How to Use DOSBox

By eHow Computers Editor

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The DOSBox emulator is a program that acts as a computer running the DOS operating system. Once you have the game downloaded and installed and have some games ready to go, you can follow these steps to get started playing DOS games in a small window on your current PC.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Step1

Create a folder on your hard drive that will serve as the DOSBox program's C drive. For this tutorial, we'll use the folder name "games" on the PC's C drive. This is where you will store games to be accessed by your DOSBox program.

Step2

Put any games that you have downloaded into this new folder. Create separate folders for each of your games. For this tutorial, we'll say there is a folder called "chess" that contains a DOS-based chess game.

Step3

Run your DOSBox program. Two windows will appear; minimize--but don't close--the DOSBox Status Window. When you see the Z:\ prompt in the main DOSBox window, type "mount c c:\games." With this command, you are telling the DOSBox program where your emulated C drive will be located.

Step4

Type "c:" and press enter when you see the Z:\ prompt. Then type "cd chess." You should now see a prompt that says "c:\chess."

Step5

Enter the name of the executable file that is required to run your game. You can find out which file this is by reading a "readme" file that comes with your game. Type in the name of that file, minus the .exe file extension, and hit enter. Your game will begin and you are ready to play.