VER, WINVER, SETVER and MEM MS-DOS Commands

MS-DOS has a few commands to check what version of Windows/MS-DOS you are running. There is also a command to help with compatibility issues with applications running in DOS.

VER - Prior to Windows the VER command would return the version of MS-DOS you were running, however running the VER command in Windows returns the version of Windows you're running.

The following output is from a Windows XP machine:

C:\>ver

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

WINVER - Windows also has another command which returns the version of Windows you are using, however the WINVER command output is in the form of a Windows GUI. It provides a little more information than the VER command such as:

• Windows version
• Build and Service Pack version
• End User License
• Registration Name and Company
• Physical memory available to Windows

SETVER - This MS-DOS command is used to resolve compatibility issues with applications. SETVER will set the version number that MS-DOS reports to a program so that it may run under a newer version of DOS.

MEM - The MEM command displays the amount of used and free memory in your system. There are also a number of useful switches to display memory usage.

C:\>mem /?
Displays the amount of used and free memory in your system.

MEM [/PROGRAM | /DEBUG | /CLASSIFY]

/PROGRAM or /P Displays status of programs currently loaded in memory.
/DEBUG or /D Displays status of programs, internal drivers, and other
information.
/CLASSIFY or /C Classifies programs by memory usage. Lists the size of
programs, provides a summary of memory in use, and lists
largest memory block available.

C:\>mem

655360 bytes total conventional memory
655360 bytes available to MS-DOS
592544 largest executable program size

1048576 bytes total contiguous extended memory
0 bytes available contiguous extended memory
941056 bytes available XMS memory
MS-DOS resident in High Memory Area

C:\>mem /c

Conventional Memory :

Name Size in Decimal Size in Hex
------------- --------------------- -------------
MSDOS 12080 ( 11.8K) 2F30
KBD 3296 ( 3.2K) CE0
HIMEM 1248 ( 1.2K) 4E0
COMMAND 3920 ( 3.8K) F50
DOSX 34720 ( 33.9K) 87A0
KB16 6096 ( 6.0K) 17D0
FREE 112 ( 0.1K) 70
FREE 1120 ( 1.1K) 460
FREE 592544 (578.7K) 90AA0

Total FREE : 593776 (579.9K)

Upper Memory :

Name Size in Decimal Size in Hex
------------- --------------------- -------------
SYSTEM 229360 (224.0K) 37FF0
DOSX 128 ( 0.1K) 80
MOUSE 12528 ( 12.2K) 30F0
MSCDEXNT 464 ( 0.5K) 1D0
REDIR 2672 ( 2.6K) A70
FREE 1104 ( 1.1K) 450
FREE 15760 ( 15.4K) 3D90

Total FREE : 16864 ( 16.5K)

Total bytes available to programs (Conventional+Upper) : 610640 (596.3K)
Largest executable program size : 592544 (578.7K)
Largest available upper memory block : 15760 ( 15.4K)

1048576 bytes total contiguous extended memory
0 bytes available contiguous extended memory
941056 bytes available XMS memory
MS-DOS resident in High Memory Area