Why is my computer out of environment space?

Updated: 12/30/2019 by Computer Hope

This issue can be resolved by increasing the amount of environment space by adding the following line to the config.sys file.

SHELL=X:\PATH\COMMAND.COM /P /E:NNNN

X:\PATH\ is the path to where the command.com is on the computer.
/E:NNNN can be any number from 512 to 1024. It is recommended that you only utilize 512; this is because the more environment space used, the less amount of conventional memory that will be available.

Alternatively, as mentioned above, do any of the following recommendations to increase the amount of environment space.

  • Decrease the path statement.
  • If special prompt is defined, remove or slim down the prompt statement.
  • Remove any lines from the autoexec.bat and config.sys that may not be needed. Including any switches after commands that are unnecessary.