Topic: Windows - Using MSCONFIG

[number6]

This post will begin a series of posts by myself and others of the gameheaven staff to help explain some aspects of Windows that never seem to be explained well.  If users only knew this little bit of information they would be so much more comfortable with using Windows or troubleshooting a problem.

There are many times I mention to someone who is having problems with Windows to run msconfig.exe, but I never seem to have time to explain the process. Well here you go.

Running msconfig.exe for Windows 9X (should be similar for XP)

First you need to go to the "Start Menu" and select run like this :




Next you need to type in msconfig in the run box and press OK like so:



You should now get a screen like the one below (without the red circle I drew ) :



The screen above is very useful for troubleshooting your system or disabling certain config files at boot up. The reason I have circled the "Advanced" button is because I want you to press it. Go ahead, press the "Advanced" button. You should see a screen like this (without red arrow of course):



That red arrow is pointing to the checkbox that, when set with a check mark, will enable the startup menu for windows. Now if you have Tweak UI setup on your system this button will be either greyed out or not there. We will cover Tweak UI in another post. The startup menu is a useful thing to have around sometimes and it is noce to know how to enable it.  There are a lot of other useful things to do on this screen, but we will leave that to actual problems people post to this board. You can go ahead and cancel out of "Advanced Trouble Shooting Settings".

The next 4 tabs deal with settings in specific config files for Windows. These screens give you an easy way to set boolean (true/false checkboxes) values easily without having to open these files in a text editor. Just to let you know the files are:

• C:\config.sys (old carry over from MS-DOS, rarely used nowadays)
• C:\autoexec.bat (another old MS-DOS config file, but still useful for setting env settings)
• C:\Windows\system.ini (Old carryover from Winows 3.1.x that is still used to configure windows system settings like device drivers (ie: video drivers))
• C:\Windows\win.ini  (another old windows file that is used to map settings for windows)

I have included screen shots for these settings, but I will not comment on them since I feel they are self explanatory. If anyone has any questions here just post the question in this thread.

config.sys screen:




autoexec.bat screen:



system.ini screen:



win.ini screen:



Finally we come to the screen that I use the most. That would be the startup screen as seen below:




My startup section has a lot of stuff in it doesn't it? I am too lazy to clean it up all the time. For me it is just as easy to go in here and simply deselect what I don't want running and reboot. Whenever you make any change on any screen in msconfig you are going to get a prompt to reboot the system. None of your changes will take effect until the system has been rebooted.

You will notice the item I have selected on startup screen. I have no idea what that application is, but I know I don't need it so I unchecked it. When in doubt about something in startup uncheck it and reboot. If you mistakenly turn off your video card driver you can always check it back on after the reboot.  

Anyways that's all I have for now on msconfig. Please ask questions if you have any.

[gryphon]

For Win2k users the program MSCONFIG is not included in the default Windows installation. It is however possible to simply copy it from a WinXp computer or by downloading this ZIP file and copy the 2 files into your WINNT directory.

[number6]

I wonder why it's not included with Win 2000? What about Windows NT? Is there a file that can be downloaded for NT as well?

[gryphon]

I presume you downloaded it from an NT4.0 client a few hours back and it didn't work ?

If the winXP one doesn't work you could try the Win95 one [ not included in Win95 but this should be it ]. Not shure if it will work though.

And I don't know why it's not in Win95, NT4.0 or Win2000. Win200 has system services in which you can choose which programs should run at startup and which shouldn't.

[number6]

You are correct! I have attached a screebshot (bitmap) of the error.



[attachment deleted by admin]

[gryphon]

Don't know if you have tried the Win95 version from the previous post, although I'm guessing it wouldn't work. It'll be next week until I'm with a few NT4 admins. I'll ask them and should there be one I'll let you know.
The same features is available with 3th party software however.

[number6]

Yes I tried the one you linked above.

[gryphon]

Weird, and sorry. I presumed you didn't as I only seem to have downloads for MSCONFIG.ZIP and non for MSCONFIG-W95.ZIP. I should check my IIS, had dubious ideas about the loggin process of the darned thing for a few weeks now anyway.

[Doc Nyar]

I have found Services in XP to be very usefull to turn off programs you're not using. I've found this site to be very usefull to use as reference and look up more information. They also have a tweak which you can use for gaming. Just follow this link.

Note: Keep track of the changes you make. If something doesn't work as it should, you can undo what you changed !

Happy gaming

[Acriku]

Thanks for the information number6! I very often use Startup tab, as well. A few questions, though:

1. I also have the latest Java program installed, and I have the path set for /bin. But, I do not have the 'SET JAVA_HOME=...', is that needed for anything specifically? Java works on my computer, so it's not necessary to have it I guess.
2. A few weeks ago I found the list of StartUp items from the msconfig menu in my registry, but I can't find it anymore. I'd like to clean some of it up as I use it often, do you know the location of it?

Thanks!

[number6]

1. No you don't need the JAVA_HOME setting set. You only need that if you are writing Java programs.

2. On my machine it is in : My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

[Acriku]

I write Java programs as well? Well, I write .java files and compile them, I guess that's programming.  

Thanks for the location, it's all clean now

[number6]

I read your post in the other thread and I am guessing your editor sets that JAVA_HOME setting for you. It is needes to resolve the CLASSPATH and get the bin directory for the java compiler.

[Acriku]

I looked in my .bat file and here is what I put in :

PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\JAVA\BIN;

So, I guess that does both at once, eh?

[number6]

Well that will handle the java binaries, but not the CLASSPATH. If you don't have a problem there must be a setting in your editor that handles this for you. There could also be a registry setting. I use the command line to compile my java code so I need that JAVA_HOME setting to point to the right place.