DOSBox is a DOS virtual machine that lets you run games or other software that runs on the classic OS. Like a virtual machine, the DOS software gives you control on how to emulate your programs such as its graphics and sound output.
DOSBox can recreate legacy hardware that was running native the native DOS OS.
DOSBox is a great DOS-emulator and can run all sorts of classic titles from a bygone gaming era. The learning curve is quite steep, and if you are a beginner then you may find it a tad difficult to get to grips with. Apart from that, it is a great way to run plenty of classic games that don't run on a new computer!
To get to your games faster, you can edit the options.bat file at (default) C: Program Files (x86) DOSBox-0.74. Anything added to the bottom row will automatically execute every time DOSBox is started. Type the commands you would normally type here to access your games faster. For example, if your game folder is C: dos, then. Mount c c: dos c: dir.
DOSBox is able to successfully emulate 286 and 386 processors in a real and protected mode, as well as Directory FileSystem, eXtended Memory Specification (XMS) or Expanded memory specification.
DOSBox is one of the best applications you can find for playing classic video games on modern devices. In addition, since it was developed with SDL libraries, there are ports for countless platforms and architectures, from Windows and Mac to Linux, video game consoles, and microcomputers.
DOSBox can recreate legacy hardware that was running native the native DOS OS. One of the notable aspects of retro games that the virtual machine can recreate is software graphics such as EGA and CGA. While SVGA is the superior display mod with its 64k of colors, many players want to play games the way they look upon their original launches such as Sega's Zaxxon and Defender of the Crown.
As the name indicates, DOSBox creates an emulated DOS environment within a modern OS like Windows 10 and Mac OS X. The software was made from C++ and is open source, which allows anyone to freely create modifications of the program.
Apart from graphics, you can also emulate the sound output hardware of the virtual machine. You can hear the original sounds and music of The Secret of Monkey Island or Doom on a Yamaha OPL2.
DOSBox can also run classic CD-based games. You can even open CD images with the virtual machine, which lets you play classic software without the physical disc or a CD drive.
No drivers and partitions required
DOSBox v.73 DOSBox is a DOS-emulator that uses the SDL-library which makes DOSBox very easy to port to different platforms. DOSBox has already been ported to many different platforms, such as Windows, BeOS, Linux, MacOS X. Visit their website for more details.
It is important to note that DOSBOX is not an actual DOS OS. This means that you do not need to find and install drivers for legacy hardware. The virtual software will emulate the hardware for its games. You also do not need to partition part of your hard drive to install the DOS OS. With DOSBox, you can quickly set up the folder on your main drive that will act as the virtual C: drive of the virtual machine.
Dosbox For Windows 7 X64
Where can you run this program?
DOSBox can run on most Windows platform such as Window XP, Windows 7, and Windows 10. You can also find an iOS version of the program that can run on Mac computers.
Is there a better alternative?
A good alternative is FreeDos, an actual DOS OS that you can install on legacy computers. FreeDos makes it possible to play games or open software that are not compatible with DOSBox.
Our take
DOSBox makes it possible for anyone to experience running classic DOS games that cannot run on current operating systems. Using the virtual machine is also easy since you do not have to find drivers or set up a dedicated part of your hard drive for the retro software. Like other virtual machines though, DOSBox cannot open most DOS games or have compatibility issues.
Should you download it?
Yes, you can experience abandoned games of the past as well as how they would look and sound when they came out with DOSBox.
0.74-2
DOSBox-X 0.83.7 Release Notes
Dosbox For Windows 7 32-bit
Release Date: November 1, 2020
Please report any issues in our issue tracker.
Also, make sure to check out our Wiki guide.
New in This Version
Ms Dos Box
32-bit and 64-bit x86 dynamic core
With the new x86 dynamic CPU core for both 32-bit and 64-bit systems, the overall emulation speed for DOS programs is noticeably improved. Set either 'core=dynamic' or 'core=dynamic_x86' to enable this core.
You can now emulate the speed in terms of CPU cycles for 286-25MHz, 386DX-25MHz, 486DX4-100MHz, 486DX5-133MHz, Pentium-60MHz, Pentium-75MHz, and Pentium-90MHz CPUs.
