Running 16-bit Windows Applications in a Separate Process

Windows 2000 lets you opt to run a 16-bit Windows application in separate, unshared NTVDM process with its own memory space. This eliminates competition between NTVDM threads in a single process, making the 16-bit application thread fully multitasking and preemptive. It also simplifies monitoring.

To run a 16-bit application in its own address space

• At the command prompt, type:

  start /separate processname

In Task Manager and System Monitor, two instances of the NTVDM process appear. You can use their process identifiers to distinguish between them. Figure 5.15 shows NTVDM threads with the process identifier.

Enlarge figure

Figure 5.15 NTVDM Instances in Task Manager with Process Identifiers

Figure 5.15 shows Task Manager monitoring two copies of a 16-bit application, each in its own NTVDM process.

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