Technical Notes on MACHINES.INI and SETMDIR

MACHINES.INI is a file that lists, for each client, the location of the machine directory and other drive letters to connect. This file is stored on the server containing the shared Windows 95 files. The following shows the format of each entry in MACHINES.INI:

[Node_address]
sysdatpath=drive:\path
drive=\\server\share specified in sysdatpath

The Node_address section name is the 12-character address of the network adapter for a particular computer. You can find this address on NetWare networks by using the userlist/a command. On computers running Windows for Workgroups or Microsoft Workgroup Add-On for MS-DOS, you can find this address using the net diag /s command. If the node address you find is less than 12 characters long, you must add 0 (zero) characters at the front of the address. For example, if the node address is AA00578902, then the section name must be [00AA00578902].

The path defined in sysdatpath= must be a drive that is mapped to a drive letter in the same MACHINE.INI section.

In the following example, the machine directory is set to E:\DIR1\DIR2, and drives C, D, and E are set to network locations:

[00AA0051E4FB]
SysDatPath=e:\dir1\dir2
c=\\server1\share1
d=\\server2\share2
e=\\server3\share3

Note A section entry must be included in MACHINES.INI for each remote-boot workstation or floppy-disk computer in order for the computer to be started.

The setmdir command is used to set the machine directory for the computer and load the full Registry.

The floppy startup disk or disk image for shared installations contains only a mini Registry large enough to start the real-mode network. The startup disk for shared installations does not contain the information to find the machine directory, so that a single boot image on the network (or floppy startup disk) can be used to start several computers. The setmdir command solves this problem.

For computers running Client for Microsoft Networks and Microsoft Client for NetWare Networks, the setmdir command connects to the directory that contains the shared Windows 95 files and looks for MACHINES.INI. When the setmdir command finds the computer entry in MACHINES.INI, it switches the Registry APIs to point to the full Registry.

For computers that use real-mode networking clients, the setmdir command-line includes the path to the machine directory, rather than using MACHINES.INI. This is because the system has no guaranteed way of finding node addresses on other networks.

Setmdir Parameters