Author: Glenn Scrima
All of the games on this site listed as Vista compatible have been tested and verified to be. However some visitors will experience difficulties running a game on Windows Vista. This has to do with the permissions allowed on your login account which can affect your ability to play certain games.
The first way to resolve this problem is to make sure the account you are logged in under is labeled as an Administrator account. To check go to Control Panel>User Accounts and Family Safety>User Accounts. Under the account name it will tell you if your account has "Administrator" rights or not.
If you don't have administrator access, and say if it's a parent or a company's computer, you will need to ask the person who's account is listed as an "Administrator" to grant your account this access level as well.
To grant just the Dosbox program itself Administrator access, right click on the Dosbox program and select "Run as Administrator".
I hope this helps those who run into trouble installing games on Dosbox with Windows Vista.
FAQ:
The config file is missing what do I do?
The game won't run on Windows Vista. What should I do?
The game runs sluggish. Is there a way to improve this?
How do I make the game launch in fullscreen mode?
How do I change the amount of RAM available?
How do I mount a hard drive or CD-ROM drive in Dosbox?
How do I change my machine type in Dosbox?
How do I capture a screenshot during gameplay?
I can't download from Abandonia. What should I do?
How do I close or exit Dosbox?
104 comments:
hey man,
my vista and dos box are not getting on everytime i go to edit the dosbox file it wont let me save the changes with word pad it keeps coming up with an eorror stateing that "path and file name are not correct". what should i do?
I am getting the same thing as the guy below. I cant save the file also.
Hi did you try both methods most visitors report that one or the other works for them but sometimes not both.
Best,
Glenn
I followed the directions to get diggers to work but it wont work! when I click on dosbox for the last time (instructions say it should launch) it says mscdex not found. What is wrong? I want to play this game so bad. Oh and I have vista, is that the problem?
I ran the dos box as admin. and tried to save, it said it saved but when I go to find the saved file I can't find it anywhere. What am I doing wrong? I am running on windows vista btw.
What game are you trying this with?
Best,
Glenn
Hi, I'm a bit new to DOSBox and I'm trying to run "Treasure Mathstorm!". However, every time I try to run it, DOSBox tells me:
Treasure Mathstorm! was not found on this drive.
Other games work, there is no mounting or filename errors. I've downloaded the game from a couple different sites, files are all the same sizes and names.
Hi, are you using the Abandonia or XTC Abandonware copy? I tried installing the Abandonia version with my own instructions to be sure and it worked like normal. Are you running XP or Vista? It sounds like Dosbox may not be able to find the file you are mounting. You might want to double check that you didn't mistype the mount commands in the config file or that you didn't install the game in the incorrect folder by accident.
Best,
Glenn
Hi,
I'm from Holland so my English isn't that good, i hope you know what i mean.
I tried to install carmen sandiego several times but i cant get it to work.
The dosbox goes well but when i try to save the game (the last bit of your explenation) then i just get pictures in my compressed folder.
I'm not very good with computers and i followed your text to the letter.
This computer runs on windows vista.
Hopefully you can help me with this because i really want to play the game.
Thanks very much anyway.
if you are on vista, just copy the Dos what ever folder from the program files to your desktop or your documents... then just follow the other steps and it will work... thats the only problem, you dont have permissions to change program files for some reason...
It is the DOSBOX folder you wanna copy from program files. sorry i didnt put htat inthere before.... please comment on this if it helped you... thanks
Hi, to the March 25th poster have you tried both methods in the guide. I know with some visitors one worked while the other didn't. Let me know if this helped.
Best,
Glenn
Hi,
I didn't try both of them. Maybe i can get someone around who knows how it al works.
But thanks anyway for all the help you gave me.
I would try both methods in the guide just from past experience that can be the issue sometimes. It sounds to me like the game isn't getting permission from Windows to write a save file to the directory.
