Process Priority

Hello, I am a new member to these forums.

I decided to join after having trouble with a missing system32 folder, and finding the answer to my problem here. Hats off to Raven if you get this. Since you were the one with the answer. Your post to a similar problem solved mine.

Anyways, I am currently having trouble with the ntvdm.exe file which emulates a 16 bit dos environment on a 32 bit system (XP Pro). The ntvdm.exe process is taking up about 98% of the CPU processing time and will not give it up to other programs.

So my question is does anyone know how to "throttle" down the this process? I have played with the process priority in the task manager by lowering the ntvdm.exe's process priority which seemed to work but, after a restart the process is reset to the original priority.

So I am looking for a perminent solution to the problem. I have heard that you can set process priority somewhere in the registry, but I have searched to no avail.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

The problem may not be with NTVDM, but with the DOS app itself. If you right click on the DOS app and select properties, you sould get some tabs that you have not seen before. You may find some settings in the Misc tab that will fix your problem.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. But, several hours after writting up the post I actually found a way to solve my problem.

I found a program that editted processes through the command prompt and I used a batch script to open my desired program (which ran through ntvdm.exe) then told the batch script to start the process editting program and set the ntvdm.exe to a lower priority. It's pretty slick if I say so myself. LOL

I appriciate the help though and for all I know my solution may not work so, I'll keep your assistance to mind. Thanks again.

P.S. if anyone wants the link to the process editting program or a look at the batch, post and I'll try to provide both. I can't now because the link and program are on my comp at work.

 

Could you please be more specific and tell us how you did it?

 

I was able to locate a program that is capable of editting processes that are currently running on the system. The program can be downloaded at
http://www.beyondlogic.org/solutions/processutil/processutil.htm

I created a new batch file and first set it to open my application, after the application started I told the batch to start the process program and then echoed a command which caused the ntvdm.exe to decrease in priority. Here is the batch code:

Here is the original:

@echo on
cd..
cd c:\NV
start nv.exe
cd c:\NVBatch
Echo process
process -p ntvdm.exe belownormal
end

Here it is with a bit of an explaination:

@echo on
cd..
cd c:\Application_Folder

REM above line goes to folder holding the application I want to run
start Application_Executable.exe
REM Above line starts the application I wan to run

cd c:\Process_Folder

REM Here I point the script to the folder holding the process editting program
REM This Program is used to set the process priority of ntvdm.exe to a lower value.

Echo process

REM The echo starts up the editting program and the command below executes the function needed to lower the process priority of ntvdm.exe

process -p ntvdm.exe belownormal
end


I copied the script to the desktop so that when I want the program that needs ntvdm.exe to run I just start the batch script which opens the program and lowers the priority of ntvdm.exe so that it doesn't take up too much of the CPU time so that I can run other applications properly in the background.

It may not look to pretty, I added the REM lines in so others could follow it but so far it has worked for me and I hope that it will help someone else with the same problem.