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Robert de Rooy edited this page Apr 30, 2023 · 190 revisions

Welcome to the DOSBox-X online wiki!

Introduction

DOSBox-X (homepage: https://dosbox-x.com or http://dosbox-x.software) is a cross-platform DOS emulator based on DOSBox. Like DOSBox, it emulates a PC necessary for running many MS-DOS games and applications that simply cannot be run on modern PCs and operating systems. However, while the main focus of DOSBox is for running DOS games, DOSBox-X goes much further than this. Started as a fork of the DOSBox project, it retains compatibility with the wide base of DOS games and DOS gaming DOSBox was designed for. But it is also a platform for running DOS applications, including emulating the environments to run Windows 3.x, 9x and ME and software written for those versions of Windows.

DOSBox-X supports multiple host operating systems including Windows, Linux, macOS and DOS. Windows binaries (both 32-bit and 64-bit), Linux Flatpaks or RPM packages (64-bit), macOS packages (64-bit) and DOS packages (for MS-DOS 5.0+ or compatible) are officially released periodically, typically on the last day of a month or at the start of the next month. Please check out the DOSBox-X homepage for common packages of the latest release for the supported platforms. Also see the INSTALL page for DOSBox-X installation instructions and other packages. The portable ZIP and Linux RPM packages for all released DOSBox-X versions and their change logs can be found in the Releases page.

For Windows users the Windows installer for DOSBox-X is available to ease the installation process (in addition to portable packages), and with the installer you will be able to start DOSBox-X as soon as the installation ends. The installer can also be used to upgrade from a previous version of DOSBox-X while keeping the previous user settings. For Linux users both RPM and Flatpak packages are available, with the latter being standalone applications independent of Linux distributions, and as a result you should be able to run it on any Linux platforms. For macOS and DOS users the self-contained portable packages are the default packages. You can also compile the source code yourself; instructions on building the source code is available from the BUILD page.

DOSBox-X’s Main Focus

Unlike DOSBox’s original focus on DOS games, DOSBox-X gives more focus on general DOS emulation, with the eventual goal of being a complete DOS emulation package that covers all pre-2000 DOS and Windows 9x based system scenarios, including all types and manners of hardware that were made for DOS PCs of that time. We believe that a better way to emulate the legacy PC platform is to give the user all the options they need to emulate everything from original IBM PC system all the way up to late 1990’s configuration, whatever it takes to get that game or software package to run. We have made serious efforts to maintain and improve the emulation accuracy of the hardware and many more ways to tweak and configure the DOS virtual machine, and at the same time we are also making efforts to improve emulation quality and usability, including the general experiences for new users who want to run DOS programs or games, as well as implementing emulation that is accurate enough to help make new DOS developments possible with confidence the program will run properly on actual DOS systems.

What DOSBox-X Can Do

Derived from DOSBox, DOSBox-X emulates a PC complete with keyboard, mouse, joystick, sound, graphics, modem, printer, network, communication and storage devices, etc., in order to have a working DOS environment to run software designed for DOS. The vast majority of DOS (MS-DOS and PC DOS in particular) games and applications should run in DOSBox-X, although some of them may require additional configurations. DOSBox-X not only emulates an IBM PC, but also legacy systems such as the Japanese NEC PC-98. With the help of DOSBox-X, you will be able to run your favorite DOS games and programs on modern operating systems (32-bit and 64-bit) such as Microsoft Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10 and various Linux distributions. DOSBox-X also provides additional features that are useful but generally do not exist in a real DOS system, such as support for keyboard remapping and saving/loading states. With all these features it is usually very simple to make your DOS games or programs run smoothly within DOSBox-X.

For examples of DOSBox-X’s unique features, please see DOSBox-X’s Feature Highlights page.

