----------------------------------------------------------------------------- MaxDIR [Frequently Asked Questions] Freeware ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Updated: 22 January 2005 This Text file contains many frequently asked questions about MaxDIR. If you are having any problems getting MaxDIR to work or have questions about the operation of this program, please check this document. Q1: What are the minimum system requirements for using MaxDIR? A1: MaxDIR is a 16-bit True DOS program. It requires DOS 3.3 or higher, and it needs 128K of free Conventional System Memory to run properly. MaxDIR will run under PC-DOS, MS-DOS, DR-DOS, or any Operating System that can emulate a True DOS session, such as many types of MacOS, Win 3.1, WindowsNT 3.51, WindowsNT4, Windows95/98, etc... Just finished testing under PTS-DOS and FreeDOS with no problems. Q2: When I double click on the DI.EXE program, a box opens and then immediately closes, and all I see is a flash on the screen. What am I doing wrong? A2: MaxDIR is a DOS program. Windows95/2000 usually closes a DOS window after the opened program ends. MaxDIR ends as soon as it is finished displaying the directory, and so it is then closed by Windows. What you should do is create a Shortcut to the di.exe file and make sure that the "Close on exit" option is un-checked. To do this under Win98SE, right click on the desktop and select New|shortcut, then put di.exe in the command line. Click Next, and type in a name for MaxDIR. Then click next and select an Icon(if you are asked). Click next and make sure the Close on Exit option is clear before you click Finish. That's it. On Windows95 it is pretty much the same, except that you may have to right click on the icon and select Properties|Program to uncheck the Close on exit item. Q3: I have put MaxDIR in it's own directory, c:\mdir\ , but it will only run when I am in that directory and not in any others. A3: MaxDIR needs to be in your system search path, specified by the PATH= statement in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. There is an easy way to make sure that it is in the path, by moving it into the c:\windows (or c:\winnt) directory. The more difficult way is to insert it into your PATH= statement. You must edit the Autoexec.bat file in your system root (C:\) directory. Windows users can use Notepad to do this. DOS and/or Windows users can go to an MS-DOS prompt and type EDIT C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT and press enter. Look for the PATH= statement. We'll assume you put MaxDIR in the C:\MDIR directory. You should enter C:\MDIR; just after the PATH=. For instance, say your system path looks like: PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\UTILITY you should edit it to look like this: PATH=C:\MDIR;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\UTILITY Then save the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and re-boot the system. Q4: My DOS system occasionally locks up when I run MaxDIR. What could be wrong? A4: You should check to make sure that you have at least 64K of Conventional RAM available by using the MEM command. You should also make sure you are not in a DOS Session inside another program. Programs that can give you a DOS prompt will sometimes not free up enough memory to run any other programs or commands. Another possibility could be an incorrect Video driver on some older systems. If MaxDIR locks up your system, it could indicate a more serious problem with your system's configuration. Q5: My WindowsNT 4.0 system occasionally shows erratic garbage and colors whenever I use MaxDIR. Sometimes it freezes the system. What is wrong? A5: Close all programs and reboot into VGA compatible mode and install the correct Video Driver. Make sure you have Service pack 3 or higher installed, and, you MUST make sure you have the correct Video Card driver. If MaxDIR locks up a WindowsNT computer, it indicates a very serious system problem that could possibly be caused by an incorrect device driver. Q6: MaxDIR sometimes says, "MaxDIR Drive Failure! FAIL! Specify a valid Drive! [C:]. Not ready reading drive X (X represents the failed drive's letter) Abort, Retry, Fail? What happened? A6: This error message could mean many things, some simple, some not so simple. The [C:] is just a hint that you should specify the C drive as a valid drive to look for. The first thing you should do is type F and press enter. This tells the system to Fail the attempt and return you to a prompt. You may have to do this 2 or 3 times. Then you should type C: (or another valid drive) and press enter to return you to a stable DOS prompt. Some possible reasons for the Failure: 1- The Zip disk is not inserted 2- The CD-Rom Disc is not valid, or has not spun up yet, or was removed. 