Opus CD audio tracks
Support for cue sheets with Opus CD-DA tracks is now available, in addition to FLAC, MP3, WAV, OGG Vorbis CD-DA tracks already supported. Use either the menu or IMGMOUNT command to mount them.
DOSBox-X now supports full Ctrl+C/Ctrl+Break emulation in the DOS shell and DOS applications. You can also send Ctrl+Break as a special key from the 'Main' menu.
Support for save files and save remarks
For the save and load state feature, you can now save to your own save files instead of pre-defined save slots. Save remarks can be entered too for both pre-defined save slots and your own save files.
A new config option 'windowposition' (in [sdl] section) is supported to set the window position at startup in the positionX,positionY format.
New clipboard copy and paste features
There are new clipboard functions such as 'copy all text on the DOS screen' and 'Stop clipboard pasting' in the menu. Moreover, the mouse copy and paste feature is now supported in Linux and macOS SDL2 builds as well.
Support for FluidSynth MIDI Synthesizer is now included in the MinGW builds by default just like Visual Studio builds. Set 'mididevice=fluidsynth' and a soundfont file (e.g. GeneralUser_GS.sf2) to use it.
xBRZ scaler in Visual Studio SDL2 builds
The xBRZ scaler is now enabled for Visual Studio SDL2 builds just like Visual Studio SDL1 builds. You can enable it either with the setting 'scaler=xbrz' or from the menu (from 'Video' -> 'Scaler').
You can enable this option to bypass the operating system's mouse acceleration and sensitivity settings. This works in fullscreen or when the mouse is captured in window mode.
Mount multiple disk or CD images from menu
You can now mount multiple floppy, hard disk or CD images from the 'Drive' menu, swappable with 'Swap floppy' or 'Swap CD'. Command-line usage for this is no longer required.
It is now possible to change some text-mode related video settings such as the number of rows and columns directly from the menu (from 'Video' -> 'Text-mode').
Display Sound Blaster and MIDI device configurations from menu
The menu items 'Show Sound Blaster configuration' and 'Show MIDI device configuration' are added to the 'Sound' menu to show the current configurations of the Sound Blaster and MIDI devices.
New website for DOSBox-X Wiki system
The primary DOSBox-X Wiki (where you find the DOSBox-X user guide) is now located at the following URL, which is hopefully easier to remember: https://dosbox-x.com/wiki
Easier to navigate DOSBox-X default configuration file
The primary DOSBox-X sample configuration file now contains common config options only, which should make it easier to navigate than before. The full configuration file is also separately available for users who want to use it.
Initial Linux Flatpak support was added in the previous version. This version improves it to make it work better.
New default 'Typical' installation for Windows installer
The 'Typical' installation type is added in the Windows installer as the default installation. Unlike the full installation it will not copy all builds to subdirectories in order to make the installation faster.
Built-in real parallel port passthrough features in Windows
The Windows DLL files inpout32.dll (32-bit) and inpoutx64.dll (64-bit) required for the direct parallel port passthrough feature are now included with Windows installer by default.
DOSBox-X will now use native Windows/Linux/macOS dialog box to display quit warnings and save state errors.
Reorganized some menu items
Some menu items in the drop-down menus have been renamed or reorganized to make them look better or more clear than before.
The help messages for the DOSBox-X command-line options are improved, such as adding the new -silent and -socket command-line options.
Improved debuging options from Help menu
The debugging-related functions are now availble from the 'Help' menu, including the debugger and more debugging functions which were previously under other menus.
Select a special key to send to DOS with the customized shortcut
You can now select a special key (Alt+Tab, Ctrl+Break, Ctrl+Alt+Del, etc) to be sent from the key defined in the mapper editor. The key can be selected from the 'Send special key' menu group in 'Main' menu.
Shortcuts for copying all screen text and quick launch functions
The functions 'CopyToClipboard' and 'QuickRun' are added to the mapper editor so that you can use shortcuts to activate them (default shortcuts: HOST(F11/F12)+A and HOST(F11/F12)+Q respectively).