Getting Started to Run DOSBox-X

After you download DOSBox-X and set up the program, the easiest way to run DOSBox-X is to start the DOSBox-X executable (for example, dosbox-x.exe on Windows and ./dosbox-x on Linux). If you install DOSBox-X using the Windows installer, then it can also be launched from the Windows Start menu. You will see an emulated DOS command line inside the DOSBox-X window within a few seconds. Unlike MS-DOS, where you usually see either C:\> or A:\> as the DOS prompt when it finishes booting, at the beginning you will only get a Z:\> drive when DOSBox-X loads. This is because DOSBox-X automatically creates a Virtual Internal Drive called Z: which contains various utilities that make a reasonable approximation of a fully setup DOS compatible environment. These are DOSBox-X’s emulated DOS’s external commands. You can check the DOSBox‐X’s Supported Commands page for more information about them.

If you want to access other drives such as the C: drive, you have to either make your directories available as drives in DOSBox-X, or mount image files. There are a few ways to do this:

  1. Mount local drives/directories: This can be usually done using MOUNT command, which allows you to mount your host drives/directories as DOSBox-X’s drives. For example, in Windows MOUNT C D:\GAMES will give you a C drive in DOSBox-X which points to your Windows D:\GAMES directory (that was created before). In Linux, MOUNT C /home/username will give you a C drive in DOSBox-X which points to the /home/username directory. To change to the drive mounted like above, type C:. If everything went fine, DOSBox-X will display the prompt "C:\>". To mount your CD drives on a Windows system in DOSBox-X you need to specify additional options. For example, you can use the command MOUNT D E:\ -T CDROM to enable CD support (including MSCDEX). For Windows, you can also select a directory to mount via the Windows file browser from the "Drive" menu with some options ("Mount as Hard Disk", "Mount as CD-ROM" and "Mount as Floppy" within a drive).

  2. Auto-mount drives: If you are using Windows, DOSBox-X will ask if you want to give it access to your Windows drive when you try to go to a drive (e.g. C:), but that drive has not yet been mounted inside DOSBox-X. This basically makes DOSBox-X access to the same drives as in your Windows system. If you answer Y for Yes, then the whole Windows drive will be mounted and accessible within DOSBox-X. You can also automatically mount drives via the "Drive" menu (select a drive and "Mount Automatically"). Furthermore, it is possible to automatically mount all available Windows drives as DOSBox-X drives at start by setting the "automountall" config option to "true". Note however that it is not recommended mounting your whole Windows Drive C: inside DOSBox-X because DOSBox-X will then be able to access all files and directories in your Windows Drive C:, which may not be very safe.

  3. Mount image files: DOSBox-X supports mounting harddisk, floppy diskette and CD-ROM image files using the IMGMOUNT command. In Windows, you can type IMGMOUNT A D:\GAMES\GAME_DISK.IMA to mount the floppy image file D:\GAMES\GAME_DISK.IMA located on your host system as an emulated floppy drive. Likewise on Linux IMGMOUNT A /home/username/Games/GAME_DISK.IMA will have the same effect. A CD-ROM image (in CUE or ISO format), including MSCDEX emulation and support for CD audio tracks, can be mounted in a similar way. On Windows IMGMOUNT D D:\GAMES\GAME_CD.ISO, or on Linux IMGMOUNT D /home/username/Games/GAME_CD.ISO will mount the file GAME_CD.ISO on an emulated CD-ROM drive. For Windows, you can also select an image file to mount via the Windows file browser from the "Drive" menu (select a drive and "Mount disk image").

DOSBox-X features a graphical configuration tool which allows you to change its settings via its GUI interface. Similar to DOSBox, there is a configuration file (dosbox-x.conf or dosbox.conf in the current directory or in your user directory) where you can modify the DOSBox-X settings. But instead of editing this configuration file, you can change DOSBox-X settings directly within the DOSBox-X program. If DOSBox-X is not yet running, you can start this configuration tool by using the command-line option -startui (or -startgui) of the DOSBox-X executable. On the other hand, if DOSBox-X is already running, you can do so by clicking on the "Configuration tool" option from the "Main" menu in the DOSBox-X menu bar, or using the SHOWTOOL command from the DOS command line inside DOSBox-X.

