mscdex.htm MS-DOS Command

Type: External (6.0 and later)

Syntax:

MSCDEX /D:driver [/D:driver2. . .] [/E][/K][/S][/V][/L:letter] [/M:number]

Purpose: Used to gain access to CD-ROM drives.

Discussion

MSCDEX can be loaded from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file or from the command prompt to gain access to CD-ROM drives. The device driver that came with your CD-ROM must be loaded from your CONFIG.SYS file. This command should not be used after Windows has started.

Options

/D:driver1 [/D:driver2 . . .] /D:driver specifies the driver signature of the first CD-ROM device driver. This parameter must match the /D switch on the CONFIG.SYS command that starts the corresponding CD-ROM device driver. The MSCDEX command must include at least one /D switch. /E – Specifies that the CD-ROM driver be allowed to use expanded memory, if available, to store sector buffers. /K – Specifies that DOS should recognize CD-ROM volumes encoded in Kanji. By Default, MS-DOS does not recognize Kanji CD-ROM values. /S – Enables sharing of CD-ROM drives on MS-NET or Windows for Workgroups servers.

/V – Directs MSCDEX to display memory statistics when it starts.

/L:letter – Specifies the drive letter to assign to the first CD-ROM drive. If you have more than one CD-ROM drive, MS-DOS assigns additional CD-ROM drives subsequent available driver letters.

/M:number Specifies the number of sector buffers.