MS DOS Command: SHARE.EXE

Reference from Microsoft MS-DOS cmd help

Description

Starts the Share program, which installs file-sharing and locking capabilities on your disks and network drives.

Syntax

SHARE [/F:space] [/L:locks]

In your CONFIG.SYS file, use the following syntax:

INSTALL=[[drive:]path]SHARE.EXE [/F:space] [/L:locks]

Parameters

[drive:]path

Specifies the location of the SHARE.EXE file.

Switches

/F:space	Allocates file space (in bytes) for the MS-DOS storage area used to record file-sharing information. The default value is 2048.
/L:locks	Sets the number of files that can be locked at one time. The default value is 20.

Remarks

Common use of Share

Typically, you use SHARE in a network or multitasking environment in which programs share files. SHARE loads the code that supports file-sharing and locking in these environments. Once you install Share, MS-DOS uses the code loaded by Share to validate all read and write requests from programs. For example, if two people are accessing the same data file, SHARE manages the file so both people do not write to the file at the same time.

Allocating space for file-sharing information

When deciding how many bytes to allocate for file sharing, note that each open file requires enough space for the length of the full path and filename. The average length of a filename and its path is 20 bytes.

Using Share with Microsoft Flash File System

Share may be required in order to run some applications with Microsoft Flash File System.

Examples

The following example shows how you can use the INSTALL command in your CONFIG.SYS file to load Share, with the default values for the /F and /L switches. MS-DOS searches for the file SHARE.EXE in the DOS directory on drive C.

install=c:\dos\share.exe

The following example allocates 4096 bytes for storing file-sharing information and specifies that 25 files can be locked at one time. Again, MS-DOS searches for SHARE.EXE in the DOS directory on drive C:

install=c:\dos\share.exe /f:4096 /l:25