Keyboard Layout in DOS Mode

Hi There ,

i'm an Itasian user of Vista.
I have italian keyboard
I use still a DOS program

I have tihs strange error:
when i open a command window the keyboard layout works fine, but when i
enter in EDIT the layout is set in English mode. When i start my DOS program
the layout is set in English mode.

Now KEYB command don't work till Windows XP version.
How can i set in config.nt or autoexec.nt the keyboard to have italian
layout ?

THX
F.

"Fabrizio" <> wrote in message
news:3B02FD23-760B-4773-9C7C-...
> Hi There ,
> i'm an Itasian user of Vista.
> I have italian keyboard
> I use still a DOS program
> I have tihs strange error:
> when i open a command window the keyboard layout works fine, but when i
> enter in EDIT the layout is set in English mode. When i start my DOS
> program the layout is set in English mode.
> Now KEYB command don't work till Windows XP version.
> How can i set in config.nt or autoexec.nt the keyboard to have italian
> layout ?

The command prompt CMD.EXE is a 32-bit aplication so it uses the Win32 NLS
setting you configure in Control Panel, Regional Settings. But when you
start a DOS application like EDIT, the DOS app reads the NLS settings from
thw DOS environment of the NTVDM; not the Win32 settings.

In Vista the DOS KEYB command is replaced by KB16.

First, test that KB16 runs okay, by entering the command:

C:\Windows\System32\KB16 IT,850,C:\Windows\System32\KEYBOARD.SYS

.... to enable an Italian keyboard. KB16 should return to a command prompt,
with no messages (error, or otherwise). The Italian keyboard will remain
active until you close the DOS prompt.

On Windows NT (including 2000, XP and Vista) a DOS application takes its
startup environment from the files C:\Windows\System32\Config.NT and
C:\Windows\System32\Autoexec.NT. So to activate a code page for a DOS app,
add the Italian code page commands to C:\Windows\System32\CONFIG.NT and
C:\Windows\System32\AUTOEXEC.NT, the same as you would to C:\CONFIG.SYS and
C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT on a DOS machine.

In CONFIG.NT add to the end of the file:

COUNTRY=039,850,C:\Windows\System32\COUNTRY.SYS

In AUTOEXEC.NT add to the end of the file:

C:\Windows\System32\KB16 IT,850,C:\Windows\System32\KEYBOARD.SYS

Now to test, open a Command Prompt.
Then run the command "command.com". This will start an instance of the
MS-DOS Command processor.
Run the command "edit", to start the DOS editor.
Try typing in a few words in Edit, to see if the new Italian keyboard is in
effect.

Hope it helps,

--
Andrew McLaren
amclar (at) optusnet dot com dot au