Try the 60 second guide. 60 seconds guide to getting your game to run in DOSBox

Thank you SO MUCH. I wasn't sure where the beginners' stuff was, and wasn't sure where to search. And of course, "install windows 3.1" doesn't call up any search results, because of the common words, 🤣.

(Also, hello to a fellow Sierra fan! My first DOSBox install was for the Kings Quest series re-release a few years back.)

EDIT: And we have a problem. I can't find the manual for this thing. How exactly do I tell DOSBox to run setup.ini after I've mounted the folder? The "install" command that the 60-Second Guide suggested doesn't work. The FAQ is mentioning something called a "frontend," and IDK what that is.

The_L1985 wrote:

How exactly do I tell DOSBox to run setup.ini after I've mounted the folder?

Run .exe, .bat, or .com files (mostly a file named install.exe).

So I told it to boot setup.exe and got THIS:

Opening image file: setup.exe
Image file is read-only! Might create problems.
Booting from drive A...

How do I stop it looking for drive A? I told it D was the CD-ROM like the 60-second guide says. There should be no "drive A" business going on.

(Yeah, the install process for this is starting to look like my signature here.)

I'm beginning to suspect I need to install Win 3.1 for this after all. Which...oh boy. Actually using an old version of Windows should be easy, since the actual GUI has only undergone minor cosmetic changes over the years. But installing it...

Post what you are doing line by line and we'll tell you what you are doing wrong. Here's a hint: You shouldn't be "booting" anything unless you want to of course.

Quick and dirty answer: As Dosfreak alluded to, you can't "boot" an exe file. An exe file is a program.

If you wanted to boot from a file, the file needs to be an image of a hard drive or floppy disk, with a copy of DOS loaded on it or something. This will normally be an ISO or IMG file.

Ah. Part of the problem is I'm not finding the command to just...run the EXE file. Again, if this is about needing that "frontend" thing, that may be the problem.

I've basically been the Underpants Gnomes of installing this thing.
Step 1: Tell it where to install to.
Step 2: Tell it where to install FROM.
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Play game.

Here's exactly what I've been doing, line by line. (I'm commenting with lines that start with //, one of the few bits of C++ I remember from taking it as an elective ages ago)

>mount C "C:\DOS\Games\
//This is my DOS games folder. Yes, I stuck it directly under the C: directory, to avoid all the "user" subfolders that Windows likes to throw at you.

>mount D "D:\" -t cdrom
//Told it that the faux-CDROM drive should, in fact, be treated as a CDROM. This is basically a copy of the disc, not the disc itself (remember, I don't have an actual CD drive on this laptop).

> D:
//Made sure it would answer my next query WRT the D:\, not the C:\

> dir
//Verified that everything from my CD image does, in fact, show up. (Every time. Better safe than sorry.)

And this is the point beyond which I had no effing clue what to do next. The Wiki for DOSBox doesn't have any sort of "run this program" command listed that I can see.

So I typed in:

> boot D:\setup.exe

And of course, this doesn't work, because it's looking for drive A.

I take it that an "image" of a disc is...not the same thing as a straight copy of everything on the disc? Damn.

And don't take the fact that I took ONE course in C++, 14 years ago, as a sign that I remember jack squat about programming. I am that dangerous thing known as "well, I know a wee bit about the subject--how hard could it be anyway?" With the minor difference that I actually KNOW that I don't know what I'm doing. 😜

Good job!....until the boot setup.exe

To run programs in DOSBox just type in the name of the program, so "hello.exe" or "hello.com" or "hello.bat".

Usually setup.exe files are Windows installation programs so likely if you run that program in DOSBox then it will complain because the executable wants Windows.

If it does require Windows then you'll need to find out if it supports Windows 3.x. If it does then you'll need to install Windows 3.x in DOSBox, launch Windows 3.x and then run the setup.exe file.

DosFreak wrote:

Good job!....until the boot setup.exe […]
Show full quote

Good job!....until the boot setup.exe

To run programs in DOSBox just type in the name of the program, so "hello.exe" or "hello.com" or "hello.bat".

Usually setup.exe files are Windows installation programs so likely if you run that program in DOSBox then it will complain because the executable wants Windows.

If it does require Windows then you'll need to find out if it supports Windows 3.x. If it does then you'll need to install Windows 3.x in DOSBox, launch Windows 3.x and then run the setup.exe file.

Ah. Thank you. So basically, I just type "setup.exe" and if it balks, then I get to figure out how to install Win 3.x in DOSBox.

...I'm sure there's a guide for that, too, but as I mentioned, "windows 3.1" is excluded as a search item. Could one of you give me a link to that?

EDIT: And yep, it wants Windows. I did the same as before, minus the "boot." It said this:

"D:\win SETUP.EXE
"Illegal command: win."

Then it is likely a Windows game you want to run in a DOS emulator 😀

My Windows 3.x guide might help but you need to own a copy of Windows 3.x.

Check this out: http://www.toptensoftware.com/win3mu/ - I've read it on another thread here, and this may solve your problem.

bregolin wrote:

Check this out: http://www.toptensoftware.com/win3mu/ - I've read it on another thread here, and this may solve your problem.

Except it doesn't seem to exist, currently. 😒 If there's a Win 3.1 emulator or suchlike that IS available now, though, that'd be awesome.

You can try boxedwine http://www.boxedwine.org/

Anything else will require a copy of Windows which are not free or "abandonware" so don't ask for them here. You can find them elsewhere though.

I understand. 😀 Thanks for the emulator links. And yeah, I know better than to ask where to pirate an OS on a public forum. 😜 (Even if such WEREN'T against the rules, the PTB would doubtless turn up the post, given that they read everything we USians put on the Internet.)

Where to download Windows 3.1 floppies or CD-ROMs? At eBay 😀

If you've access to a real floppy drive, you could get W31 on floppies as well,
but W31 was also available on CD ROM.

Here is how I have my filesystem on my desktop install setup

C:/DOSBox/<drive-letter>_DRIVE

So mount the cd as drive A: with

>mount A "D:\" -t cdrom

Worked flawlessly for me, because it has those drives available to modify and edit