Starting with the Program Object
The install program creates a Desktop FS/2 program object in the FS/2 folder. To start FS/2, double click on the program object. The FS/2 initialization screen will appear with a message indicating the directories being opened for the file windows. You may modify the Parameters field of the FS/2 program object to designate start up directories as explained in Setting Start Parameters. In normal use, the last used directories are the startup directories.
It is recommended that the FS/2 desktop object be set to allow opening a new instance of FS/2 (Window tab->Object open behavior->Create new window). The default is to display the existing window.
Starting from a Command Prompt
A normal install of FS/2 makes no changes to the config.sys file since starting from a command prompt should seldom be necessary. Starting FS/2 from a command line from any directory other than the FS/2 directory, using simply the FS/2 executable filename, the FS/2 directory must be in the config.sys LIBPATH and PATH statements. Otherwise, the command line invocation must include a path component. Two startup path arguments may be added to the command line as described in Startup Directories and by example, the command 'filestar /min C:\DOS D:\OS2' would start FS/2 minimized with the startup directories of C:\DOS and D:\OS2.
Using FS/2 as a Shell
There may be times when it is useful to use FS/2 as a PM shell. To do so, the config.sys file must be modified by changing the SET RUNWORKPLACE= statement to point to the FS/2 executable, i.e.:
SET RUNWORKPLACE=X:\FILESTAR\FILESTAR.EXE
After boot, FS/2 will then automatically start when PM is initialized. It can then be used to do file analysis/maintenance and to start other applications. Run SHUTDOWN.EXE to shutdown the OS when finished.