Article ID: 248802 - Last Review: October 3, 2005 - Revision: 3.0

You receive the "Out of environment space" error message when you execute the Vcvars32.bat batch file

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This article was previously published under Q248802

SYMPTOMS

Executing the Vcvars32.bat batch file from the MS-DOS prompt on Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Millennium Edition (Me) systems generates the following messages:

Setting environment for using Microsoft Visual C++ tools.
Out of environment space
Out of environment space
Out of environment space

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CAUSE

The error can occur when you do not have enough memory in the MS-DOS environment to set an environment variable.

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RESOLUTION

For more information about increasing the environment memory for MS-DOS programs, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

230205 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/230205/ ) Out of environment space error message in MS-DOS programs

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STATUS

This behavior is by design.

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Vcvars32.bat is a batch file containing statements that set the environment variables necessary to run Visual C++ tools such as Cl.exe from the MS-DOS prompt. It is created during the Visual C++ setup.

Use the following steps to run this batch file for every MS-DOS session:

Locate the Command.com program in WINDOWS directory using Windows Explorer.
Right-click the program and select Properties.
Select the Program tab in the Properties window
Type the full path to the Vcvar32.bat file in the "Batch file" edit window.

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REFERENCES

For more information, see the following in the MSDN Library (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library) :

Visual Studio 6.0 Documentation; Visual C++ Documentation; Using Visual C++; Visual C++ Programmer's Guide; Compiling and Linking; How Do I...; Set Environment Variables

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