NDOS Can Cause Windows to Exit Unexpectedly (90344)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.1
  • Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.11
  • Microsoft Windows 3.1
  • Microsoft Windows 3.11
This article was previously published under Q90344
The following article contains information on the use of Windows for Workgroups with third-party products or configurations that have not been tested and are not supported by Microsoft.

If the steps or procedures described in this article do not function properly, contact the manufacturer of the third-party product for more information or use a supported configuration.

SUMMARY

If you run Symantec's Norton Utilities NDOS as your command interpreter in MS-DOS, you must modify the DOSPRMPT.PIF file to point to NDOS.COM instead of COMMAND.COM.

By default, Windows sets up an MS-DOS Prompt icon in the Main group of Program Manager that invokes COMMAND.COM. Attempting to use this icon to start MS-DOS Prompt can result in Windows exiting unexpectedly at some point. It doesn't always happen immediately, but usually you eventually run into this problem while running MS-DOS programs or utilities.

MORE INFORMATION

If a replacement command interpreter is in use, there will be a SHELL= line in the CONFIG.SYS file specifying the full path (for example shell=c:\norton\ndos.com). If you use a replacement command interpreter, you should use the PIF Editor to modify the DOSPRMPT.PIF file to run the replacement interpreter instead of COMMAND.COM.

To modify DOSPRMPT.PIF:

  1. Start PIF Editor.
  2. Open DOSPRMPT.PIF.
  3. Replace COMMAND.COM in the Program Filename field with the name of the replacement command interpreter.
  4. Save the File.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:10/14/1999
Keywords:KB90344
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