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Q33449: How to Increase MS-DOS Environment Space

Article: Q33449
Product(s): Microsoft Disk Operating System
Version(s): MS-DOS:3.x,4.x,5.x,6.0,6.2,6.21,6.22
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): 
Last Modified: 17-DEC-2000

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system versions 3.1, 3.2, 3.21, 3.3, 3.3a, 4.0, 4.01, 5.0, 5.0a, 6.0, 6.2, 6.21, 6.22 
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SYMPTOMS
========

You receive an "out of environment space" error.

CAUSE
=====

The "out of environment space" error can occur when there are many set commands
or a long path statement in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

RESOLUTION
==========

You can change the available environment space by putting the following line in
the CONFIG.SYS file:

  shell=c:\command.com /e:<size> /p

To set the environment to 256 bytes, use one of the following lines:

  MS-DOS Version          Configuration Command
  ---------------------------------------------
  3.00 or 3.10            shell=command.com /e:16 /p
  3.20 or later           shell=command.com /e:256 /p

MORE INFORMATION
================

The /e:<size> parameter specifies the environment size, where <size>
is the size in bytes or in multiples of 16 bytes.

The term "paragraph" is used to refer to these 16 bytes.

For MS-DOS versions 3.0 and 3.1, size is in multiples of 16 bytes that you want
to reserve for the MS-DOS environmental variables, ranging from 10 to 62
paragraphs (160 to 992 bytes).

For MS-DOS versions 3.2 and later, the size is the actual number of bytes,
ranging from 160 to 32,768 bytes. MS-DOS rounds the specified size up to the
next logical paragraph boundary.

For MS-DOS versions 3.2x, 3.3x, 4.0, 4.01, and 4.01a, the default size is 160
bytes.

For MS-DOS version 5.0 and later, the default size is 256 bytes.

NOTE: Attempting to use the /e:<size> parameter without the forward slash
(/) results in the following error message at bootup:

  Too many parameters

Additional query words: 6.22 3.00 3.10 3.20 3.30 3.30a 4.00 4.01 4.01a 5.00 5.00a 6.00 6.20

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Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbMSDOSSearch kbMSDOS321 kbMSDOS400 kbMSDOS320 kbMSDOS330a kbMSDOS621 kbMSDOS622 kbMSDOS620 kbMSDOS600 kbMSDOS310 kbMSDOS500 kbMSDOS330 kbMSDOS401 kbMSDOS500a
Version           : MS-DOS:3.x,4.x,5.x,6.0,6.2,6.21,6.22

=============================================================================

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