Important Notice

The pages on this site contain documentation for very old MS-DOS software, purely for historical purposes. If you're looking for up-to-date documentation, particularly for programming, you should not rely on the information found here, as it will be woefully out of date.

◄Notes►  ◄Examples►
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                                 DEVICEHIGH
 
Loads device driver you specify into the upper memory area. Loading a device
driver into the upper memory area frees more bytes of conventional memory
for other programs. If upper memory is not available, the DEVICEHIGH command
functions just like the DEVICE command.
 
You can use this command only in your CONFIG.SYS file.
 
Syntax
 
    DEVICEHIGH [drive:][path]filename [dd-parameters]
 
To specify the region(s) of memory into which to load the device driver, use
the following syntax:
 
    DEVICEHIGH [[/L:region1[,minsize1][;region2[,minsize2] [/S]]=
    [drive:][path]filename [dd-parameters]
 
Parameters
 
[drive:][path]filename
    Specifies the location and name of the device driver you want to load
    into the upper memory area.
 
dd-parameters
    Specifies any command-line information required by the device driver.
 
Switches
 
/L:region1[,minsize1][;region2[,minsize2]...
    Specifies one or more regions of memory into which to load the device
    driver. By default, MS-DOS loads the driver into the largest free
    upper-memory block (UMB) and makes all other UMBs available for the
    driver's use. You can use the /L switch to load the device driver into a
    specific region of memory or to specify which region(s) the driver can
    use.
 
    To load the driver into the largest block in a specific region of upper
    memory, specify the region number after the /L switch. For example, to
    load the driver into the largest free block in region 4, you would type
    /L:4. (To list the free areas of memory, type MEM /F at the command
    prompt.)
 
    When loaded with the /L switch, a device driver can use only the
    specified memory region. Some device drivers use more than one area of
    memory; for those drivers, you can specify more than one region. (To
    find out how a particular device driver uses memory, issue the MEM /M
    command and specify the device-driver name as an argument.) To specify
    two or more regions, separate the block numbers with a semicolon (;).
    For example, to use blocks 2 and 3, you would type /L:2;3.
 
    Normally, MS-DOS loads a driver into a UMB in the specified region only
    if that region contains a UMB larger than the driver's load size
    (usually equal to the size of the executable program file). If the
    driver requires more memory while running than it does when loaded, you
    can use the minsize parameter to ensure that the driver will not be
    loaded into a UMB that is too small for it. If you specify a value for
    minsize, MS-DOS loads the driver into that region only if it contains a
    UMB that is larger than both the driver's load size and the minsize
    value.
 
/S
    Shrinks the UMB to its minimum size while the driver is loading. Using
    this switch makes the most efficient use of memory. This switch is
    normally used only by the MemMaker program, which can analyze a device
    driver's memory use to determine whether the /S switch can safely be
    used when loading that driver. This switch can be used only in
    conjunction with the /L switch and affects only UMBs for which a minimum
    size was specified.
 
Related Commands
 
For information about loading programs into the upper memory area, see the
<LOADHIGH> command.
 
For information about loading device drivers into conventional memory, see
the <DEVICE> command.
 
For information about using the MemMaker program to move programs to the
upper memory area, see the <MEMMAKER> command.
 
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