For example, if you are using the MOUNT command method to mount your host drives/directories as DOSBox-X’s drives, you do not have to always type these commands. Instead, you can put these commands in the "autoexec" section of the DOSBox-X configuration interface, and then save them. These correspond to the [autoexec] section of DOSBox-X’s configuration file. The commands present there are run each time when DOSBox-X starts, so you can use this section for the automatic mounting.

Even though DOSBox-X runs in a window by default, you can also change it to full-screen mode. Simply press the shortcut F11+F on Windows, or F12+F on Linux and macOS, and DOSBox-X will become full-screen. Alternatively, you may modify this setting in the [sdl] section of the DOSBox-X configuration interface (or change the option fullscreen=false to fullscreen=true under the [sdl] section of DOSBox-X’s configuration file). To get back from full-screen mode, simply press the shortcut F11+F (or F12+F depending on your platform) again.

You can try the various commands and options in order to be more familiar with the DOSBox-X interface. Once you get used to it, you should be able to do various things such as running DOS applications inside DOSBox-X. If you have questions, you can also ask the community for support.

DOSBox-X’s Configuration File

You can set various configuration options for use with DOSBox-X. DOSBox-X will load the configuration file from either the current directory (typically the directory where the DOSBox-X program is located), or from the platform-dependent user directory.

By default, DOSBox-X will first try to load the file dosbox-x.conf (or dosbox.conf) from the current directory, followed by the DOSBox-X program directory. You can specify an alternative directory (instead of the current directory) for DOSBox-X to look for the configuration file with the -defaultdir command-line option, such as -defaultdir mydir. If the config file is not found, DOSBox-X will then try to load the configuration file from the user directory according to the platform:

(Windows)  C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\DOSBox-X\dosbox-x-<version number>.conf
(Linux)    ~/.config/dosbox-x/dosbox-x-<version number>.conf
(macOS)    ~/Library/Preferences/DOSBox-X <version number> Preferences

The config file is divided into several sections. Each section starts with a [section name] line. The settings are the property=value lines where value can be altered to customize DOSBox-X. Lines starting with # are comment-lines. There are three special sections at the end of the config file, namely [4dos], [config] and [autoexec], which intend to emulate the 4DOS.INI (for the 4DOS shell), CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files respectively.

Furthermore, you can start DOSBox-X with the -conf parameter to load a specified configuration file and use its settings. If this parameter is used, then DOSBox-X will try to load the specified configuration file before try to load the configuration file from the current directory or the user directory. There is also a -defaultconf command-line option which will force the use of the default DOSBox-X settings (ignoring any config files).

You can override one or more config options when DOSBox-X starts by using the -set command-line option. For example, -set machine=pc98 will force DOSBox-X to start in PC-98 mode regardless of the setting in the config file. If there is at least one space in the config option (e.g. dpi aware in [dosbox] section) then you will need to put the section name in front of it and quote the whole string, such as -set "dosbox dpi aware=true".

There are two config reference files in DOSBox-X, a "common" one and a full one, namely dosbox-x.reference.conf and dosbox-x.reference.full.conf respectively. The full config reference file contains all DOSBox-X’s options whereas the common config reference file contains only options that are relatively common. Some advanced users may prefer a full config file, but for other users the common config reference file is probably sufficient, and they can just use dosbox-x.reference.conf as their config reference file.

DOSBox-X features a graphical configuration tool so that you can use its built-in GUI interface to modify its settings easily. A configuration file can be generated or updated by the configuration tool, or with the built-in CONFIG command (which can be found on the internal Z: drive when you run DOSBox-X). Some users may prefer the config file to contain modified config options only (in such case other options will use the default values), and/or remove all comments in the config file; they can create such a config file using a command like config -mod -norem -wcp [filename.conf] inside DOSBox-X.

Starting with DOSBox-X version 0.83.13, DOSBox-X may also prompt for a directory if the config file dosbox-x.conf (or dosbox.conf) is not found in the current directory, and the -conf (or -defaultconf/-defaultdir/-fastlaunch) option is not specified. You can select a folder that will become the working directory for DOSBox-X. You may customize this via the working directory option and working directory default options in the [dosbox] section of the global config file (i.e. the DOSBox-X config file in the user configuration directory or the directory where the DOSBox-X executable is located).

