FastTips: Usage Questions & Answers for Windows 3.1

SUMMARY

This article contains the complete text of the "Usage Questions & Answers" fax script.

This fax script is available to customers who call the Microsoft FastTips Service for Operating Systems at (800) 936-4200.

MORE INFORMATION

  Microsoft(R) Product Support Services Application Note (Text File)
                   WW0578: USAGE QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

                                                  Revision Date: 12/92
                                                      No Disk Included

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| INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT AND ANY SOFTWARE THAT MAY    |
| ACCOMPANY THIS DOCUMENT (collectively referred to as an            |
| Application Note) IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY      |
| KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO    |
| THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A     |
| PARTICULAR PURPOSE. The user assumes the entire risk as to the     |
| accuracy and the use of this Application Note. This Application    |
| Note may be copied and distributed subject to the following        |
| conditions: 1) All text must be copied without modification and    |
| all pages must be included; 2) If software is included, all files  |
| on the disk(s) must be copied without modification [the MS-DOS(R)  |
| utility DISKCOPY is appropriate for this purpose]; 3) All          |
| components of this Application Note must be distributed together;  |
| and 4) This Application Note may not be distributed for profit.    |
|                                                                    |
| Copyright 1992 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.         |
| Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks and Windows         |
| is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.                           |
| Adobe Type Manager is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems,     |
| Inc. IBM and PS/2 are registered trademarks of International       |
| Business Machines Corporation. NetWare and Novell are registered   |
| trademarks of Novell, Inc. Stacker is a trademark of STAC          |
| Electronics.                                                       |
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 1. Q. How does holding down the SHIFT key affect Microsoft Windows
       startup and exit?

    A. When you start Windows, if you hold down the SHIFT key after
       typing "WIN" (without the quotation marks) and pressing ENTER,
       the applications in the startup group do not load.

       If you hold down the SHIFT key while you double-click the
       Control-menu box in Program Manager (as if you were trying to
       exit Windows), the Program Manager layout is saved without
       actually exiting Windows.

 2. Q. When I exit Windows on my IBM(R) PS/2(R) computer, or another
       computer that uses a mouse connected to an IBM PS/2-style mouse
       port, there seems to be a long delay before the MS-DOS prompt
       appears. How can I correct this problem?

    A. This delay occurs most frequently on PS/2 models 56 and 57;
       however, it may also occur on models 70, 80, 90, and 95. To
       correct this problem, use the following two steps:

       1. Open the SYSTEM.INI file with a standard ASCII text editor,
          such as Microsoft Windows Notepad.

       2. Locate the [386Enh] section and add the following line:

            InitPS2MouseAtExit=False

       This line prevents Windows from attempting to reinitialize the
       PS/2-style mouse port prior to exiting to MS-DOS. While this
       does correct the initial problem, it may cause problems with
       some older MS-DOS-based applications that use the mouse.

 3. Q. When I try to start Windows, I receive the error message "Error
       Loading PROGMAN.EXE." What is causing this error and how can I
       correct it?

    A. The following three conditions can cause this error message:

       1. The first cause is an incorrect or missing SHELL= line in
          the [boot] section of the SYSTEM.INI file.

          To correct this problem, edit SYSTEM.INI with a standard
          ASCII text editor. Locate the SHELL= line in the [boot]
          section and make sure it reads "SHELL=PROGMAN.EXE". Make
          sure you have only one PROGMAN.EXE file, that it is dated
          3/10/92 or later, and that it is in the WINDOWS directory.
          If the correct PROGMAN.EXE is missing from the WINDOWS
          directory, use the EXPAND utility, which is installed in the
          WINDOWS directory on your hard disk during Setup, to expand
          the correct version of PROGMAN.EXE to the WINDOWS directory.
          To do this, type the following:

            EXPAND A:\PROGMAN.EX_ C:\WINDOWS\PROGMAN.EXE

          You should also make sure there is a line in the [boot]
          section that reads "SYSTEM.DRV=SYSTEM.DRV." If you have
          Adobe Type Manager(R) installed, the line should read
          "SYSTEM.DRV=ATMSYS.DRV."

       2. The second cause of the "Error Loading PROGMAN.EXE" error is
          an incorrect version of the SHELL.DLL file.

          To correct this problem, make sure you have only one file
          called SHELL.DLL, that it is dated 3/10/92 or later, and
          that it is located in the WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.

          If SHELL.DLL is missing or damaged, use the EXPAND utility
          to expand the correct version of SHELL.DLL to the
          WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory by typing the following:

            EXPAND A:SHELL.DL_ C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SHELL.DLL

       3. The third cause of the "Error Loading PROGMAN.EXE" error is
          the presence of the VSafe virus-protection program in the
          CONFIG.SYS file.

          To correct this problem, remove the VSAFE.SYS file from the
          CONFIG.SYS file and VSAFE.EXE from the LOAD= command in the
          WIN.INI file.

          For more information on the VSafe virus-protection software,
          please contact Central Point Software.

 4. Q. My Novell(R) NetWare(R) NWPOPUP.EXE messaging utility doesn't
       seem to be working correctly. I do not receive any messages
       until I exit Windows. What is causing this problem?

    A. If you are running Windows in 386 enhanced mode and you have a
       version of the Novell NetWare NWPOPUP.EXE file dated earlier
       than 3/10/92 in your WINDOWS directory, the utility is loaded,
       but it cannot initialize properly under Windows 3.1. This
       problem also occurs if NWPOPUP.EXE is located in a directory
       before the WINDOWS directory entry in the PATH= statement in
       the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. In either case, you may need to add the
       following line to the [386Enh] section of your SYSTEM.INI file:

         TimerCriticalSection=10000

       This command increases the amount of time (specified in
       milliseconds) before the critical section is timed out.

