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out of date.
EMM386--Notes
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EMM386──Notes
Installing the EMM386.EXE device driver
To use the EMM386 command, you must have an 80386 or higher processor, and
you must also install the EMM386.EXE device driver by using the DEVICE
command in your CONFIG.SYS file. If you try to use the EMM386 command on a
computer that does not have an 80386 or higher processor, MS-DOS displays
the following message:
EMM386 driver not installed
Reactivating EMM386 expanded-memory support
If EMM386 was loaded when MS-DOS started but is not currently in use, the ON
parameter reactivates expanded-memory support.
Suspending EMM386 expanded-memory support
If EMM386 expanded-memory support is currently active, handle 0 is the only
handle allocated, and EMM386 is not providing access to the upper memory
area. The OFF parameter suspends EMM386 expanded-memory support. When EMM386
expanded-memory support is off, the EMM386.EXE device-driver header is
changed so that programs cannot use expanded memory. This enables you to run
non-VCPI-compliant programs such as Windows 3.0 in Standard mode.
Enabling and disabling Weitek coprocessor support
If the W=ON parameter is specified and the OFF parameter (different from the
W=OFF parameter) is not, EMM386 enables Weitek coprocessor support. The high
memory area (HMA) must be available to enable Weitek coprocessor support. If
you load MS-DOS into the HMA by specifying DOS=HIGH, you may not be able to
enable Weitek coprocessor support.
If you specify the W=ON or W=OFF parameter and no Weitek coprocessor is
installed in your computer system, MS-DOS displays the following error
message:
Weitek Coprocessor not installed
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