MS-DOS: EMM386.EXE and VCPI Services (96625)

SUMMARY

The information in this article applies to all versions of EMM386.EXE shown below:

Product                                Version of EMM386.EXE
----------------------------------------------------------
MS-DOS 6.0                                    4.45
MS-DOS 6.2 and 6.21                           4.48
MS-DOS 6.22                                   4.49
Windows for Workgroups 3.11                   4.48

EMM386.EXE included with MS-DOS 6.x and Microsoft Windows for Workgroups version 3.11 provides support for the Virtual Control Program Interface (VCPI) without having to set an expanded memory page frame and without having to specify a VCPI memory pool.

VCPI services are provided by default--no special switches or parameters are required. If you want to disable VCPI support, you must use the NOVCPI switch on the EMM386.EXE command line in the CONFIG.SYS file.

MORE INFORMATION

Several popular MS-DOS-based applications use DOS extenders to share extended memory and use of the protected mode of 80386 and higher processors through VCPI. VCPI is an extension to the expanded memory services (EMS) interface and is typically implemented by an EMS emulator (such as EMM386.EXE or Quarterdeck's QEMM386.SYS).

Without VCPI support, "DOS-extended" applications could not run with systems running in virtual 8086 mode. EMS emulators use virtual 8086 mode to provide expanded memory mapping and/or create upper memory blocks (UMBs).

To enable VCPI support in the version of EMM386.EXE provided with both MS-DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1, you must configure EMM386.EXE to emulate EMS. To enable VCPI without EMS support when the NOEMS switch is active, you must specify a VCPI memory pool size. For example, if you are using the version of EMM386.EXE from MS-DOS 5.0 or Windows 3.1, you can use the following command to provide 1 megabyte of VCPI memory:

   DEVICE=EMM386.EXE 1024 NOEMS

The MS-DOS 6.x and Windows for Workgroups version of EMM386.EXE enables VCPI support without specifying a VCPI size parameter even if the NOEMS switch is active. Any EMM386 device command that does not include the NOVCPI switch provides VCPI services.

With EMM386.EXE, VCPI memory is sized using the same parameters as the EMS pool size (EMM386 [memory] and MIN= parameters).