How to Play DOS Games on Windows
Old DOS games usually don't work very well in modern Windows operating systems. A lot of things can cause the game to crash, or suffer from some type of graphical corruption. <br /><br />The solution is called DOSBox. Basically, DOSBox is a virtual machine running an operating system that is very similar to the old MS-DOS. It's a cross platform program, running on virtually any modern operating system. Many \"digital download\" services package DOS games with DOSBox to enable compatibility with Windows XP or newer. In this guide, you'll learn how to install DOSBox on Windows.
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Instructions
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Installing and Launching DOSBox
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1
Download DOSBox (see Resources for link).
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2
Run the installer. There aren't any options, other then specifying the install directory, so installing is a matter of clicking the \"next\" button a couple of times.
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3
Go to \"Start > All Programs > DOSBox-0.73 > DOSBox\" to launch the program.
Installing a Game
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4
Create a folder on your hard drive to install DOS games to. Go to \"Start > Computer.\" Open up the \"C:\" drive, right-click in the window and select \"New > Folder.\" Rename the folder to something useful, like \"DOSGames.\"
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5
Copy the installer for your chosen DOS game into the folder you just created.
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6
Mount a folder by running the following command: \"mount c c:\\DOSGames\"<br /><br />If you created a folder with a different location and/or name in the last Step, use that instead of \"C:\\DOSGames.\"
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7
Run the install program for the game you copied in Step 2. This will vary quite a bit depending on the game because there was no standardization for installer programs in the DOS era.
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8
Once the installer finishes, launch your game.
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Tips & Warnings
There are a variety of sources from which to obtain older DOS games--some legitimate and some somewhat less so. Be careful about who you download from.
References
Resources
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