How to Play MS-DOS Games in Windows 7

If you’re anything like me, you probably have a huge collection of old MS-DOS games that you can no longer play anymore because the MS-DOS environment is no longer supported with newer version of Windows. But, what if I said you could play them all again in Windows 7 through the use of a simple program?

It’s true, thanks to a MS-DOS emulator called DOSBox. In this article, I’ll explain what DOSBox is, and show you how to set it up so you can start playing all of your favorite old games again.

DOSBox
DOSBox is an emulator that simulates the MS-DOS environment by emulating an IBM PC running the MS-DOS operating system. Think of it as a virtual computer running MS-DOS within your computer.

This basically lets you run MS-DOS on any computer no matter what version of Windows you have.

DOSBox can be used to run all old MS-DOS applications, but is primarily used for running old video games, so that’s what this article will focus on.

Download and installation
After you’ve downloaded DOSBox from the official website, you’ll want to install it somewhere you’ll remember.

After you’ve installed it, you’ll need to make a separate folder for your old video games. You might want to create the folder near your DOSBox folder for easy managing.

For example, if you installed DOSBox to C:DOSBox then place your old games in a folder called “DOSGAMES” in the C: directory so it looks like C:DOSGAMES.

Setting up the C: drive
Now that you have everything installed and placed in the right folders, you can start setting up DOSBox to run your games. This part is a little difficult, but if you’ve ever used the command line on a computer before it will be much easier for you.

The first step is to mount the folder with your video games in it. This will make your video game folder the C: drive for DOSBox.

To mount your game folder, simply launch DOSBox and type in MOUNT C C:DOSGAMES.

After you’ve mounted the games folder, you should be presented with a message that says “Drive C mounted as local directory C:DOSGAMES”, this is how you know you’ve mounted the folder correctly.

Playing your games
Now you should have a Z:> prompt. Just type in C: to get to your games folder, then just type in the name of the .exe file for the game you want to play. If you have a game in a folder within the “”DOSGAMES”” folder, just type CD FOLDERNAME to get to the folder with your game in it (CD stands for “”Change Directory””).

From now on when you want to play a game, you’ll just have to follow the last step. No more mounting or setup will be needed.

Conclusion
Now that you know what DOSBox is and how to properly install and set it up, you can begin using it to play all of your old DOS games again, and maybe even discover new games you’ve never played before.

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