 5. Q. I am the system administrator for a Novell NetWare network.
       Most of my workstations run without any problems, but two of
       them cannot run in 386 enhanced mode; they run in standard mode
       only. However, if I do not log these workstations on to the
       network, they do run in 386 enhanced mode. What is causing this
       problem and how can I correct it?

    A. This problem can be caused by incorrect network software
       drivers, an IRQ conflict, a RAM address conflict, or a base
       address conflict. To troubleshoot this problem, use the
       following four techniques:

       1. Read the NETWORKS.WRI file to determine the steps necessary
          to upgrade your current versions of IPX and NETX. If
          necessary, contact your network card manufacturer for new
          low-level drivers.

       2. Most machines do not support having two devices using the
          same IRQ simultaneously. Therefore, if you are using your
          network card on IRQ3 or IRQ4, you must either disable COM2
          or COM1 (because COM1 uses IRQ4 and COM2 uses IRQ3) or
          reconfigure the network card for an available IRQ. On most
          machines, IRQ5 and IRQ2 are available (that is, no other
          hardware devices are attempting to use them).

       3. Many network cards use a RAM address in the upper memory
          area between 640 and 1024 kilobytes (K). If your card is
          using this range, exclude use of this range with EMM386.EXE
          or by adding an EMMEXCLUDE statement in the [386Enh] section
          of the SYSTEM.INI file. Some cards do not function correctly
          at the D000 address and need to be reconfigured for D800.

       4. Many hardware devices have base memory addresses that may
          conflict with an existing device, such as a COM port. Try
          reconfiguring the network card for an address of 300
          hexadecimal (h) or greater.

 6. Q. My network card does not register in the memory area between
       640K and 1024K; therefore, I know I must manually exclude this
       range in the upper memory area (UMA). I placed an EMMEXCLUDE
       statement in the SYSTEM.INI file, but this doesn't seem to have
       any effect. How can I correct this problem?

    A  If you are using an upper memory block (UMB) provider, you must
       exclude it using its own exclude command because the provider
       has priority in the UMB area and overrides the EMMEXCLUDE
       switch. For example, if you are using EMM386.EXE and need to
       exclude the 32K of memory from D800 to DFFF, use the following
       command:

         DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM X=D800-DFFF

       If you are not using a UMA manager or UMB provider, the
       EMMEXCLUDE statement in the [386Enh] section of the SYSTEM.INI
       file should work correctly.

 7. Q. I run numerous batch (.BAT) files on my computer. When I run
       some of these files from Windows, I receive the error message
       "Out of Environment Space." The same .BAT files run correctly
       outside Windows. What is causing this error?

    A. Windows 3.1 contains a switch called CommandEnvSize= that
       allows you to control the size of the MS-DOS environment for
       MS-DOS-based applications run from within Windows. Your .BAT
       file probably has overrun the available environment space. To
       increase the size of the MS-DOS environment, use the following
       two steps:

       1. Edit the SYSTEM.INI file with a standard ASCII text editor,
          such as Microsoft Windows Notepad.

       2. Locate the [NonWindowsApp] section and add the line
          "CommandEnvSize=" (without the quotation marks). Assign a
          value between 160 and 32,768 following the equal sign. For
          more information on this switch, please refer to the
          SYSINI.WRI file.

 8. Q. Why is the Advanced button in the Ports dialog box unavailable
       when I choose the Ports icon in Control Panel?

    A. If the Windows 3.1 COMM.DRV file is installed incorrectly, the
       Advanced button in the Ports dialog box is unavailable. If you
       upgrade from Windows 3.0 to 3.1 and you were previously using a
       third-party communications driver with Windows 3.0, the Windows
       3.1 Setup program does not update the communications driver. To
       ensure your COMM.DRV file is installed correctly, do the
       following:

       1. Make sure you have the following setting in the [boot]
          section of your SYSTEM.INI file:

            COMM.DRV=COMM.DRV

          If this does not correct the problem, check the COMM.DRV
          size and date in the SYSTEM directory. The file should be
          dated 3/10/92 and have a file size of 9280 bytes. If the
          date or size is incorrect, proceed with the next step.

       2. Using the EXPAND utility, reinstall COMM.DRV from the
          Windows Setup disks to the WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory by
          typing the following:

            EXPAND A:\COMM.DR_ C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\COMM.DRV

         Note: COMM.DRV is found on Disk 1 for 3.5-inch disks and Disk
         2 for 5.25-inch disks.

 9. Q. Can I set up a permanent or temporary swap file on a stacked
       disk drive?

    A. Windows 3.1 does not support the use of a permanent or
       temporary swap file on a stacked drive (that is, a drive on
       which you are running the Stacker[TM] utility).

10. Q. I seem to be having some type of hardware or software conflict
       in my machine. What tools are available to help me determine
       information such as the BIOS version of the machine and what
       COM ports and IRQs are being used?

    A. Windows 3.1 ships with the Microsoft Diagnostics (MSD) program.
       This tool is normally installed in your WINDOWS directory
       during Windows Setup. You can use MSD from within Windows;
       however, the most effective way to use it is to quit Windows
       and run MSD.EXE at the command prompt by typing the following:

         C:\WINDOWS\MSD.EXE