DOSBox-X’s Special Keys

You can use these special keys to achieve certain functions in DOSBox-X, such as switching between the window and full-screen modes. These shortcuts are different from the ones in DOSBox. Note that these are the special keys in the default setting, and you can customize them in DOSBox-X’s mapper editor (see the next section).

You may instead want to do these (and many more) tasks from DOSBox-X’s drop-down menu (see the DOSBox‐X’s Drop-Down Menus page for more information), so that there is no need to do them using these shortcuts in most cases.

A list of DOSBox-X default special keys:

  • [F11/F12]+F Switch to full-screen mode and back.

  • [F11/F12]+Q Quick launch an executable file to run inside DOSBox-X.

  • [F11/F12]+R Reset the virtual machine inside DOSBox-X.

  • [F11/F12]+B Reboot the emulated DOS (integrated DOS or guest DOS) inside DOSBox-X.

  • [F11/F12]+C Start DOSBox-X’s graphical configuration tool.

  • [F11/F12]+M Start DOSBox-X’s mapper editor.

  • [F11/F12]+Esc Show/hide DOSBox-X’s drop-down menu bar.

  • [F11/F12]+Del Send the selected special key combination (Ctrl+Alt+Del by default) to the guest system.

  • [F11/F12]+{+} Increase the sound volume of DOSBox-X’s emulated DOS.

  • [F11/F12]+{-} Decrease the sound volume of DOSBox-X’s emulated DOS.

  • [F11/F12]+] Increase the emulated DOS’s current speed relative to real-time.

  • [F11/F12]+[ Decrease the emulated DOS’s current speed relative to real-time.

  • [F11/F12]+{=} Increase DOSBox-X’s emulation CPU cycles.

  • [F11/F12]+{-} Decrease DOSBox-X’s emulation CPU cycles.

  • [F11/F12]+Up Increase the font size for the TrueType font (TTF) output.

  • [F11/F12]+Down Decrease the font size for the TrueType font (TTF) output.

  • [F11/F12]+Left Reset the emulated DOS’s current CPU speed to the normal speed.

  • [F11/F12]+Right Toggle DOSBox-X’s speed lock.

  • [F11/F12]+D Swap between mounted CD images.

  • [F11/F12]+O Swap between mounted floppy images.

  • [F11/F12]+P Take a screenshot of the current screen in PNG format.

  • [F11/F12]+I Start/Stop capturing an AVI video of the current session.

  • [F11/F12]+W Start/Stop recording a WAV audio of the current session.

  • Alt+Pause Start DOSBox-X’s Debugger.

  • [F11/F12]+[,] Select the previous save slot to save to or load from.

  • [F11/F12]+[.] Select the next save slot to save to or load from.

  • [F11/F12]+S Save current state to the selected save slot.

  • [F11/F12]+L Load the state from the selected save slot.

  • [F11/F12]+Pause Pause emulation (press again to continue).

  • Ctrl+F5 Copy all text on the DOS screen to the host clipboard.

  • Ctrl+F6 Paste the text in the host clipboard to the DOS screen.

  • Ctrl+F9 Exit DOSBox-X.

  • Ctrl+F10 Capture the mouse for use with the emulated DOS.

Notes:

  • [F11/F12] is the host key, meaning either F11 or F12 (depending on the operating system). F11 is the host key in Windows, and F12 is the host key in all other platforms (Linux, macOS, etc). The F12 key is avoided being the host key in Windows because it is used internally by Windows for debugging functions. The host key can be redefined in DOSBox-X’s keyboard mapper as needed, if you want to use a different key than F11 or F12.

DOSBox-X’s Mapper Editor

You can define or change mappings for input devices such as keyboard shortcuts and joysticks buttons in DOSBox-X using the mapper editor. The mapper editor can be started either from the "Main" menu or with the command-line parameter -startmapper. You are presented with an interface including a virtual keyboard, a virtual mouse, as well as virtual joysticks and a table of functions.

