How to Set Up and Use DOSBox on a PC or Mac

Download Article

Play your favorite MS-DOS games in this free DOS emulator

Written by Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: December 19, 2025 Fact Checked

Download Article

• Installing DOSBox
|
• Mounting Drives
|
• Playing a Game
|
• Using a Frontend Program
|
• Video
|
• Q&A

|Show more |Show less

DOSBox is a program that emulates MS-DOS, including its sound, graphics, input, and networking. DOSBox is mostly used to play older video games that were made specifically for the MS-DOS operating system. DOSBox is available for download for free, and it's easy to install and set up. In this wikiHow guide, we'll walk you through the step-by-step process of installing, configuring and using DOSBox on your Windows PC or Mac.

Quick Steps

1. Download DOSBox from dosbox.com.
2. Run the installer.
3. Create a separate folder for your DOS games.
4. Download games to your DOSGAMES folder.
5. Start DOSBox and mount the games folder.
6. Navigate to the game and run its EXE or BAT file.

Steps

Section 1 of 4:

Installing DOSBox

Download Article

1. 
   1
   Download the latest version of DOSBox. You can download the installer from DOSBox.com by clicking the Download Now button. To download a specific version, such a Linux .DEB package, just click the link for your preferred download.
2. 
   2
   Run the installer. When installing DOSBox, you may find it easier to change the installation location to C:\DOSBox instead of using the default location.

   • Change C: to whatever drive letter you want DOSBox installed on.
   Advertisement
3. 
   3
   Create a new folder on the same drive for your games. Games that you download will be placed here. This folder will be mounted as a virtual drive in DOSBox.

   • For example, if you installed DOSBox at C:\DOSBox\, create a folder in the same location, like C:\DOSGAMES.
4. 
   4
   Download some games. There are tons of sites that host old DOS games that can be downloaded for free and legally. Search for "abandonware" sites, which host programs made by developers that no longer exist and that have no retail means to purchase. Place the downloaded files in their own folder inside the games folder you created in the previous step.

   • A few common places to download games you can play on DOSBox:
     • myabandonware.com
     • classicdosgames.com/
   • You can also copy the files from old installation disks you may have lying around (if you still have a floppy drive).
   • Save the downloaded games to your DOSGAMES folder.
5. 
   5
   Start DOSBox. You will be taken to the virtual command prompt Z:\>.
Advertisement

Section 2 of 4:

Mounting Drives

Download Article

1. 
   1
   Mount your games folder. It is not safe to mount your entire hard drive in DOSBox, so instead, you'll be mounting your games folder as a virtual drive. The games folder will act as a hard drive. Here's how:

   • Type mount C C:\DOSGAMES and press ↵ Enter (assuming your games folder is C:\DOSGAMES}}.
   • Type C:\DOSGAMES and press ↵ Enter to navigate through your games.
   • For Macs, change the locations as appropriate (e.g mount C ~/DOSGAMES).
2. 
   2
   Mount a CD or DVD. If you have games on a CD or DVD, you can mount it using this command:

   • Type mount D D:\ -t cdrom and press ↵ Enter. Replace D: with the drive letter of your optical drive.
   • Type D: and press ↵ Enter. Your input will change to D:\>, and you can navigate through the CD's files.
   • cdrom needs to be lowercase.
3. 
   3
   Mount an ISO image. If you have an ISO file for the game CD you want to play, you can mount it as if it were an actual disc.

   • Type imgmount D C:\ImagePath\image.iso -t iso and press ↵ Enter.
   • Replace C:\ImagePath\image.iso with the actual location and filename of the ISO file.
4. 
   4
   Mount a BIN/CUE disc image. If you have a BIN/CUE file for the game CD you want to play, you can mount it as if it were an actual disc. Here's how:

   • Type imgmount D C:\ImagePath\image.cue -t iso and press ↵ Enter.
   • Replace C:\ImagePath\image.cue with the actual location and filename of the CUE file.
   • The BIN file needs to have the same name and be in the same location.
5. 
   5
   Mount a floppy disk drive. If you have a floppy disk drive installed in your computer, you can mount it so that DOSBox can access it.

   • Type mount A A:\ -t floppy and press ↵ Enter.
6. 
   6
   Set DOSBox to automount your drive. To save yourself some time when you start DOSBox, you can set it to automatically mount the drive of your choice. To do this, you'll need to open the dosbox.conf file in a text editor like Notepad or TextEdit.

