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documentation, particularly for programming, you should not rely on the information found here, as it will be woefully out of date.

◄Example►  ◄Syntax►
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                               DEVICE──Notes
 
Using standard device drivers
 
The standard installable device drivers provided with MS-DOS are
<ANSI.SYS>, <DISPLAY.SYS>, <DRIVER.SYS>, <DRVSPACE.SYS>, <EGA.SYS>,
<EMM386.EXE>, <HIMEM.SYS>, <INTERLNK.EXE>, <POWER.EXE>, <RAMDRIVE.SYS>,
<SETVER.EXE>, and <SMARTDRV.EXE>.
 
The files COUNTRY.SYS and KEYBOARD.SYS are not device drivers. They are data
files for the COUNTRY and KEYB commands, respectively. Do not try to load
either of these files with the DEVICE command. If you do, your system halts,
and you cannot restart MS-DOS. For information about loading COUNTRY.SYS,
see the <COUNTRY> command. For information about loading KEYBOARD.SYS, see
the <KEYB> command.
 
Installing device drivers for other products
 
When you purchase a mouse, a scanner, or a similar product, the manufacturer
usually includes device-driver software. To install a device driver, specify
its location and name on a DEVICE command line.
 
Installing a third-party console driver
 
If you install both DISPLAY.SYS and a third-party console driver, such as
VT52.SYS, the third-party device driver must be installed first. Otherwise,
the third-party device driver may disable DISPLAY.SYS.
 
Installing multiple device drivers
 
Sometimes one installable device driver will require that it be loaded
before or after another in your CONFIG.SYS file. For example, EMM386.EXE
requires HIMEM.SYS to be loaded first. If the device driver requires that
another device driver be loaded before it, make sure the commands are listed
in the correct order in your CONFIG.SYS file.
 
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