The virtual devices correspond to the keys and events DOSBox-X will report to the DOS applications. If you click on a button with your mouse, you can see in the lower left corner with which event it is associated (EVENT) and to what events it is currently bound (BIND).

  • EVENT

    The key or joystick axis/button/hat DOSBox-X will report to DOS applications (the event that will happen during the game, e.g. shooting/jumping/walking).

  • BIND

    The key on your real keyboard or the axis/button/hat on your real joystick(s) (as reported by SDL), which is connected to the EVENT.

  • Mod1,2,3

    Modifiers. These are keys you need to have to be pressed while pressing BIND. Mod1 = Ctrl, Mod2 = Alt, and Mod3 = Shift. These are generally only used when you want to change the special keys of DOSBox-X.

  • Add

    Add a new BIND to this EVENT. Basically add a key from your keyboard or an event from the joystick (button press, axis/hat movement) which will produce the EVENT in DOSBox-X.

  • Del

    Delete the BIND to this EVENT. If an EVENT has no BINDS, then it is not possible to trigger this event in DOSBox-X (that is there’s no way to type the key or use the respective action of the joystick).

  • Next

    Go through the list of bindings which map to this EVENT.

For example, if you want to have the X on your keyboard to type a Z in DOSBox-X, then please click on the Z on the keyboard mapper. Click "Add". Now you can try press the X key on your keyboard.

DOSBox-X Guides and Tips

DOSBox-X has many features and supports most DOS games and applications. Below are some guides which explain how to use certain software or features within DOSBox-X.

DOSBox-X’s Compatibility

We are making efforts to ensure that the vast majority of DOS games and applications will run in DOSBox-X, and these include both text-mode and graphical-mode DOS programs. Microsoft Windows versions that are largely DOS-based (such as Windows 3.x and 9x) are officially supported by DOSBox-X as well. Note that certain config settings may need to be changed from the default ones for some of these programs to work smoothly.

Efforts are also made to aid retro DOS developments, which is why DOSBox-X used to focus on the demoscene (especially anything prior to 1996) because that era of the MS-DOS scene tends to have all manner of weird hardware tricks, bugs, and speed-sensitive issues that make them the perfect kind of stuff to test emulation accuracy against, even more so than old DOS games. But without a doubt we also actively test against other DOS games and applications, as well as PC-98 programs (most of them are games).

DOSBox-X vs MS-DOS application test results: DOSBox-X DOS application compatibility testing chart

DOSBox-X vs Demoscene test results: DOSBox-X demoscene compatibility testing chart

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

  • What is DOS?

    DOS is short for "Disk Operating System". It refers to a family of operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market in the 1980s and the 1990s. Early versions of Microsoft Windows (1.0-3.x, as well as 9x/ME) are also DOS-based. The relevant systems were usually called "X DOS", "X-DOS" or "XDOS" with the X being the brand name (e.g. PC DOS, DR-DOS, and FreeDOS respectively). Despite common usage, none of them were actually called just DOS. Microsoft’s system, MS-DOS, was the most-widely used among these operating systems. Microsoft Windows 3.x and 9x/ME are also based on MS-DOS, although Windows 3.x may also run on another DOS such as PC DOS or DR-DOS.

  • What is DOSBox-X’s release pattern?

    Currently, new DOSBox-X versions are usually made public on the last day of a month, or sometimes at the start of the next month, including both binary releases for the supported platforms and the source code of DOSBox-X. Then the DOSBox-X developments will be re-opened for new features, pull requests, etc. There will be no new features added 6 days before the end of the month, but only bug fixes. The last day of the month is DOSBox-X’s build day to compile for binary releases the first of the next month, so there will be no source code changes on this day including pull requests or bug fixes. This is DOSBox-X’s official release pattern, although it may change later.

  • Can I start to run my DOS program or game immediately?