Best,
Glenn
Hi , for those struggling to rensave the config file, first take it out of c:programfiles.... folder and place it under games folder, vista wont let you rename config files under the program files location.. earlier comments reply.... well i still cant get mine to run i have tried everything, it all starts up but freezes after a while,, trying with Drally,,, and man i really wanna play that old classic... can anyone help??? maybe my dload was corrupt??? it was a 41mb file.. nomell@webmail.co.za
my files wont extract. I just get a ton of errors.
Hi Wesley it is true that you can avoid needing to be logged with an admin account but the problem is the mount commands would be different for each person based on their login name thus making things more complicated. Most people have admin access with their default account so it isn't to much of an issue.
Best,
Glenn
Hi what OS are you unzipping the files in?
Best,
Glenn
HI Glenn,,, im batting with Drally,, i cant get it to run with dos box,, i have tried and tried and tried,, i have followed all instructions.... but it just doesnt run,, it freezes after it tries to begin... i am runnning vista home and dont know what to do,, it is a legend game and i really need help,, have u any ideas.
hi im having trouble....i can load the game and play the game fine....but when i try to save the game...it wont let me...it keeps saying "your game was NOT saved"
Hi have you already tried both methods in this guide (if your running Vista). Vista wont let you write directly to the C: drive unless you are logged in as an admin account so this is often the cause. Let me know if this helps at all.
Best,
Glenn
I have windows Vista and I have tried getting The Oregon Trail to work, but when I type in cd oregon it tells me unable to change to: oregon. Any ideas?
i appreciate what youre doing man, i love simfarm, but its confusing and wonder if you can help, ive installed both programs successfully, but they wont save to my games drive, i cant extract simfarm when i zip it, and have no idea how to run dosbot, id really appreciate it if you could help man, thanks
jeff
btw im on vista
I think I found the solution on a forum : It's a protection to make sure you have the manual (old serial key ^^ ) so go to abandonia you'll find the manual and answer the question. I'm trying it right now...
its jeff again, i got it working!! thanks man
Hi Jeff sorry it took this long to get back to you on this, I finally have time to respond to all the new comments on the site though thankfully. I'm glad things worked out, enjoy the game!
Best,
Glenn
In response to the person who posted about Oregon Trail above it sounds like the game was extracted into the wrong folder. If the cd (change directory) command is coming up with nothing then the only thing I can figure is the game was extracted maybe by mistake into the wrong folder. I'd try extracting the game zip file again. Let me know if this helps.
Best,
Glenn
I'm running on Vista and I need to get into the Setup for Tyrian so I can try to slow it down because it's going way too fast for me as it is. It's playing just fine-I followed your instructions but I can't get into the setup for the game now. Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!!!
Hi Erin, go to the Dosbox config file again and temporarily delete the command "tyrian2k" in the [autoexec] section and then save. Now launch the Dosbox program like before but this time you will be in Dos instead of the game launching. Type "setup" and press enter. This will launch the games setup program. After you make changes and save and exit the setup program go back to the config file and place the "tyrain2k" command in the same spot as before. The game should now launch like before.
Best,
Glenn
finding problems when you run settlers 2 with dosbox simply follow this
make sure your on as admin
then run dosbox as admin
edit dosbox config to
[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
mount c c:\games\settlers2
c:
cd s2
install
should run
if not will try and help only thing i cant get to work is my sound effects.
hi, when i get to the step that says"right click on the Dosbox config file" i can't. i do't get that as an option. i get copying,authors,dosbox,install,news,readme,SDL.dll,SDL_net.dll,Thanks and uninstall...please help!!
can anybody help me?? my quesion is above.
It just does NOT run, DOSbox prompt only, no game, followed instructions to the 'T'!!!!!
hi im using vista and i having no problems getting on and saving the confiq file but after all is installed and ready i try to run the dos box and it comes up with
Z:\>c:
Z:\>cd diggers
C:\cd diggers
C:\DIGGERS>diggers
Illegal command: diggers
and i've tried all the same steps on my brothers computer which is on XP but he has none of the problems it just works firts time for him what is it you think i could do?
