So i've been researching this for a quite a bit and its difficult to determine what settings are most optimal, correct or compatible for being able to maximize the best of both worlds for dos functioning and windows 9x functioning overall, particularly as it relates to available windows system memory, etc. without getting too detailed, i have came up with a particular config.sys to use that assumes correct vcache settings, rloew's patchmem /m from beforehand. i want to know if these settings are acceptable for being able to limit memory for dos apps either in dos mode / inside windows but also maximum available system ram inside windows, so that i can use up to 1.5 GB in this example ( maxphyspage=60000 ), and use the following below as well in config.sys at the very top of the file, assuming no other himem.sys entries are present ( i would be using XMGR.sys renamed to himem.sys to allow better functions and be able to access safe mode with more than 512 MB of ram ).

i want to know if himem.sys will conflict with himemx2.exe, since himemx2.exe is already being loaded, and so what happens if a dos app calls for himem.sys, wouldn't that conflict with himemx2.exe? the only other option is to simply use the updated himem.sys instead, but for whatever reason im latching on with himemx2.exe to be used in config.sys ).

i tried to research on what exactly are the differences between them but couldn't really get a sufficient explanation, but apparently both are supposed to improve areas relating to EMS / XMS, ram management overall ( to use more than 1.128 GB available windows system ram ) which is one of my primary goals, as it doesn't work with just rloew's ram patch alone. i am using "max=62" to ensure more compatibility for dos apps, but i still want to use maxphyspage=60000, and so i was wondering if they conflict? 

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEMX2.EXE /MAX=62 /NUMHANDLES=64 /TESTMEM:OFF
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM 15253 FRAME=E000

 

If you need to limit memory - use memory limiter: burmem/limitmem/xmsres.

9 hours ago, cov3rt said:

maxphyspage=60000

Do not use this execept for Safe Mode. But as you use RLoew's patchmem - do not use at all.

21 hours ago, SweetLow said:

If you need to limit memory - use memory limiter: burmem/limitmem/xmsres.

Do not use this execept for Safe Mode. But as you use RLoew's patchmem - do not use at all.

does limitmem.sys limit memory inside windows as well, or is it only for dos mode / dos applications? like i said before, i want the best of both worlds, also for maxphypsage, why is it a problem to use with rloew's patch? i ask because even when installing rloew's patchmem, i still have to use "maxphyspage=48000" or else the system doesn't operate correctly and / or may have boot problems, etc. It has been a long time since i've tested this, so it's not clear why this is the case, considering i've seen people use more than 1.128 GB of ram without issue with rloew's patchmem, but in my case, even with minfilecache/maxfilecache set to at least 1/24 of system ram made available / installed, it doesn't change the problems. and it appears that i only gotten a relatively modest improvement with rloew's patchmem, in terms of being able to use up to 1.128 GB of available system memory, as opposed to only 1 GB on unpatched systems, specifically with using "maxphyspage=40000". for more than 1.128 GB, i still had to use "maxphyspage=48000", as the ram installed was higher than that, and thus caused problems. 

The only thing i can see here is that limitmem.sys appears to do some kind of dos related functions that "maxphyspage" does not do, but still limits max available ram once booting into windows, so this appears to be why you are saying to use it instead of "maxphyspage" settings? however, would this then allow me to set a limit past 1.128 GB or is the 1.128 GB limit not fixed by the limitmem.sys being loaded in config.sys? i couldn't find "burmem" from my searching, and "xmsres" was too broad, so we are left with the other stuff. 

On 7/6/2025 at 8:42 AM, cov3rt said:

does limitmem.sys limit memory inside windows as well

It does.

On 7/6/2025 at 8:42 AM, cov3rt said:

i couldn't find "burmem" from my searching

Sorry. Typo. It is burNmem.

On 7/6/2025 at 8:42 AM, cov3rt said:

"xmsres" was too broad

https://github.com/Baron-von-Riedesel/XMSTools

On 7/6/2025 at 8:42 AM, cov3rt said:

so this appears to be why you are saying to use it instead of "maxphyspage" settings?

There are different internal results for Windows Memory Manager. And using DOS tools has much more strict effect in memory limiting.

Edited July 7, 20251 yr by SweetLow