How to Use ANSI.SYS in Windows NT (100394)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.1
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.1
  • Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1
This article was previously published under Q100394

SUMMARY

You can make use of ANSI.SYS under Windows NT, but you must run COMMAND.COM from Microsoft MS-DOS version 5.0 to do so; the Windows NT command interpreter, CMD.EXE, does not support ANSI.SYS. To use ANSI.SYS, do the following:

NOTE: You can add ANSI.SYS to a specific program by modifying its program information file (PIF). To install ANSI.SYS in your default command prompt configuration, do the following:
  1. Add the following line to the CONFIG.NT file located in the SYSTEM32 subdirectory:

    DEVICE=%SYSTEMROOT%\SYSTEM32\ANSI.SYS

  2. Exit any command prompts you have open.
  3. Start a command prompt.
  4. Run COMMAND.COM from MS-DOS 5.0. Use the following command to make sure you are running MS-DOS 5.0 COMMAND.COM and not the Windows NT version:

    c:\dos\command.com

You should now be able to use ANSI.SYS. To test it, try entering the following escape sequence with the PROMPT command:

prompt $e[31;42m

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:11/20/2003
Keywords:KB100394
©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.