   • Windows - C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\DOSBox\dosbox-version.conf
   • Mac - ~/Library/Preferences/DOSBox 0.73 Preferences
   • Add the following lines to the very bottom of the configuration file and then save it:
     • MOUNT C C:\DOSGAMES
     • C:
Advertisement

Section 3 of 4:

Playing a Game

Download Article

1. 
   1
   Display the list of folders. If you've mounted your DOSGAMES folder, each of your games will usually be contained in its own folder. Type dir to list all of your game directories. If you mounted a disc or disc image, a list of all the files and folders on the disc will be displayed.
2. 
   2
   Type .cd directory to open the directory of the game you want to play. Replace "directory" with the name of the game's directory, and press ↵ Enter after running the command. For example, cd DUKENUKEM.
3. 
   3
   Type .dir to display a list of all the files in the game's directory. Now you'll see the names of the files inside the game's directory.
4. 
   4
   Look for the game file. Most games start by running an EXE file, though you may need to run a COM or BAT file. This is mainly for older games.

   • The EXE file will often have a name similar to the game. For example, Prince of Persia may be called POP.EXE.
5. 
   5
   Run the game file. Type the name of the EXE, COM, or BAT file, including the extension, and press ↵ Enter. This opens the game in DOSBox.
6. 
   6
   Adjust your game's performance. There are several keyboard shortcuts that can be used to adjust the performance of your game. These commands can be useful since a lot of old games will not perform properly on modern systems.

   • Ctrl+F8 - This increases the amount of frameskip. Frameskip prevents DOSBox from rendering certain frames, which can improve performance but leads to some visual problems.
   • Ctrl+F7 - This decreases the amount of frameskip. 0 frameskip means that DOSBox is rendering every frame possible.
   • Ctrl+F12 - This will speed up the game by allocating more processor power to DOSBox. You can monitor your processor by pressing Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Esc and selecting the "Performance" tab. If you still need performance increases after maxing out your processor, increase the frameskip.
   • Ctrl+F11 - This will slow the game down by reducing the amount of processing power.
   • Not all games will run smoothly on DOSBox, even after tweaking performance settings.
7. 
   7
   Switch to full screen. If you want the game to take up your entire screen, press Alt+↵ Enter. You can exit full-screen mode by pressing the same keys again.
Advertisement

Section 4 of 4:

Using a Frontend Program

Download Article

1. 
   1
   Download and install a front-end program. If using the command prompt seems a little too complex, you can download a frontend program. These programs use a Windows interface, allowing you to load, start, and adjust games without ever using a command prompt.

   • One of the most popular front ends is D-Fend Reloaded, available for free from dfendreloaded.sourceforge.net.
   • D-Fend Reloaded includes the DOSBox files.
2. 
   2
   Run D-Fend Reloaded. Once it has been installed, you can start D-Fend Reloaded to manage your games. Your installed games will be sorted in the left frame.
3. 
   3
   Add games. You can easily add DOS games by dragging and dropping an archive file containing the game into the open D-Fend Reloaded window. The game archive will be automatically extracted, and the files will be placed in the right place.
4. 
   4
   Run a game. Double-click a game from the list to begin playing it. Your Windows color scheme may change temporarily while the game is running to support old DOS colors.
Advertisement

Community Q&A

Search

Add New Question

• Question

  Are DOS and command prompt similar?

  

  Community Answer

  Yes. The Windows command prompt actually uses a language based on DOS. All the commands that work in DOS will work in Windows.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
  Thank you for your feedback.
  If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow

  Yes No

  Not Helpful 3 Helpful 0
• Question

  Can I write new programs in DOSBox?

  

  Community Answer

  Yes, but you will need a compiler or interpreter. The simplest way it to use QBasic. Set up your compiler similar to how an old game is set up and it should work.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
  Thank you for your feedback.
  If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow

  Yes No

  Not Helpful 0 Helpful 1
• Question

  I have some QBasic programs from the Windows 98 days. Can I run them with DOSBox?

  

  Community Answer

  Yes, just load up the QBasic interpreter and your programs in DOSBox, similar to how old games are loaded up.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
  Thank you for your feedback.
  If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow

  Yes No

  Not Helpful 1 Helpful 0

See more answers

Ask a Question

200 characters left

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit

Advertisement

Video

Tips

Submit a Tip

All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published

Name

Please provide your name and last initial

Submit

Thanks for submitting a tip for review!