Enable or disable US keyboard layout for PC-98 mode from menu
You can now force the default US keyboard layout in PC-98 mode from the menu (from 'Video' -> 'PC-98' -> 'Use US keyboard layout') for those who want to use PC-98 mode without a Japanese keyboard.
There are also many bugfixes and other improvements, including ported recent DOSBox SVN commits. Please see the full changelogs below for more information.
4. Full Changelog In This Version
The primary DOSBox-X Wiki is now located at theURL: https://dosbox-x.com/wiki (Wengier)
Implemented the x86 dynamic core for both 32-bitand 64-bit systems by re-porting the code from SVN.Dynamic core now supports either the dynamic_x86or the dynamic_rec core. The dynamic_x86 core willbe used by default for x86 and x86_64 platforms andif 'core=dynamic' is set, and Windows 9x can be runin this dynamic core (although at this time mayencounter some issue with the S3 driver). You canalso explicit specify setting 'core=dynamic_x86' or'core=dynamic_rec' for either the dynamic_x86 coreor the dynamic_rec core. Also thank joncampbell123for the 64-bit fix. (Wengier)
You can now use your own save file (in addition tosave slots! There are now a 'Use save file' toggleitem and 'Browse save file...' for browsing savefiles on your computer. A config option 'savefile'(in [dosbox] section) is added to specify a savefile to use at start. (Wengier)
Save state feature now allows users to optionallyenter remarks when saving a state. A submenu group'Save/load option' is added (under 'Capture') whereyou can toggle menu items 'No remark when savingstate' (for disabling input of remarks when saving)and 'force load state mode'. A menu item 'Displaystate information' is added as well to display theinformation of the saved state. (Wengier)
DOSBox-X will now use native dialog box to displayquit warnings and save state errors. (Wengier)
Changed some DOS error messages (such as 'Illegalcommand' which now reads 'Bad command or filename')similar to real DOS systems. (Wengier)
ADDKEY and INT2FDBG commands now appear as programson Z: drive instead of shell commands. (Wengier)
Improved the -z (move virtual drive Z:) function ofMOUNT command. You can move the virtual drive asmany times as you want, and save/load states willwork even after you move the Z: drive. (Wengier)
Enhanced the config option 'freesizecap' to allowthe setting 'fixed' which is the same as 'false',and a new setting 'relative' is added, which willbe similar to the setting 'fixed' but the reportedfree disk size will also change relative to thechange of the free disk size ever since. (Wengier)
Added support for Opus CD-DA tracks by porting andcleaning up the source code from other projects.Many thanks to Marty Shepard and kcgen. (Wengier)
Support for FluidSynth MIDI Synthesizer is nowincluded in the MinGW builds by default just likeVisual Studio builds. Set 'mididevice=fluidsynth'and a soundfont file to use it. (Wengier)
Enabled xBRZ scaler for Visual Studio SDL2 buildsjust like Visual Studio SDL1 builds. (Wengier)
Added menu item 'Show Sound Blaster configuration'under 'Sound' menu to show the current informationabout Sound Blaster, and also menu item 'Show MIDIdevice configuration' (also under 'Sound' menu)to show information about the current MIDI devicesuch as the soundfont file in use. (Wengier)
Added 'Mount multiple disk/CD images' option to themounting options of the Drive menu to allow usersto mount more than one disk/CD images to a drive,swappable from the menu. Also added separators tothe Drive submenu to make it look better. (Wengier)
Added new CPU types to the 'Emulate CPU speed' menugroup namely 286-25MHz, 386DX-25MHz, 486DX4-100MHz,486DX5-133MHz, Pentium-60MHz, Pentium-75MHz, andPentium-90MHz. Thanks again for the data providedby the user maximus105. (Wengier)
You can now select a special key (e.g. Alt+Tab,Ctrl+Break, Ctrl+Alt+Del, etc) to be sent from thekey defined in the mapper editor. The key can beselected (Ctrl+Alt+Del by default) from the 'Sendspecial key' menu group in 'Main' menu. (Wengier)
Added full Ctrl+Break emulation at the BIOS andDOS level, updated console emulation to match.The 'Pause' mapper shortcut is now moved toHOST[F11/F12]+Pause instead of Ctrl+Pause so thatCtrl+Break can work properly for users, and thefunction to send the Ctrl+Break key from the menu('Send special key' under 'Main') is added. Also,the PC-98 STOP key now functions the same as theCtrl+C and Ctrl+Break keys in IBM PC mode.
