CONFIG.SYS - SET Statements

The Config.sys Documentation Project
BASEDEV Statements CALL Statements DEVICE Statements IFS Statements OS/2 Commands DOS Commands RUN Statements SET Statements PSD Statements Other Information Programs Hardware List of Statements

Environment variables are stored by OS/2 in memory and can be called by any program. They are used by many programs to store information (for example, the install path) or some configuration information. If you want to see a list of all installed environment variables and their values, type "Set" in an OS/2 window. If the list is too long, you can redirect the screen output to a file, simply type this:

SET >output.txt

General Tips

Note that SET commands in CONFIG.SYS behave differently than when entered on the command line.

So, when you issue the following commands in a OS/2 session:

SET TEMP=C:\TMP
SET TMP=%TEMP%

you get:

TEMP=C:\TMP
TMP=C:\TMP

But, if you add the same lines to CONFIG.SYS:

SET TEMP=C:\TMP 
SET TMP=%TEMP%

you get:

TEMP=C:\TMP
TMP=%TEMP%

but not TMP=C:\TMP. The environment variable TMP now has the value composed by the letters "%", "T", "E", "M", "P", "%". For that reason, in CONFIG.SYS, you must write the values explicitly as follows:

SET TEMP=C:\TMP
SET TMP=C:\TMP

This is because variables are not expanded during CONFIG.SYS processing, but they are when run from a shell (command line).

Base Operating System

• COMSPEC
• C1
• DELDIR - undelete directory
• DESKTOP
• DIRCMD - dir command options
• DISPLAYTYPE
• DPATH - search path for data files
• ENH_STRETCH - enhanced stretch-blitting
• ENH_SUSPEND - enhanced suspend option
• GRADD_CHAINS
• GREEXT
• KEYS - command line history
• LANG - country-specific settings
• OBJECTSNOOZETIME
• OS2_SHELL - command line shell
• PATH - search path for executable files
• PROMPT - OS/2 session prompt appearance.
• RUNWORKPLACE
• ULSPATH
• VIDEO_DEVICES
• VIO_MGA
• VIO_SVGA

PM

• BACKGROUNDBITMAP
• BACKGROUNDBITMAP2
• BACKGROUNDBITMAPDELAY
• BACKGROUNDBITMAPDELAY2
• DEVICEFONTDISABLED
• HARDWAREBITBLT
• NCDEBUG
• PM_ASYNC_FOCUS_CHANGE
• PM_DYNAMIC_DRAG
• PM_ROLLUP_BUTTON
• QUEUE_SIZE_THRESHOLD
• SYSTEM_INI - Tells the system the path and name of the System INI file.
• USER_INI
• VCFG_NO_DDC - GRADD DDC

Help Manager

• BOOKSHELF - help manager search path for book shelves
• GLOSSARY
• HELP
• HELPNDX - Help index

Workplace Shell

• AUTOREFRESHFOLDERS - automatic refresh of folders
• AUTOSTART - autostart of objects
• MENUSTYLE - context menu entries
• NEWNOTEBOOKS
• NOLARGENTEXEICON
• RESTARTOBJECTS
• SHAPIEXCEPTIONHANDLER
• SHELLEXCEPTIONHANDLER - Disable the WPS exception handler.
• SHELLHANDLESINC - Increases the number of file handles.
• SHOWEXTENDEDPOWERMENU - Intel SpeedStep
• SOMDDIR
• SOMIR
• WPDSERVERSTART

WarpCenter

• MENUSFOLLOWPOINTER - WarpCenter menu behaviour
• SCCANBENUKED - Allows the Warpcenter to have a delete option on its context menu.
• SCFINDUTILITY - Use a different search program in the Warpcenter.
• SCKILLCONFIRMDISABLED - Avoid the "Are you sure ..." dialogue if using the Warpcenter kill feature.
• SCKILLFEATUREENABLED - Enables Warpcenter window list Warpcenter Window List as an application killer.
• SCUSEPRETTYCLOCK - Change the look of the Warpcenter clock.

Multimedia

• DSPPATH
• MMBASE
• MMSTREAM
• MMTYPESEXTS
• MMVWRLOG
• MMWPSLOG
• MMYIELD

Installation

• CDROMINST
• COPYFROMFLOPPY
• SAVECONNECT
• SOURCEPATH

Layered Products

Programming Environments

Toolkit

• CPREF - Control Program Reference
• GPIREF - GPI Reference
• INCLUDE - Include directory
• IPF_KEYS - IPF key definitions
• IPFC - IPF compiler
• LIB - Points to directories where lib files are stored.
• MMREF - Defines which files should be shown in the Multimedia Programming Reference.
• PMREF - Presentation Manager Reference
• WPSREF - Workplace Shell Reference

SOM

• SMADDSTAR
• SMCLASSES
• SMEMIT
• SMINCLUDE - Defines the directories where the special SOM header files are stored.
• SMNOTC
• SMTMP - Points to a directory used to store temporary files.

SOMobjects

• AVLSVRNAME
• SOMBASE
• SOMDDEBUG
• SOMDIR
• SOMDMESSAGELOG
• SOMDPORT
• SOMDTIMEOUT
• SOMRUNTIME
• SOMSOCKETS
• SOMTHREADPEER

Java Run-time

• CLASSPATH - Java run-time classpath
• SWING_HOME - Swing run-time

Networking

LAPS

• ADAPTER_NIF
• ETC

LAN Services

• DLSINI
• INIT_FILE_NAMES
• INIT_FILE_RANGES
• LANINSTEP
• LOCPATH - Points to the location of the language files.
• NWDBPATH
• WPS_COMMUNICATION

TCP/IP

• HOME
• HOSTNAME
• I18NDIR
• NLSPATH
• NSPR_OS2_NO_HIRES_TIMER
• TCPLANG - Sets the language for TCP/IP V4.x.
• TELNET.PASSWORD.ID - Sets a password for the telnet daemon (Telnetd).
• TZ - Timezone information.
• USE_HOSTS_FIRST - resolver

MFS

• MFSCACHE - mobile file sync

Global Security Runtime

• IKEYMAN_HOME
• IKEYMAN40_HOME
• IKEYMAN50_HOME

• LOGNAME
• MGA - Matrox graphic cards directory

• NETVIEW_PATH - Defines the path where the SystemView client is installed.

• SRVNAME1 - Used for remote installations of OS/2.

• TEMP - Define a directory were OS/2 and programs can store temporarily files.
• TMP - Define a directory were OS/2 and programs can store temporarily files.

Check also CONFIG.SYS - SET Statements (Additional software).