode (run Setup from outside Windows), then select and install the correct Novell network.

   NOTE: This problem occurs if No network is specified for Windows and you are connecting to Novell NetWare. Windows works in standard mode without the network specified, but it needs needs the virtual device drivers to run in enhanced mode.

3. If the problem still occurs, check to see that IPX.COM and NETX.COM files are the correct versions.

Additional Troubleshooting

If the above steps don't work, troubleshoot your file settings as follows:

1. Increase the FILES= setting in the CONFIG.SYS file. Informal testing has shown that the FILES= statement in the CONFIG.SYS file should have a value of at least 45. Increasing this setting increases the number of global file handles available to each application running in the MS-DOS environment.

2. This error message may refer to private file handles, which are specific to each virtual machine running under Windows. To specify the number of private file handles that will be set for each Windows virtual machine, place the following statement in the [386enh] section of SYSTEM.INI:

         PerVMFILES=<number>
   

   Increase the number of files until the application runs without displaying the above error message. The default number is 10.

3. If the above problem occurs when running under a Novell network, the SHELL.CFG file may need to be edited to include the following line:

         FILE HANDLES=60
   

   If the SHELL.CFG file does not exist, use a text editor to create it. This file must reside in the same directory as the NETX.COM file.

   NOTE: The sum of the FILES= setting in the CONFIG.SYS file, the PerVMFILES= setting in the SYSTEM.INI file, and the FILE HANDLES= setting in the SHELL.CFG file cannot exceed 255.

MORE INFORMATION

Insufficient file handles can be caused by the following:

• An MS-DOS 5.0 floppy installation (type "setup/f" [without the quotation marks]) was performed. This procedure creates a CONFIG.SYS file with the statement FILES=10 included. If the system is then started with the Startup disk or if CONFIG.SYS from the Startup disk is copied to the root directory of the boot drive, the above error messages appears in Windows running in 386 enhanced mode.
• You are running version 6.0 of the Microsoft Macro Assembler (MASM) and the NEW-CONFIG.SYS file was renamed to CONFIG.SYS. This file contains the statement FILES=20.