Setting Initialization Files

Windows does not require the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files. Because these files may not be present on the hard disk, you should make sure that your application does not require entries in those files.

Windows does not require you to modify the PATH environment variable. Instead, Windows looks for your .EXE and .DLL files in the application-specific path specified in the registry. Your installation program is responsible for setting the application-specific path when it installs the application.

Windows does not require an application to load device drivers at boot time. This means that your application does not need to specify drivers in the CONFIG.SYS file. Instead, your application can dynamically load the drivers when it starts by using the virtual device loader functions of Windows or the CreateFile and DeviceIoControl functions.

Your installation program should not make entries in the WIN.INI file. It should be adding entries to the registry instead. The installer provides an easy way to make the necessary registry entries. If you have information that you do not want to put in the registry, your installation program should create a private initialization file and place it in the same directory that contains your application's executable files.