How to Enable Eastern Europe Keyboards for MS-DOS Applications

• Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0
• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0

SUMMARY

Windows NT includes support for most Eastern European countries. Windows NT does not include keyboard support under the MS-DOS-based environment for the following countries:

   Albania
   Ukrainia
   Belarussia
   Slovenia
   Estonia
   Latvia
   Lithuania
   Serbia (Cyrillic)
   Polish (Regular keyboard)

MORE INFORMATION

Windows NT only supports the Polish Programmers keyboard in MS-DOS emulation mode. This section describes how to set this up using existing driver files from MS-DOS. The Estonian keyboard is used as an example.

Before you perform the steps below you must obtain a keyboard description file (Keyboard.sys replacement) and a full-screen font file (Ega.cpi replacement) for your country. For Estonia, the keyboard description file can be retrieved from the following ftp site:

   ftp://www.bcs.ee/pub/microsoft/windows_95/updates/addest11.zip

   NOTE: Because ftp and Web sites are constantly updated, this site
   address may change without notice.

   Country            Font File   File Name
   ------------------------------------------
   Albania            Ega.cpi     Third-party
   Ukrainia           Ega3.cpi    Keybrd3.sys
   Belarussia         Ega3.cpi    Keybrd3.sys
   Slovenia           Ega.cpi     Keybrd2.sys
   Estonia            Ega3.cpi    See ftp site above
   Latvia             Ega3.cpi    Third-party
   Lithuania          Ega3.cpi    Third-party
   Serbia (Cyrillic)  Ega3.cpi    Keybrd2.sys
   Polish (Regular)   Ega.cpi     Keyboard.sys

1. Go to the following registry key to obtain the number for the keyboard layout:

         HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layouts
   

   The value for the Estonian keyboard is 00000425.

2. Find the value from step 1 above in the following registry key:

         HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\
            Keyboard Layout\DosKeybCodes
   
      and then replace "us" with the two-letter code for your keyboard. This
      code should be defined in the documentation for the keyboard
      description. The value for Estonia is "ee" (without the quotation
      marks).
   
   

3. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double- click Regional Settings.

4. Click the Regional Settings tab and make sure your country is set as the system default locale. If you click Set As System Default Locale and then click OK, do not restart your computer at this point.

5. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double- click Keyboard.

6. Click the General tab and make sure your local keyboard is selected as the default keyboard.

7. Rename the current Keyboard.sys file in the %systemroot%\system32 folder and copy the new keyboard description file in its place.

8. Use Mv.exe from the Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit to rename the current Ega.cpi file. To do this, type the following command:

         MV /x /d EGA.CPI EGA.CPI.SAVE
   

   NOTE: You cannot use the copy or rename commands because the file is locked by the system.

9. Use the following command to place the new CPI file in the %systemroot%\system32 folder. After the file is copied, restart your computer.

         MV /x /d EGA3.CPI EGA.CPI
   

When you work with MS-DOS applications, make sure you select a True Type font for display. The bitmap font available with Windows NT does not have the characters needed.