Hi if you are entering the commands in Dosbox they should be like this for it to work:
Z:\>mount c c:\games\diggers
Z:\>c:
C:\cd diggers
C:\DIGGERS>diggers
Hi nicyunvme07, check out the guide below on how to create a config file.
http://www.glennsguides.com/2009/06/config-file-is-missing-in-dobox-073-how.html
Best,
Glenn
Hi colleentg, what does it say in Dosbox above the DOS prompt.
Best,
Glenn
Hi,
I followed every instruction word for word but when I open the DOSBox to play the game it just has this:
Welcome to DOSBox....etc
Z:\>SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H5 D6
Z:\>
Nothing else.....and I tried the whole thing twice....help!
1). Hi. I followed your instructions for running KQ6 in DosBox. But after I played it, I uninstalled it and my hard drive crashed! Not sure if it had anything to do with the game or not, I just wanted to let you know.
2). Do you have any specific instructions for how to download and install KQ7? Can I just replace all of the 6's with a 7, or would it be entirely different?
Hi Sara, uninstalling the game shouldn't cause any issues with your hard drive so it probably was just a strange coincidence. I couldn't find a copy of KQ 7 online but if you know of an abandonware site that has it let me know and I'll let you know what the mount commands will be to run it.
Best,
Glenn
OK...I downloaded it from DOS Gamer. Here is the url: http://dosgamer.com/kings-quest-vii-the-princless-bride/
Is that all the information you need?
Hi, I'm having almost same problem they are with Lands Of Lore - Throne of Chaos it runs Great up to you'll char select. Then goes blank see and instant of the last thing said by the king then Bam, Black Screen of Death lol Any help would be Really appreciated. Really love this game and itching to play it again.
Hi Sara the dosbox config file commands might be different. Let me know if you run into any trouble and I'll try to help.
Best,
Glenn
Hi for Lands of Lore I would give running the game with an earlier version of Dosbox a try. Some games like certain versions better than others.
Best,
Glenn
I did run into some trouble--I can't find an .exe file! Install.exe works fine, but when I try to run setup, it says windows only. When I do it on windows, it says my color configuration is wrong and i'm not sure how to change it! Any suggestions?
Hi Sara sorry in the delay getting back to you. I'm logged onto my mac right now and am about to call it a night but when I'm on tomorrow doing work in Windows I'll see what I can come up with.
Best,
Glenn
hey i tried to download this emulator. it's downloaded but won't play my WOLF3D file. it says something about 32bit and 64bit. i have 64bit. what am i doing wrong?
Hi Joseph, are you running the game in Dosbox?
Best,
Glenn
Hi Sara are you running setup in Dosbox or by itself?
Best,
Glenn
hi Glenn,
i'm trying to install lion king on my laptop...OS is windows vista....i've downloaded the game from the internet...now every time i try to install it it says 'Please insert disk 1'....wat do i do?
thanx
Hi are you running the game within Dosbox or Windows without Dosbox. The game won't run if your using the second method because Vista has essentially no support for old DOS games.
Best,
Glenn
Hi. I completed all the steps you've put up for installing SimFarm, extracted the files, etc. But when I go to click on the DoxBox file in the C: drive, SimFarm won't run. I'm already an administrator, so I tried that solution, but still won't run:(. Any suggestions?
Hi Lindsey, when you run Dosbox what does it say. Is the c: mounting?
Best,
Glenn
Hi I downloaded everything followed the directions but I go to load the game in dosbox and it tells me illegal command tim. I downloaded through abondonia. How do I fix it?
Hi Sami, what game are you having trouble with?
Best,
Glenn
Its the Incredible Machine. Sorry I probably should have posted that first!
Hi Sami, did you download the game from The House of Games? It looks like I made a typo in the mount commands. I just made a small change that should fix it.
