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jaydub222
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

RAM for DOS/Windows 3.11 Guest in WS15 Pro

I'm using VMware Workstation 15 and just installed a Windows for Workgroups 3.11 guest on on top of MS-DOS 6.22.  I have two questions:

- Is there any guidance on what level to set RAM at in VMware? 
- Should I make changes to config.sys to better align DOS memory configuration with the amount of memory I choose in VMware?

According to Microsoft, DOS 6.22 has a memory ceiling limit of 64mb and Windows 3.11 has a practical limit of 256mb.  I only seem to be able to successfully boot to Win3.11 when my memory setting in VMware is at 64mb or less. Otherwise, the blue Win3.11 flash screen stalls and I can't get into the desktop.  Right now DOS memory in config.sys is at its default setting. Config.sys shows the following:

DEVICE=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH
FILES=30
LASTDRIVE=Z
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
STACKS=9,256

MEM command shows the following:
Conventional 638k
Upper                0k
Reserved          0k
Extended 63,360k
Total         63,998k

Particulars:
Guest OS: WfWG 3.11 on MS-DOS 6.22
VMware Guest Settings: Memory = 64mb
Host OS: Win10
VMware: Workstation Pro 15
PC Hardware: Intel Kaby Lake with 32gb memory

Any advice would be most welcome. Thanks in advance.

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

Seems to work here.

pastedImage_0.png

Running DOS 6.20 and Windows 3.1 (not 3.11)

My config.sys does not have the IFSHLP.SYS line.

Guest OS: MS-DOS

and hardware compatibility (eg. the virtual hardware level) is set to: Workstation 6.0

Running under VMware Workstation 15.0.2.

hope this helps,

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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jaydub222
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Good to know.  Did you change your memory configuration in config.sys, or does it look like mine?

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

It looks like yours, no specific memory configuration.

The mem command does return pretty much the same though.

Which I suppose is not that surprising as DOS itself cannot access that much memory.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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