Changes Norton Desktop Makes to AUTOEXEC.BAT and SYSTEM.INI

Last reviewed: February 14, 1995
Article ID: Q82408

This information applies to:

Microsoft Windows operating system versions 3.0, 3.0a, 3.1, 3.11

SUMMARY

This article discusses the following changes that are made to your system files by Norton Desktop for Windows versions 1.0 and 1.1:

SHELL= Setting Changed in SYSTEM.INI File
Device Drivers Installed in the SYSTEM.INI File
Changes to the AUTOEXEC.BAT File

MORE INFORMATION

SHELL= Setting Changed in SYSTEM.INI File

Norton Desktop for Windows can be installed as a shell that replaces the Program Manager of Windows. To do this, Norton Desktop modifies the [boot] section of the SYSTEM.INI file. To temporarily disable Norton Desktop, edit the SYSTEM.INI file in a text editor (such as Microsoft Windows Notepad), and change the line "shell=ndw.exe" so that it reads "shell=progman.exe" (without the quotation marks).

Device Drivers Installed in the SYSTEM.INI File

Norton Desktop for Windows installs three virtual device drivers (VFINTD, VDMADX, and VNSS) in the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory and places the following four lines in the [386enh] section of SYSTEM.INI:

   DEVICE=VFINTD.386
   DEVICE=VDMADX.386
   DEVICE=VNSS.386
   DMABufferSize=21

The following is an explanation of the lines in the [386enh] section of SYSTEM.INI:

   Lines               Description
   -----               -----------

   DEVICE=VFINTD.386   Virtual Floppy Interrupt Device Driver

   DEVICE=VDMADX.386   Virtual direct memory access (DMA) Device
                       Driver (replaces the default VFINTD, VDMADX,
                       VNSS internal DMA device driver *vdmad)

   DEVICE=VNSS.386     Virtual Screen Saver Device Driver

   DMABufferSize=21    Sets amount of RAM reserved for buffered DMA
                       (default=16)

Removing or remarking out these lines causes Windows to exit to the command prompt when you try to start Windows in 386 enhanced mode.

To remove Norton Desktop for Windows, you need to remove the three device= lines mentioned above and add the following line to the [386Enh] section of the SYSTEM.INI file:

   DEVICE=*vdmad

Changes to the AUTOEXEC.BAT File

When you install Norton Desktop for Windows version 1.0 or 1.1, your AUTOEXEC.BAT file may be modified. Toward the end of the installation the following choices are given:

Make changes:
The NDW directory will be added to the PATH variable. Erase Protect (EP) and IMAGE will be added as well.
Make changes later:
Nothing is changed.
Make no changes:
The Norton Desktop for Windows directory is added to the path. It is not added if the PATH has reached its limit of 128 characters.
Some versions of Norton Desktop delete the 't' from batch file extension so the batch file will not run.

Norton Desktop for Windows is manufactured by Symantec Corporation, a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product's performance or reliability.

For more information, call Symantec technical support.

KBCategory: kbsetup kb3rdparty
KBSubcategory: win30 win31 winboot
Additional reference words: 1.00 1.10 1.x 3.00 3.00a 3.10 3.11 NDW ND
winfest

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Last reviewed: February 14, 1995
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