Best,
Glenn
Hi Glen,
I have followed all your steps however when I go to play Carmen through DOSBOX it comes up with
Z:\>SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H5 T6
Z:\>
Again and I have tried to go backto the beginning, but same thing.
It sounds like the commands for the config file didn't save correctly. Double check the config file and see if the commands are still below the [autoexec] section.
Best,
Glenn
I'm trying to get WARCRAFT 1 ORCS AND HUMANS to run on DOSbox. I have completed the mounting and everything, i open the .exe file in warcraft on dosbox and it says "Insert Disk 1". What do I do?
Hi Glenn-
Did you ever figure out the mount commands for King's Quest 7: The Princeless Bride. I downloaded it from the site mentioned by Sara but having trouble starting it. I am working with Windows XP. I appreciate you letting me know.
Hi Andrew are you using the Abandonia copy or one from another site?
Best,
Glenn
Hi, I have a strange problem with my dosbox, I'm trying to run Blood on Vista. When I reached the point where you have you find dos application in game folder where you have to type setup'' When I click on dos application it just vanishes in 2 seconds. I cant type or run setup from it because it just don't stay there :-(( Any suggestions?
Oh yeh I am running under administrator account as well.
hey im just wondering i have the .73 version of dosbox and like in the earlier comments all i get is Z:\>SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H5 D6
Z:\>
for every game i try and get running... i can get it to work with only warcraft 2.. i did notice that only warcraft has a file called shotcut to MS-DOS. any help out there ?
i have done all the steps but when i run the dosbox, my game doesnt open and it says c:\lionking>lionking
i have windows 7.i tried downloading aladdin as well but it gives the same error.what do i do?
hello...i followed your steps for dosbox to play ascendancy. i clicked the dos in the ascendancy folder and the box pops up then disappears. i also tried clicking ascend to run the game and it pops up a blackbox like its opening then i get a message saying this system does not support fullscreen mode...i operate on a windows vista system..
Hi Ryan the file won't run in Windows because it is a DOS program so as long as you run it through Dosbox you will be all set. Are you having trouble running Dosbox also?
Best,
Glenn
Hi John it sounds like your autoexec commands didn't save correctly in dosbox config file or might have been placed in the wrong area. I'd double check to make sure they are still there. You might have closed without saving or accidentally put them in the wrong section.
Best,
Glenn
Hi Shruti does the C:\ mount in Dosbox? Also what errors come up above the C:\> or Z:\> prompt when Dosbox loads?
Best,
Glenn
Anonymous what does it say above the C:\> or Z:\> prompt in Dosbox? Is the C:\ drive mounting correctly and is there any error messages above the drive prompt?
Best,
Glenn
Hi there! Um, For the record, I have Vista. Just stating that.
However, I cannot seem to get dosbox on my computer. So It won't let me run where in the world is carmen sandiego.
And while I know this is probably not the correct place to go for this question, I'm a bit lost. This is my first time with an emulator. -shame-
However, I was wondering if there was something I could do, or if I happened to be doing something horrible wrong.
Hi Nagem what part are you stuck on? Are you having issues with Dosbox downloading from their site?
Best,
Glenn
hi, im not too tech savvy so i dont know alot about this stuff. i have a vista and everything installed properly, but when i try to load prince of persia, it keeps saying this system does not allow full screen. it doesnt go past that. i discovered that the ds bos file is not in the prince of persia folder, so im kinda stuck,
help pls?
Hi Mischa, the guide for Prince of Persia only works for XP unfortunately. It is one of my few early guides that needs to be updated for Vista and Windows 7 since it doesn't use Dosbox. You will need to run the file in Dosbox (www.dosbox.com). See the guide in the FAQ section on how to make a config file for Dosbox after you install Dosbox in the C:\Prince1 folder. In the Dosbox config file you will need to add these commands in the [autoexec] section of the config file:
mount c c:\prince1
prince
After that run Dosbox and the game will automatically run.
Best,
Glenn
Hi Glenn, my name is Miguel. Is nice to have back those old-full-of-dust-games of our past to remember THE nice days :D BUT, i have a problem...
