With the advent of DOS 6 you can now add a start up menu to your CONFIG.SYS file. Here's some ideas on why you might want to use a multiple startup config.sys menu. Suppose that you backup your hard drive once a week. It might require you to install a device driver in the config file but it takes an extra minute to boot up your computer. Since you only need to use it once a week you can add a startup menu to your config.sys file that lets you install it only when it's needed.

You can also use this to choose whether or not to install network device drivers or run off of a local disk drive. The high school that I went to used one that let you choose a local CD-ROM device or the network CD-ROM. I personally use a startup menu to make a RAM drive on my computer. Some days I need one, some days I don't. Some days I need to make different sized RAM drives, the config.sys menu makes this VERY helpful. Beware of using Memmaker with a config menu. How to use Memmaker with a config menu The main commands used with a menu are [MENU] and MENUITEM. The MENU command is used to start a block heading (Used with brackets). MENUITEM is used to define a startup block to execute. Here's an example of usage:

[MENU]
MENUITEM NETWORK_START, Start The Network
MENUITEM MS_ANTIVIRUS_START, Run MS-Antivirus
MENUITEM BOTH_START, Start Both The Network And MS-Antivirus
MENUITEM SIMPLE_START, Start Neither Of Them

Each line is a separate start up block. In the first line MENUITEM starts the process. NETWORK_START is the name of the configuration block to execute if that line is selected. Notice that it's followed by a comma. That tells DOS to display whatever is after it, which is "Start The Network", on your menu screen. This same procedure goes for every other MENUITEM line. Each line can only contain 70 characters. The menu line displayed as your menu can contain any ASCII character, however, the configuration block can't contain the following: spaces / \ , ; = [ ]
Now, each configuration line requires a separate configuration block. Here's what the block for our first line might look like:

[NETWORK_START]
DEVICE=C:\NET\PROTMAN.DOS /i:c: \net
DEVICE=C:\NET\WORKGRP.SYS
DEVICE=C:\NET\EXP16.DOS

This block starts PROTMAN.DOS and enters the switches /i:c: \net. Then it starts WORKGRP.SYS and EXP16.DOS.
Lets take a look at the third option in our menu, Start Both.

[BOTH_START]
INCLUDE NETWORK_START
INCLUDE MS_ANTIVIRUS_START

The INCLUDE command calls the NETWORK_START configuration block and the MS_ANTIVIRUS_START block. You could just retype the entire network and antivirus blocks in this one block, but this is an easier method to use. Caution- this method also wrecks havoc on Memmaker. See Using Memmaker with config startup menus.
The last option block, SIMPLE_START, would just be blank or could just call a common block.

[MENU]
MENUITEM NETWORK_START, Start The Network
MENUITEM MS_ANTIVIRUS_START, Run MS-Antivirus
MENUITEM BOTH_START, Start Both
MENUITEM NIETHER_START, Simple Start
MENUDEFAULT NIETHER_START, 10

It looks pretty much the same as the first menu except for the last line which has MENUDEFAULT instead of MENUITEM. It gives the user 10 seconds to pick an option and then automatically starts the NIETHER_START configuration block. The timeout period can range from 0 to 90 seconds. Note: 0 automatically starts the default block and doesn't allow you to choose any other options.

You can add a line anywhere in your menu to change the default colors of your menu.
MENUCOLOR x, y
x is the color of the menu text and y is the color of the background. Here's a list of color codes:

       0 BLACK                    8 GREY
       1 BLUE                     9 BRIGHT BLUE
       2 GREEN          	  10 BRIGHT GREEN
       3 CYAN			  11 BRIGHT CYAN
       4 RED			  12 BRIGHT RED
       5 MAGENTA		  13 BRIGHT MAGENTA
       6 BROWN	        	  14 YELLOW
       7 WHITE   		  15 BRIGHT WHITE

Suppose that you want be able to choose to run windows off the network or off a local hard drive. You could make a submenu within a configuration block that would let you do that. Here's what it would look like:

[MENU]
SUBMENU WINDOWS_SELECT, Run Windows Local Or From Network
[WINDOWS_SELECT]
MENUITEM WIN_NETWORK, Run Windows Off The Network
MENUITEM WIN_LOCAL, Run Windows Off Local Hard Drive
MENUITEM NO_WINDOWS, Don't Run Windows At This Time
SUBMENU MENU, Return To Main Menu

Basically you just stick a submenu line in your main menu block. When selected it calls another menu of its own. Each MENUITEM start up block is set up just like described earlier. Notice the last line, SUBMENU MENU. This will send the user back to the main menu, a nifty little trick. Using submenus can be a bit hectic, so you might want to do some pencil and paper planning before you actually tackle them.

If you need help understanding what this batch file did you can refer to my page on Batch Commands.

All right boys and girls, this is what you've all been waiting for. The DOS 6 bible is doesn't have the best way to use Memmaker with config menu setups. Microsoft must been too busy putting an apple under the microscope to realize the all the problems with this. It takes some work, but eventually this method will fully optimize your config.sys start up file. Memmaker doesn't know anything about the following commands:

[MENU]
MENUITEM
SUBMENU
INCLUDE
COMMON -in fact, Memmaker ignores all commands within a COMMON block

The way to get around this is to comment out all lines except for the one configuration block. Do this by adding a semicolon to the beginning of every line except for the one configuration block you want to optimize and any commands that appear before the [MENU] statement. For your autoexec.bat file you would use the REM statement Run Memmaker one time for each configuration block. After running it, comment out the block you just ran and un-comment out another block. Then run Memmaker again. Continue until all blocks are accounted for. NOTE: Include statements cannot be used at all if you use Memmaker. You must add what lines you are including to each block needing them. Memmaker cannot set the included blocks to run differently for different configurations. You will have to use this method for EVERY POSSIBLE CONFIGURATION. Unless, of course, there are some configurations that you KNOW you will NEVER USE (Like, say, you know you'll never want to load a driver for a sound card at the same time you want to load a driver for a tape backup). Still got problems? E-mail me at dosman33@hotmail.com