Added functions 'CopyToClipboard' and 'QuickRun' tothe mapper editor so that you can use shortcuts toactivate them (default shortcuts: HOST(F11/F12)+Aand HOST(F11/F12)+Q respectively), and a defaultshortcut HOST(F11/F12)+V is added to the clipboardpaste function. Meanwhile, FullCore and SimpleCoreshortcuts are removed from the mapper. (Wengier)
Added two new menu items in the 'Shared clipboardfunctions' menu group under 'Main', including 'Copyall text on the DOS screen' which will copy allscreen text to the clipboard, and 'Stop clipboardpasting' which allows user to stop pasting in themiddle of pasting long clipboard content. (Wengier)
The mouse copy/paste feature is now available fornon-Windows systems on SDL2 builds. Also, pastingfrom the clipboard with a mapped shortcut is alsoavailable for Linux/X11 on SDL1 builds. (Wengier)
Added 'Use US keyboard layout' toggle menu item inthe 'PC-98' menu group under 'Video' to selectwhether to force the default US keyboard layout inPC-98 mode, same as the 'pc-98 force ibm keyboardlayout' config option in [pc98] section. Also movedthe 'PC-98 PIT master clock' options from the 'DOS'menu to this menu group. (Wengier)
The full dosbox-x.reference.conf file is renamed todosbox-x.reference.full.conf. The original filedosbox-x.reference.conf now contains common configoptions instead of all config options. (Wengier)
The CONFIG command and Configuration Tool will nowsave common and modified config options by default.The -all command-line option (or 'Save all optionsto the configuration file' checkbox) will force tosave all config options. A new -mod command-lineoption is added to CONFIG command to save modifiedconfig options only, and a new -norem command-lineoption is added to not write remarks. (Wengier)
Updated the Windows installer to default to the'typical' installation. For the full installationstart menu items will be added for DOSBox-X buildscopied to subdirectories. A new checkbox 'Writecommon config options (instead of all) to theconfiguration file' is added which when checkedwill only write common and modified advanced configoptions to the config file. Furthermore, for both'typical' and 'full' installations the Windowsinstaller will now also copies the DLL filesinpout32.dll (32-bit) and inpoutx64.dll (64-bit) tothe DOSBox-X install directory for use with thedirect parallel port passthrough feature. (Wengier)
Improved Flatpak support for Linux. (rderooy)
Improved message for the -help command-line option,adding for example -silent and -socket command-lineoptions in the help messages. (Wengier)
Added -silent command-line option to run DOSBox-Xsilently (without showing the DOSBox-X window) andthen exit after executing AUTOEXEC.BAT. (Wengier)
Fixed command-line option -socket not working forthe null-modem feature. (Wengier)
Fixed issue that aspect ratio not being respectedin full-screen mode when a GLSL shader is enabledwith an OpenGL output. (Wengier)
Fixed toggle in the 'Frameskip' menu group did notchange when selecting a different option. (Wengier)
Fixed shelling from programs may not work when theshell config option is set. (Wengier)
The default country setting ('country' option in[config] section]) now defaults to auto-detectionif possible, or 81 (Japan) in PC-98 mode. (Wengier)
Increased the default maximum DOS files (adjustablefrom [config] section) from 127 to 200. (Wengier)
Improved resetting with LOADLIN program. (Wengier)
Improved Gravis Ultrasound (GUS) implementation tomake it more accurately represent the GUS DMA stateas expected by the running DOS software.