I'm running DOSBox on Vista Basic on laptop, inspirion 1525 (if it works the info i'm givvin you...) and the problem that promps is this:
" 16 bit MS-DOS subsystem
SC2000
This system does not support fullscreen mode. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application."
And my problem is that. I tried to run as your guide said, by putting the fullscreen ON always, but no...
I have the config at 1440x990 pixels and quality color at 32bit. Any help? Plz? Would like to play old games again, but it seems almost all people have this problem. How can be solved? Thanks again for the support ond the will to read our comments :P Have a nice day.
PS: i have to mention that i moved all DOSBox files into the SC2000 carpet. Does this makes the mistake?
I have Windows Vista and I bought the CD "Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego" and it installs all the way to main menu, but when you click "play Carmen Sandiego" a message pops up saying that I need Quicktime 2.1 and to install the proper one from the disc. But I'm not sure how to do that. I downloaded it from the internet, but there hasn't been any change.
Hi Huberer, so are you getting this error with the last command:
mount c c:\games\sim2000
c:
cd simc2000
sc2000 <----------
Do all the commands before this work?
Best,
Glenn
Hi it sounds like you're using a Windows edition of the game. I can't unfortunately find out how to fix this because I don't have a copy of my own to test. However my guess is that it was designed for a much earlier edition of Windows (such as Windows 95) and might be a 16 bit program also. Do you know if the CD also has an MS-Dos copy of the game? It would likely work with Dosbox if it does.
Best,
Glenn
man! i am using windows seven, and i am trying to make alien trilogy work. the sound wont work.
wen i choose gravis ultrasound, it says that it isnt found. why wasnt it working. if i cant use that device can i use another one?
plz man, reply
i installed everything corectly for warcraft 2 and dosbox is telling me
unable to change to war2 and
war
illegal command war what should i do?
Glenn,
I have downloaded Champions of Krynn on my machine, got D-fend reloaded on there, set it up and it runs, but will not allow me to save anything: characters, games, etc.
I am running XP, not Vista. Any ideas? Otherwise the game seems to work fine. Thanks, Steve
I've followed every instruction, but "start" is considered an illegal command for dosbox (tring to run EOB). Please help!
hi Glenn,
i am new to DOS thing. Can you teach me how to use Dos Box?
I already download Prince of Persia game & extract the file into my D instead of C & save in the folder using 'Prince Of Persia'. I'm using win7 32bit.
I having a problem to mount my D. And I don't know what to do any more ... Need to play the game so badly.
hi.im trying to run where in the world is carmen sandiego using vista.i followed all ur instructions but when i right click on the dosbox and run as admin,it just says drive c doesnt exist.and when i try to mount games\carmenworld\ it says drive c is mounted as local directory.then,i typed c: and dir and several programs appear.when i try to type dosbox exe, it says program cannot be run in dos mode.what do i need to do coz i really want to play the game?tnx
hey, i already downloaded the game wolf, and it went into the downloads part and whenever i try to click on it it comes up in the form of a bunch of files, it wont come up as the accual game. im not good with computers is their any way u could help me?
Hi - I am trying to run Discworld on 64 bit Vista. I have followed all the instructions with no difficulties until I try to run the Install.exe file from the Abandonia website downloaded zip file -- I keep getting the error that the version of the file is not compatible with the version of Windows.
Hey, I just downloaded SimCity 2000 from Abandonia and then DosBox for Windows (I'm running Vista 32Bit).
I followed your instructions to the letter, both versions, and I still have a problem. While everything is extracted into the folder, and I had no problems creating and editing the config file, when I start DosBox... nothing. All I get is Z:\ and whatever I enter there it say's it is invalid. Basically, it doesn't run when I startup DosBox.
How do I fix this?
