run time error R6009

When I attempt to run a particular old DOS program I get run time error R6009 "not enough space for environment ". I am trying to run it under the "cmd.exe" "DOS box" route, but have tried the plain "Windows XP" route also.

This program ran happily in Windows 98 on this same PC (no change in hardware). There is 512 MB RAM.

The problem program is the "changing defaults" program associated with the old Wordstar 6. Wordstar still runs OK and does not need the `cmd.exe' to get it going.

Is there something I can do to get this program running? I have tried stopping other processes which are running in the background (firewall, anti-virus, etc.).

Thanks for your help in the past.

howardh

 

Have you tried running it in Win98 compatibility mode? Sometimes that works for older software - not always.

Instructions for using XP Compatibility Mode

 

thanks

Thanks for the idea, but it didn't work.

howardh

 

As a last ditch effort, uninstall the program and reinstall it in the Win98 compatibility mode. That may require you to create a shortcut to the setup executable file and then select the Properties of that shortcut to gain access to the compatibility options. Then run the shortcut to install the program. I have made that work on some older stubborn software. It doesn't always work - some programs just simply won't work on the new system - but worth a try.

 

Installing MS-DOS program ? Over 99% of the programs are just copy & start using type.

If you are getting out of environment errors, the only way is to increase the environment space. In MS DOS it could be done with shell=command.com /e:512 /p statement in config.sys. Check if you can include this in config.sys file in your shortcut.

 

Error 6009

No luck yet with these ideas, but thanks all the same.

rsinfo - Do you mean config.sys or config.nt? I use Windows XP and can't find a `shell' command to go in config.nt. Could you say more please?

howardh

 

Yes in XP it should (hopefully) go into config.nt. Haven't used this command since DOS days, so I cannot be sure if it works in XP or not, but its worth a try.