The archive attribute will no longer automaticallybe applied to directories on non-Windows systems.This fixed issue with PLAYMIDI.EXE from GravisUltrasound when listing directories. (Wengier)
Applied hack to allow the low DMA channel detectionin the SB16 DIAGNOSE program to work. (Wengier)
The default setting of the clip_paste_speed optionhas been changed from 20 to 30, which will helpprevent lost keystrokes when pasting from the hostclipboard for some programs. (Wengier)
With Pentium CPU setting (cputype=pentium) DOSBox-Xno longer reports FDIV bug by default. An advancedconfig option 'report fdiv bug' is added to reportsuch CPU bug when set to true. (rderooy & Wengier)
Added support for the XDG_DATA_HOME environmentvariable for config directory in Linux. (rderooy)
Added support for compiling with pcap for WindowsMinGW builds. (Jookia)
Added config option 'windowposition' (in [sdl]section) to set the window position at startup inthe positionX,positionY format. (tomba4)
Added config option 'raw_mouse_input' (in [sdl]section; SDL2 builds only) to bypass the operatingsystem's mouse acceleration & sensitivity settings.Implemented by NicknineTheEagle.
Added config option 'startquiet' (in [dos] section)which when set to true will silence the informationmessages before launching Windows programs to runon the Windows host. A toggle menu item 'Quiet mode(no start messages)' is added to the 'Windows hostapplications' menu group in 'DOS' menu. (Wengier)
The menu 'Show details' (under 'Main') is renamedto 'Show FPS and RT speed in title bar'. (Wengier)
Add menu group 'Text-mode' under 'Video' menu tochange some text-mode related video settings, suchas changing the number of rows and columns. A zippackage named TEXTUTIL.ZIP is added to the Z drivethat contains various utilities (such as CGA.COM,EGA.COM, 132X25.COM, 132X43.COM) to change currentvideo setting from the command line. Also added aconfig option 'high intensity blinking' which whenset will display high intensity background colorsinstad of blinking foreground text. The menu item'Allow 9-pixel wide fonts' is moved from the menugroup 'Compatibility' to here. (Wengier)
Added 'Debugging' menu group under 'Help' menu, andmoved items from the 'Video' Debug and 'DOS' Debugmenus and the debugger here (debug builds only).Also allowed to hide/show the console or debuggerwindow in Windows debug builds. With the menu item'Console wait on error' checked the Windows consolewindow will wait for the ENTER key before closingitself after an E_EXIT occurs. (Wengier)
Updated MPXPLAY to latest version 1.65. (Wengier)
Integrated SVN commits (Allofich) - r4386: Correct MPU-401 clock-to-host function to operate independently of playing. Fixes hang at exit when playing Roland music in demos by The Phoney Coders. Clamp tempo to valid range. - r4384: ICW1 on the PIC clears the Interrupt Mask Register. Fixes Antagony and quite a few demos that expect IRQs to be unmasked. - r4382: Refine adlib timers a bit more and make reading the Adlib take a bit more time. - r4378: Prevent some possible deadlocks with sti in dynrec core. - r4375: Improve compatibility with older Intel chipsets - r4374: Add a bit of hack so cycles=max/auto 90% keeps on working inside batch files after r3925. - r4371: Fix regression in Clue: Master Detective. - r4370: As an adjunct to r4369, make the reference counts of standard device handles equivalent to those of real DOS. - r4369: Compatible side-effect behavior of DOS in the file close function. - r4368: Improve error codes for some DOS file functions. - r4367: Change FPU_FBST to only write 18 decimals instead of the wrongly 19, this makes it possible to switch 64 integers which in turn fixes some rounding issues. (jmarsh) - r4282,r4283: Switch to a different way to calculate DBOPL table offsets. - r4280: Prevent GenerateDMASound from running with input of 0. - r4279: Remove DMA_TRANSFEREND and replace with DMA_MASKED. - r4277: Remove cases not needed after r4276 - r4276: Remove defunct code related to the initial display mode of the system BIOS during video mode changes. - r4274: fix externals. - r4273: Make frameskip an integer. - r4269: Use fabsf when return value is a float. Small warning fix. - r4265: Some more cleanups and memleak fixes. - r4264: Pick some lowhanging fruit. (some memory leaks and unused variables) - r4262: missed one - r4261: These actually use float as input. - r4258: Rename bios tester to biostest and make it debug only to avoid people trying to load real bioses. - r4257: Add simple program that allows you to boot into a bios image for running cpu tester bios.
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See also: Release notes for the previous version (0.83.6)