3- The floppy drive is empty / the floppy disk is bad / can't be read. 4- The network drive was disconnected. 5- The dialup connection was disconnected. 6- The network drive was un-mapped or not properly mapped. 7- The network drive does not have Directory rights. 8- The device has failed or lost power. 9- The device's driver is incorrect. Q7: How do I find out what command switches I can use with MaxDIR? A7: Type DI /? and press enter. This is the help screen where all available commands are shown. Q8: I can barely see some of the files on my monochrome LCD screen. A8: You should use DI /C . This tells MaxDIR to not use color. Q9: I use an old HP handheld computer with a small mono LCD display, and when I type DI, it doesn't do anything but return me to the DOS prompt. A9: Try DI /O. This tells MaxDIR to use BIOS video addressing. Some older computers, that have DOS in ROM chips, cannot directly access the video display, which is what MaxDIR defaults to using. You can create a batch file called DI.BAT that runs DI /C, and you can use it that way. Q10: MaxDIR shows the wrong Bytes Consumed, Bytes Free, and Disk Size on my Windows95/98/ or NT computer. Why? A10: If your OS is not using FAT12 or FAT16 type disks, the Bytes Consumed will be wrong. If your disk is over 2GB in size, and in some cases, over 1GB in size, DOS will not report the correct Bytes Free and Total Disk size to MaxDIR. Windows does this to keep DOS programs running correctly, since DOS cannot recognize Disks over 2GB. All other DOS programs will report the same information as MaxDIR, because of this. Some versions of Windows95 will not attempt to correct info for drives over 2GB in size, and thus, DOS may report negative(-) disk size and/ or bytes free. MaxDIR only gives you information that it gets from DOS. Q11: Is it safe to put MaxDIR on my boot disk? A11: Yes. All that MaxDIR requires is a DOS prompt. Several system administrators put MaxDIR on boot disks and emergency disks, from what I'm told. Q12: I use MaxDIR to display multiple directories when the system boots up. Is it safe to use it in the Autoexec.bat? A12: It is perfectly safe to put MaxDIR in the Autoexec.bat. Q13: How do I make a custom configuration for MaxDIR? A13: Custom configurations are enabled as of version 2.25. To create or edit a MaxDIR custom configuration file, simply run the CFG.EXE program and press F1 for the instructions. Each configuration file has your default command switches, custom program colors, and 96 custom extension colors. You can store and use up to 25 separate configurations. Q14: How do I set a custom configuration to be the default for MaxDIR? A13: Rename the configuration to MAXDIR.CFG. Every time you use MaxDIR, it looks for MAXDIR.CFG. If it does not exist, it then uses the built-in defaults. Q15: What command can I use to tell MaxDIR to use a different configuration? A15: Use DI /zfilename where filename is the name of the configuration. Do not put the .CFG at the end, since MaxDIR does this for you. Example: I want to use the configuration called TEST123.CFG DI /ztest123 Please Note: You never need to put a path to the config file. Q16: What command can I use to tell MaxDIR to NOT use MAXDIR.CFG? A16: DI /z Q17: MaxDIR and/or MaxDIR Config is not finding my config files. ? A17: All MaxDIR files must be in the same directory. DI.EXE, CFG.EXE, and all of the .CFG files must all be in the same location. The folder they are in must also be in the PATH= statement. If you are a Windows user, it is easiest to just make sure they are all in the Windows folder. If you are a DOS user, then it is easiest to move them to the DOS directory. MaxDIR is a very smart program, and it knows where to find all of the files for itself without you having to change folders to edit and use its configurations. Q18: My company has several installations of MaxDIR over several servers with several mapped drives. How do I find out the location of the one I am using when I type DI? A18: Several people have asked me this in the past, so I implemented a finder in v2.23 and above. To find out where MaxDIR is running from on your system/ network, type DI /B. It will show you the entire path. For those of you who are programmers, this uses the COMSPEC passed via ARGV. Q20: In what programming language is MaxDIR written? A20: MaxDIR is written in ANSI C. Not C++. It is compiled using Borland Turbo C++ 3.0, using the 64K data+program memory model. Q21: How do I get MaxDIR to use my current background color? A21: MaxDIR uses your current background color as of version 2.29. If you have a question or comment that is not addressed in this document or on www.c-shore.com, please send an e-mail with your question to the e-mail address listed on the site, and I will do my best to give you an answer.