NetWare VLM Client on a 286

The minimum supported processor for the NetWare VLM client is a 286. Lets give it a go!

I'm doing this testing using 86Box emulating a generic PC clone using an AMI BIOS. The PC has a 6MHz 286 processor, 2688KB of RAM (640K base memory, 2MB extended memory), CGA Graphics, a 1.44MB 3.5" floppy drive and a 30MB MFM hard disk. These sepcs should be similar to what you can get in IBM PC AT 5170 form but the AMI BIOS is a bit nicer to use.

The emulated network interface is a 3Com Etherlink II (3C503) at address 0x300, IRQ 3, DMA 3 and BIOS address CC00. I've tried the emulated NE2000 but couldn't get it to work - almost certainly an issue with the emulator.

This page will quickly cover installing the client under MS-DOS 6.22 followed by testing it out on MS-DOS 3.21, 4.01, 5.0 and 6.0 to test compatibility and memory use. The install process is identical for all versions of DOS.

The client in use here is the latest version - 1.21. The 3C503 drivers come from v1.20b. This is all available from The VLM Client Page.

Installing on MS-DOS 6.22 and Logging In
Starting and logging in on DOS 6.0
Starting and logging in on DOS 5.0
Starting and logging in on DOS 4.0
Starting and logging in on DOS 3.21

Installing on MS-DOS 6.22

A PC Clone with 2MB of extended memory and a 286 processor.

I've copied the VLM package on to six disk images labeled WSDOS_1 through WSDOS_6. I've mounted WSDOS_1 first. Install.exe is the program to run.

Installer starting...

Installer started on a 286!

No windows on this computer so skip to step 5: select a LAN driver.

Wait while it gathers a list of drivers on the WSDOS_1 disk.

No EtherLink II driver! It was removed for the v1.21 release (probably to make room for another more common NIC).

So select OTHER DRIVERS

Copy 3C503.CO_ and 3C503.INS from VLM v1.20 disk 1 onto a blank floppy and put it in the drive then hit enter

I picked the first option - it seems to work fine with 86Box.

The defaults are fine so press F10 to continue.

Then hit enter to start installing.

Copying NIC driver...

Then on to WSDOS_2.

Installing continues...

Then we skip disk 3 and go straight to disk 4.

A little bit more installing

And done! Hit Ctrl+Alt+Del to reboot (or Ctrl+F12 in 86Box)

Rebooted and netware client started

And this is how much free RAM we get afterwards.

Unlike on the emulated 256K 8088 the NetWare 4.11 login command works fine.

Logged in on a 286!

Output from mem /c

Starting and logging in on DOS 6.0

DOS 6.0 is basically identical to 6.22 as far as the NetWare VLM client is concerned.

Client started

Run login from the server

Login screen from a NetWare 4.11 server. The odd character is just a result of the 86Box shortcut key which seems to go through to DOS too.

Free memory - same as DOS 6.22

Starting and logging in on DOS 5.0

Note that this is a DEC OEM version of MS-DOS 5.0. It came on four (rather than three) DEC-branded floppy disks. The fourth disk includes an online help thing and the other disks may have a few extra files too. The DOS startup banner also includes a DEC Copyright statement. Its possible this version may have a different memory footprint from the retail version of MS-DOS 5.

Client started and attached to my NetWare 4.11 server. This is a clean install of DOS 5 so all the stuff Microsoft (and perhaps DEC) put in CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT is still there.

Run login from F drive

NetWare 4.11 Login screen

Logged in on MS-DOS 5.0 on a 286.

Free memory after login. Config.SYS includes DEVICE=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE, DOS=HIGH, FILES=40.

Starting and logging in on DOS 4.0

This is a DEC OEM version of MS-DOS 4.01 that came with a DECstation. I'm not very familiar with DOS 4 so I don't know how closely it matches the standard Microsoft boxed version. I installed using the "balanced" memory option whatever that means. The config.sys file contains this by default:

    BREAK=ON
    BUFFERS=20
    FILES=40
    LASTDRIVE=Z
    SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM /P /E:256
    DEVICE=C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS 
    INSTALL=C:\DOS\FASTOPEN.EXE C:=(50,25)

and autoexec.bat contains this after install:

    @ECHO OFF
    SET COMSPEC=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM
    VERIFY OFF
    PATH C:\DOS
    APPEND /E
    APPEND C:\DOS
    PROMPT $P$G
    C:\DOS\GRAFTABL 437
    VER

Unlike the DEC version of DOS 5, this one includes no extra copyright statements.

Network client started

Run login

NetWare 4.11 login screen under DOS 4.01 on a 286

Free memory after login. Memory use could be trimmed down a fair bit from here - to start with HIMEM.SYS isn't loaded by default and there is a load of other junk in config.sys and autoexec.bat that could be removed.

Starting and logging in on DOS 3.21

This is a version of DOS 3.21 that I've had forever. Its likely an OEM copy from NEC but the original disks are long gone and all I've got now is a copy.

First problem: The VLM Client installer puts @CALL C:\NWCLIENT\STARTNET into autoexec.bat - this doesn't work on DOS 3.21. Thats fine.

Client started under DOS 3.21 on a 286!

Run login...

NetWare 4.11 login starts.

And this is as far as login gets. Given this login program works fine on the same emulated hardware under DOS 4-6.22 I guess the NetWare 4.11 login program is incompatible with MS-DOS 3.21.

Luckily, the MS-DOS Editor from DOS 5 works fine under DOS 3.21. I've set my preferred server to a NetWare 3.2 one.

Now attached to NetWare 3.2

logged in!

Free memory after login. DOS 3.21 doesn't come with HIMEM.SYS so the whole client is sitting in conventional memory. Probably better off running the older NETX client here.

Disclaimer & Comments

I'm not a netware expert, don't have any of those fancy novell certifications and have never administred a netware network; I've just played with it at home occasionally since 2004 or so. Email me if you've got any suggestions or corrections for this page or any extra information you think is worth including here. My address is david at this websites domain name (without the www bit of course).

ZXnet