    To start your DOS program or game immediately when DOSBox-X runs, you can put the executable program in the [autoexec] section of DOSBox-X’s configuration. Or you can provide the executable program as the parameter to the DOSBox-X program, e.g. dosbox-x myapp.exe. As DOSBox-X is highly customizable, there are also further options to improve your experience. For example, if you want to bypass the DOSBox-X BIOS splash screen, you can set the config option fastbioslogo to true; if you want to bypass the welcome banner, you can set the config option startbanner to false. Alternatively, you may want to use the command-line option "-fastlaunch" (see the DOSBox-X’s Command-Line Options page for a list of DOSBox-X’s supported command-line options), which will bypass both the BIOS splash screen and the welcome banner when DOSBox-X starts.

  • How can I save and load a state in DOSBox-X?

    DOSBox-X supports the save and load state feature including save slot support (10 save slots in each page, for a total of 100 save slots). Under the "Capture" menu you will see menu items including "Save state", "Load state", "Select save slot" menu options and a "Save/load options" menu group. Select a save slot you want to save to, and click "Save state", then the current state will be saved to the computer. When you want to load the state you can just click "Load state" from the menu; but if you want to select a different save slot to load, you need to select that save slot before loading the state (or pre-set one using the “saveslot” option in [dosbox] section of the config file). DOSBox-X by default will check for things like program name and memory size to make sure they match, and if they do not DOSBox-X will display a warning. These checks can be bypassed by enabling the "Force load state mode" menu toggle before you try to load the state. DOSBox-X also asks for a save remark by default when saving a state, which can be disabled by enabling the “No remark when saving state” menu toggle. Moreover, you can use your own save file(s) instead of the built-in save slots, which can also be specified using the “savefile” option in [dosbox] section of the config file. Starting from version 0.83.11 there is also a feature to automatically save states in the specified time interval.

  • Can I change config options from the command line?

    You can do this either from the DOSBox-X command line (before starting DOSBox-X) or from the DOSBox-X command shell (when DOSBox-X is running). To specify a config option before starting DOSBox-X, just use the -set command-line option (specify it multiple times for multiple config options). For example, the command dosbox-x -set machine=pc98 will start DOSBox-X in PC-98 mode regardless of the setting in the config file (remember to put the section name in front and quote the whole string in case the option contains a space, e.g. dosbox-x -set "dosbox quit warning=false" for the “quit warning” option in [dosbox] section of the config file). If you want to change a setting from the DOSBox-X command shell when DOSBox-X is already running, you can do so via the config command, e.g. config -set cycles=max, or with the "Config options as commands" option enabled (under "DOS" menu), directly via a command line like cycles=max. Note that you cannot change all config settings from the DOSBox-X command shell when DOSBox-X is already running, but you may want DOSBox-X to restart itself automatically to load the specified config file. For example, with the command config -bc config.conf DOSBox-X will reboot itself using the config file config.conf.

  • Can I launch programs to run on the host from the DOSBox-X command line?

    Yes, you can do this, although currently only available in the Windows version. You can either run Windows applications directly from the DOSBox-X command line, or run it with the START command. This feature is disabled by default for security reasons, but can be enabled in the Windows version with either the "-winrun" command-line option or the "startcmd" config option (in the [dos] section). You can also find the submenu "Windows host applications" (under "DOS" menu) to control some settings. If this feature is enabled there is in fact no difference between how you enter commands to launch DOS applications and to launch Windows applications to run on the host on mounted local drives. The START command additionally allows you to enter any host path to run Windows applications, or open files (instead of executable programs) with their default associated actions on the Windows host. You can also run your program maximize, minimized, or hidden using its command-line option (type START /? for more information about the usage of this command).

  • Can I customize the content of the Z drive?

    Yes, you can! You can add your own files to the Z drive by putting the files in the directory named “drivez” in the DOSBox-X working directory, the user configuration directory, or the directory where the DOSBox-X executable is located. The files in this directory will then appear in the Z drive, or in the case there are already existing files with the same names they will replace the existing files. You can also hide or remove existing files or programs on the Z drive using the “drive z hide files” config option in [dos] section of the config file. The files listed here (separated by space) will be hidden or removed from the Z drive (files with leading forward slashs like /4HELP.EXE will become hidden files, which can be listed using the DIR /A command). With these you can virtually customize the content of the Z drive in any way you want, just make sure any programs you may need (e.g. MOUNT.COM for MOUNT command) are still available on the drive. Moreover, you can move the Z drive to a different drive (e.g. Y drive) using the MOUNT command using its -Z option, such as MOUNT -Z Y. You can move the drive as many times as you want, or move it back and forth as needed.

