Try the rescan command in dosbox. This should reread the contents of the floppy disc (and update the internal directory cache).

Is there any way to Rescan when you don't have access to the command line? (ie in the middle of an install program, which is where you'd need it most). Maybe a CTRL-F# key bound to it that could be invoked whenever?

edit: currently, the way I mount floppy drives is by using SUBST B: C:\FLOPPYDIR1 from the windows console, then mounting that as a floppy drive from within DOSbox. I can "switch" floppies by entering a different SUBST command (ie SUBST B: C:\FLOPPYDIR2) but DOSbox needs to RESCAN before the changes register, which you can't do from within a game's installer program... that's why I ask.

You can probably install it from the Windows command prompt and then copy the files to your dosbox directory.

oneirotekt wrote:

Is there any way to Rescan when you don't have access to the command line? (ie in the middle of an install program, which is where you'd need it most). Maybe a CTRL-F# key bound to it that could be invoked whenever?

That's still a problem in dosbox. You cannot rescan without having access to the command line. You could try to copy the contents of the discs into a single directory and install from there. That works for some games, but not for all. Let's see if I can implement better support for that rescan thing... 😀

Thank you very much for your replies. The Rescan command did the trick.

the file directories should not be cached. period. not how it worked in DOS, not how it should work here.

Well, the file directories need to be cached. period. But we might improve it so you wont even notice they are cached.

am I missing something? how do they 'need' to be cached? why can't you call the OS to give you an on-the-fly list?

The main reason for dir caching is to make dos incompatible file systems useable in dosbox (eg. long dir- and filenames will be mangled, linux differences will be taken into account, etc...)
Besides it brings some more advantages:
- possibility to access other directory structures (important when dosbox will support zip files and iso images sometime)
- sorted directory output

The only problem is that it doesnt detect floppy changes automatically (it works for cdrom drives if they are mounted correctly).

i have a similar problem, but not the same. i am playing a game that requires me to switch up to 6 disks during the game. i am not using an actual floppy drive, but i am mounting d:\dosgames\gametitle\floppy as the A:. i have put all 6 resource files for the disks in that directory, but when i am playing the game and it asks me to switch to disk 2, for instance, nothing i do or type can make it change to another floppy resource file. any help would be appreciated. the game is kings quest IV btw. thanks