SUMMARY

MS-DOS Shell Help contains a syntax documentation error. It states that you can specify the location of the DOSSHELL.INI file by setting a dosshell environment variable in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. For example, if the DOSSHELL.INI file is located in your DOS directory on drive C, according to the help file, you would add the following command line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:

   dosshell=c:\dos

The syntax in the above statement is incorrect. This does not set the environment variable. Adding this entry to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file causes Shell to be executed, which stops AUTOEXEC.BAT file processing until you exit Shell. A correct example for this line entry is:

   set dosshell=c:\dos

This entry only sets the environment variable to the DOS directory; it does not start Shell (therefore your AUTOEXEC.BAT file is still processed). This syntax can be checked by using the SET command at the C prompt to examine the environment variables.