Glenn,
I am trying to run Romance of the Three Kingdoms on my Windows Vista OS. I have followed your instructions on both the DOSBox and the copy/paste into config file(yes, I downloaded the game from XTC something). Now when I try to run the game as an administrator, I still receive this error:
C:\Games\Romance\romance2\RTK2.COM
This system does not support fullscreen mode. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application.
This is what the end of my Dosbox config file ends as after the copy/paste:
[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
# You can put your MOUNT lines here.
mount c c:\games\romance
c:
cd romance1
main
Any suggestions as to what I may be able to do? I look forward to your reply.
Thanks,
Bray.
I just downloaded and installed the copy from XTC with my instructions and couldn't come up with any issues. The autoexec commands you list look fine however the error you give is whats odd. There is no Romance2 sub folder in the download and there isn't an RTK2.com file in the download either. The only thing I'd suggest since I can't replicate the issue or find those files in the download is to try a reinstall. Also double check that you didn't download Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2 by accident. The Romance2 folder and RTK2 file seem to point to that being the culprit.
Best,
Glenn
I'm trying to run Ultima Underworld on Vista. First, in Vista, I can't tell which file is the dosbox config file mentioned somewhere on your site. Second, when i try to run the install.exe in vista, it tells me my version of windows is incompatible and i need a 32 or 64 bit version of windows. I have no idea what I'm doing, I'm in over my head and only Ultima Underworld is going to make me feel better. Help please.
i'm having troubles downloading strred rod 1. i get to the part where it says go to dosbox and do open with i dnt have the option to open with so i can extract the files. can you help me out??
got settlers 1 working fine through dosbox (on a vista system btw) have trouble with settlers 2 though keep getting this message after it tells me im using ps2 mouse
CRITICAL ERROR: FILE::RESET: .\data\resourse.idx!
OUTER MAIN LOOP ERROR: FILE:
.\data\resourse.idx! - ERROR 2 - file not found!!
anybody help???
Hey Glenn I am trying to play Warcraft 1. I am certain I followed all the steps completely, but for some reason when I try to play it says I need to be running on 32-bit and not 64-bit. So I run as an admin but a different error message comes up saying it can't find the file.
i've been trying to download and run wolfstein 3D but it wont work. this is what i get:
Z:\>mount c c:\games\wolf3d\
Z:\>c:
C:\>cd wolf3d
Unable to change to: wolf3d.
C:\>wolf3d
Illegal command: wolf3d.
i have vista. maybe thats the problem but i'm not sure because i'm not good in computers
Hello!
I did every step said on the page to install the game, but when I double click on the DOSbox icon in the C: Games/supaplex folder the game does not start. The fail opens and it sais that drive C is mounted. How can I get the game to work????
hey i'm trying to play carmen sandiego, this is in dos box conf[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
# You can put your MOUNT lines here.
mount c c:\games\carmenworld
c:
carmen
but when i double click dos box i can't get the game started. then i try to put in the mount command again but i can't do \?? help
Hey, I've done all that's said to do but it won't let me run it as I'm running the wrong windows. I'm with windows 7 (I think) is there anyway I can change it to make it work?
Thanks
you have to go to file at the top then save to save anychanges in note pad. u need to write the commands again in dosbox to make it run in vista. hope this helps
i keep getting a error message says cant run in fullscreen how do i change this??? or fix it so i can play warcraft
I tried to fix this game(Supaplex) on windows 7, but everytime the same problem: C:\supaplex
Ilegal command:supaplex
Apologies if I missed the answer.
I don't mean to be a pain but it tells me Illegal command when trying to enter the setup command in your warcraft guide, is there any way to fix this?
hey glenn, im getting an error with hand of fate..i have copied it to cd, downloaded 0.72 and 0.73 i mount the d drive and i get type setup..get through setup and then after i put sound and my configurations in i go to save settings and it says something like error with io hof.cfg...ive read all instructions and used 0.72 and cannnot for the life of me figure this out..
Cheers
it keeps saying that the "war2" command for warcraft 2 is an illegal command. i have vista. i have run this program in the past but did not have vista. can you help please?
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