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My idea is make a DOSBox like with virtualbox and FreeDOS (or MS-DOS).
Is it possible?

Only need install DOS in virtual box, or need something else? Can FreeDOS have a GUI for open, per example, games more easily?

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2 Answers 2

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I have just done it. Some obstacles could've been finding Dos Shell, or getting an incorrect ms-dos version error(which can happen when you mix and match), fortunately I found dos shell, and had no 'incorrect msdos version' error running it, and similarly you can do the same and get no error. I will explain how

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Stage 1- Get DOS running in virtualbox.. Get a C prompt

Stage 2- Get DOS SHELL(DOS's classic file manager) on there.

For Stage 1

Download an MS DOS image.. I downloaded MSDOS 6.22

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And in Virtualbox, create your new machine, then in the menu load your floppy image that you downloaded

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Then you get an A prompt rather than a C prompt

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If you type C: you get some error.. maybe invalid drive specification. So type FDISK and create a new partition and then click Machine..Reset

Then if you do C: you get a different error like General failure reading drive C, that means it's there it just needs to be formatted.

So do A:\>format c: /s

then click machine..reset you can even remove the flopy drive so device..floppy.. then uncheck the image.

Now that's stage 1 done. You have MSDOS booting to a C prompt. You just need DOS SHELL now.

So Stage 2 - that's the stage for getting DOS SHELL

I found this website

http://www.pcxt-micro.com/download.html

http://www.pcxt-micro.com/download/dosshell.zip

I figured there was a high "risk" of getting an "Incorrect MS-DOS version error" which is an error i've never really got to the bottom of in 20 years of computing so i'm glad not to have gotten that error. You won't either.

Then I looked to make a floppy image I downloaded a program that'd do it WinImage.. it'a a trial program but it is OK for this

http://www.winimage.com/download.htm

I tried adding the DOS SHELL files to the original image but it said the image was full. So within Win Image, I did file..new, then dragged the files into it and it put them in. Then File..Save As. And I named the image. Win Image lets you save as imz which is compressed, or as IMA. Go for IMA not IMZ. Virtualbox or DOS rather, doesn't recognize IMZ

And remember your DOS system in virtualbox is booting from C now. And you're not making a bootable image this time. Just an image with DOS SHELL on it. So now do DIR from A: so A:\>DIR <ENTER> and you see dos shell files there.

do md c:\dosshell copy a:\*.* c:\dosshell

c:\dosshell>dosshell<ENTER>

And hey presto DOS SHELL launches.

Use right ctrl in virtualbox to grab the mouse cursor.

I just tried launching a program from DOS SHELL you can..

But really if you are using DOS then use it properly rather than use a file manager. Even using a file manager from DOS isn't that pretty.. e.g. using tab and arrow keys. Learning to use the CD command and DIR command won't kill you really.

Here is Xenon 2 launched from DOS SHELL (and it did launch from DOS SHELL)

http://www.abandonwaredos.com/abandonware-game.php?gid=ODQw

I used xcopy to copy it from an image I made on A, to C. xcopy is on the 6.22 image.. I copied all the files on that 6.22 image to c:\commands and did set path=c:\;c:\commands

But Xenon 2 in virtualbox is slower than I think it would be on DOSBOX, and there's no sound.

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And I would add that in addition to dosbox or to virtualbox, there is this magnificent innovation from archive.org where you can play dos games in your browser it's done with javascript apparently https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos

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  • I tried with freeDOS but i get an error when I try wget something like a dos game, something like with Packet driver installation. i guess i have install that driver, for WGET work, and maybe other internet service like ping too... Thanks May 3, 2015 at 14:34
  • I didn't use any internet access within DOS (so I didn't use wget) Also in the days of DOS most people didn't have internet access. I made an image of a floppy disk and copied the game onto that. Then I loaded the virtual floppy image into the virtual machine
    – barlop
    May 3, 2015 at 15:44
  • You may want to create a partition with fdisk, and then install programs to C. And this link has some more commands specifically for dos 6.22 (so no invalid msdos version error) drummerdonnie.com/Archive/DOS%206.22%20bootup/Disk%201
    – barlop
    Oct 6, 2015 at 8:08
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Yes, you should easily be able to do this with DOSbox.

It should be straight-forward. The main thing you need is a bootable image, usually a floppy disk image for DOS, a .img file. You will need to find one on the Internet or make your own, I think the DOSBox web site has a utility?

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  • does dosbox even use img files? DOSBOX you run it and en emulated DOS appears, and then within dosbox you mount some directory like mount d c:\crp and then you have access to that. And you copy files to and fro. That's how it works.. Doesn't AFAIK work with images
    – barlop
    Oct 6, 2015 at 6:44
  • I think you've misinterpreted the question? He wants to run DOSbox as a VM doesn't he? Which is the question I answered. Oct 10, 2015 at 15:28
  • I interpreted him right hence he accepted my answer. He said virtualbox with freedos/msdos.. So he meant like DOSBOX, but more of a real DOS emulation Virtualbox with freedos or msdos, strongly suggests he means not with DOSBOX. He only mentioned DOSBOX to say that he wanted to do something like that but with virtualbox. There's no way he would've meant acatually installing DOSBOX within a virtualbox msdos/freedos system. But that aside. But what do you mean by dosbox as a VM? Dosbox is already like a VM. And if you think the DOSBOX site has a utility, why not point to it. it's a small site.
    – barlop
    Oct 10, 2015 at 15:49

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