Switches command

Updated: 11/12/2023 by Computer Hope

Loaded in the config.sys, the switches command lets you add and remove various functions of MS-DOS.

Availability

Switches is an internal command that is available in the following Microsoft operating systems.

SWITCHES= /F /K /N /E[:n]

/F	Skips the two-second delay after displaying the "Starting MS-DOS" message during startup.
/K	Forces an enhanced keyboard to behave like a conventional keyboard.
/N	Prevents you from using `F5` or `F8` to bypass startup commands. (SWITCHES /N does not prevent you from pressing `Ctrl`+`F5` or `Ctrl`+`F8` to bypass Drvspace.bin or Dblspace.bin; to prevent this, use the D**SPACE
/SWITCHES	Command to add the SWITCHES /N setting to your D**space.ini file.)
/E[:N]	Used without the :n parameter, indicates that io.sys should suppress the automatic relocation of EBIOS. Automatic relocation of EBIOS increases the conventional memory available to MS-DOS-based programs. Suppressing automatic relocation results in less conventional memory available to MS-DOS-based programs. Use the /E switch with the n parameter to relocate N bytes of EBIOS to low memory, where n is the number of bytes to be relocated. The minimum value for n is 48 and the maximum value is 1024. The number specified is always rounded up to the next multiple of 16.