HIMEM.SYS HIDDEN PARAMETERS
HIMEM.SYS is the Microsoft high/upper/extended memory manager, located by default in C:\WINDOWS [Windows 95/98/ME, a.k.a. MS-DOS 7.00/7.10/8.00], C:\DOS or C:\MSDOS [MS-DOS 5.00/6.xx].
MS Windows (ANY release) canNOT start without HIMEM.SYS loaded!
HIMEM.SYS can be loaded ONLY in CONFIG.SYS using the DEVICE command. Example:
DEVICE=drive:\path\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF /Q
HIMEM.SYS's DEVICE line MUST appear in CONFIG.SYS before ANY other device drivers loaded with DEVICE, DEVICEHIGH, INSTALL or INSTALLHIGH, including EMM386.EXE.
HIMEM.SYS provides access to the High Memory Area (HMA), Upper Memory Area (UMA) and coordinates the use of the computer's extended memory, so that no two programs or device drivers use the same memory area at the same time.
IMPORTANT: To become familiar with the HIMEM.SYS command line switches (the documented ones anyway):
- Windows 95/98/ME users: use Notepad to read the "HIMEM.SYS" topic in MSDOSDRV.TXT, a text file located in your Windows folder.
- MS-DOS 6.xx users: run this command from any DOS prompt:
HELP HIMEM.SYS
and read the topic.
DEVICE=drive:\path\HIMEM.SYS /Q [MS-DOS 6.00 and above ONLY]
HIMEM.SYS /Q (QUIET) disables the display of HIMEM.SYS loading status during bootup. Only error messages will be shown, IF the Logo=0 line exists in MSDOS.SYS, under the [Options] section, valid ONLY for Windows 95/98/ME OS.
This switch is valid ONLY for HIMEM.SYS versions 3.10 [MS-DOS 6.00 - 6.22] up to 3.95 [MS Windows 95/98/ME, a.k.a. MS-DOS 7.00/7.10/8.00].
Example:
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /Q
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