Setting Up VI POSIX Editor for Windows NT 3.1

Last reviewed: May 13, 1997
Article ID: Q108581

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Resource Kit for Windows NT and Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1

To successfully execute the VI POSIX Editor that ships with the Windows NT Resource Kit, you must correctly setup the system environment. The Windows NT "Resource Kit Tools Help" helpfile does not give all the information needed to configure VI for use with Windows NT 3.1. To correctly setup VI for use within Windows NT 3.1, perform the following steps:

In the Control Panel window, choose the System icon.

In "User Environment Variables for <user>" box, enter the following environment variables:

      TERM = ansi
      TERMCAP = //<drive letter in ALL CAPS>/<dir>/<termcap filename>
      _POSIX_TERM = on
      tmp = //<drive letter in ALL CAPS>/<dir>
      path = <drive letter>:\<vi executable location>

The TERM variable needs to have a value that matches an entry in the TERMCAP file; by default, this entry is named ansi. Make sure the word "ansi" is lowercase.

The TERMCAP variable contains the full path of the TERMCAP file including the TERMCAP filename itself. You must use the POSIX style naming convention and the drive letter must be in uppercase. You can customize the entry in the TERMCAP file according to your usual command prompt window size; if you usually use a window that's not 80 columns-by- 25 lines, change the CO entry to match the number of columns, and change the LI entry to match the number of lines. For example, if you usually use a 100 column-by-60 line window, the CO entry would be "co#100" and the LI entry would be "li#60". There is an example of a TERMCAP file later in this document.

The POSIX_TERM variable must be set to "on" to use the terminal emulation portion of the POSIX server.

The TMP variable must be set to any valid directory, you must use the POSIX style naming convention, and the drive letter must be in uppercase. The drive letter itself must be located on an NTFS volume. If /tmp is not located on an NTFS volume, then you will only be able to launch vi from any local root directory.

The PATH variable needs to include the directory where the vi executable resides, to be able to run it from anywhere. You should use the standard MS-DOS naming convention.

Example

If the directory of the TERMCAP file and the location of "tmp" is on drive D, AND VI.EXE is located in the D:\reskit\posix directory, then the environment variable entries should be the following:

   TERM = ansi
   TERMCAP = //D/etc/termcap       (Drive letter must be in ALL
   CAPS)
   _POSIX_TERM = on
   tmp = //D/etc                   (Drive letter must be in ALL
   CAPS)
   path = d:\reskit\posix

You can verify that these environment variables are set correctly by typing "set" from the command prompt. However, do not initialize these environment variables using "set" because they will disappear when you exit the VDM. Always use the System applet.

The TERMCAP file must have the following entries to work under Windows NT:

li|ansi|psx_ansi|:\

             :co#80:li#25:\
             :am:pt:ms:bw:\
             :cl=\E[2J:cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:ce=\E[K:cd=\E[J:\
             :sf=\E[S:sr=\E[T:\
              :ho=\E[H:sc=\E[s:rc=\E[u:up=\E[A:d=^J:nd=\E[C:le=^H:\
              :ku=\E[A:kd=\E[V:kr=\E[C:kl=\E[D:kb=^H:\
              :so=\E[7m:se=\E[m:mr=\E[7m:me=\E[0m:\

WARNING: Having the "tmp" variable set to a POSIX-style path causes problems with other applications that look for "tmp" because they expect the "tmp" variable to be set to a standard MS-DOS style naming convention, and may fail when it is not.

Additional query words: prodnt
Keywords : kbtool ntposixap ntutil
Version : 3.1
Platform : WINDOWS

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Last reviewed: May 13, 1997
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