  • Can I change the default command shell in DOSBox-X?

    Yes, you can! DOSBox-X supports the SHELL= command in [config] section of dosbox-x.conf to specify an alternative command shell, which resembles the counterpart in DOS’s config.sys file. With this option you can use the free but powerful 4DOS 8.00 shell as the command shell for DOSBox-X, which is already built into DOSBox-X. By setting SHELL=4DOS.COM the 4DOS 8.00 command shell will be launched when DOSBox-X starts, and you will be able to use it as the command processor for DOSBox-X with 4DOS features and capabilities. When you are in this shell you can type "HELP" command to see its help information from its interactive help system. There is also a [4dos] section in the dosbox-x.conf file to act as the 4DOS.INI file if you use this shell. On the other hand, the original command shell will be used for DOSBox-X if SHELL= is not specified, or if you specify SHELL=COMMAND.COM in [config] section of dosbox-x.conf. You can also specify another command shell on your local drive, and in such case you can either add it to the Z drive directly, or mount your local drive in [config] section using INSTALL= command, like INSTALL=MOUNT.COM C C:\DOS, and then point to the location of the command shell using SHELL= command, like SHELL=C:\CMDSHELL.COM.

  • Can DOSBox-X synchronize the content of mounted local drives with the host file system and/or the internal clock with the host system clock automatically?

    Yes, you can let DOSBox-X synchronize them automatically with config options, or they may become desynchronized if there are changes outside DOSBox-X (DOSBox-X caches the file list on a directory/drive by default to improve its performance). To synchronize the content of mounted local drives with the host file system automatically, you can set nocachedir=true in [dosbox] section of the config file. Alternatively, you can synchronize individual drive with the host file system by adding the -nocachedir option to MOUNT command, e.g. MOUNT D D:\ -nocachedir. Likewise, to synchronize the internal clock with the host system clock automatically, you can set synchronize time=true in [dosbox] section of the config file, or you can toggle this from DOSBox-X’s drop-down menu ("DOS" ⇒ "synchronize host date/time"). Note that you can also use RESCAN command to manually synchronize the content of mounted local drive(s) with the host file system (type RESCAN /? for more information about this command), and you can use DATE /H or TIME /H command to manually synchronize the internal date/time with the host system date/time.

  • How can I improve the running speed in DOSBox-X?

    DOSBox-X comes with a default setting for general usages, which may already be optimal for some settings but not for others in terms of performance, and you may want to change certain settings to further improve its running speed. If you want to have a better speed for running your specific games or programs (such as data processing programs), you can consider setting the following in the DOSBox-X config file (dosbox-x.conf), which will disable the BIOS logo and welcome banner at launch as well as using the dynamic core and disabling the drive rate limit:

[dosbox]
fastbioslogo = true
startbanner = false

[cpu]
core = dynamic
cycles = max

[dos]
hard drive data rate limit = 0
floppy drive data rate limit = 0

Using the TrueType font (TTF) output and disabling double-scanning can improve the performance too (especially for text-mode applications):

[sdl]
output=ttf
doublescan=false

If you do not need any sound output, you can also set the following to further improve the speed when DOSBox-X starts:

[mixer]
nosound=true

[midi]
mididevice=none

[sblaster]
sbtype=none

[speaker]
pcspeaker=false

If you want to launch DOSBox-X to run some DOS command(s) and then exit automatically without showing the DOSBox-X window at all, you can start DOSBox-X with the command-line option -silent to achieve this result (the command will usually return almost instantaneously). If you intend to run text-mode applications that do a lot of automated operations (e.g. compilation and various types of compression/decompression) in such case, you probably want to use -silent in combination with config option output=ttf (perhaps also blinkc=false and ptsize=9 in [ttf] section) to have much better performance.

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