For Windows users (see below for other platforms)

1. Create a folder for your game, e.g. in your Documents folder - usually C:\Users\your-user-name\Documents\DOSBox stuff\MyGame" (if you are still on Windows XP, the folder will be something like "C:\Documents and Settings\your-user-name\My Documents\DOSBox stuff\MyGame").
2. Insert the CD with the game in your CD/DVD drive.
3. Start DOSBox.
4. In DOSBox, tell DOSBox which of your real folders and real drives to use as the emulated DOS drives C: and D:
   
   Z:\>mount C "C:\Users\your-user-name\Documents\DOSBox stuff\MyGame"
   Drive C is mounted as local directory C:\Users\your-user-name\Documents\DOSBox stuff\MyGame
   
   Z:\>mount D "D:\" -t cdrom
   MSCDEX installed.
   Drive D is mounted as CDRom D:\
   
   Z:\>C:
   C:\>
   
   (assuming that D:\ is your real CD/DVD drive. )
   
   Note 0: Please remember to use the double-quotes (") around the path names. They are important if the path contains spaces.
   
   Note 1: It is highly recommended that you always use C and D for the emulated drives. It doesn't matter what your real drives are.
   
   If your "DOSBox stuff\MyGame" folder is located on say your real F-drive, then do a mount C "F:\DOSBox stuff\MyGame"
   If your real CD-ROM drive is E:, then do a mount D "E:\" -t cdrom
   
   Note 2: Unless you are prepared to re-install and re-configure the game, DO NOT CHANGE the way you mount the C and D drives for this particular game.
   
   Note 3: The first time you assign (mount) a CD/DVD (or a diskette for that matter), DOSBox will scan the media and remember which files that are on the CD. This means, that whenever you swap CD's, you need to press CTRL-F4 to force DOSBox to re-scan the media and re-build its view of what is on the CD.
5. Switch to the D: drive and install the game (to C:)
   
   C:\>D:
   
   Have a look at the files with the dir command, and see if you can spot an install or and a setup program or whatever the command to start the installation is called. Check your Manual/Installation Guide for MyGame for the exact command to use.
   
   D:\>dir /w
   
   D:\>install
6. Configure sound, configure graphics, ...
   
   A safe bet with configuring sound, is to select General MIDI or SoundBlaster. Don't try stuff like Gravis Ultrasound (GUS) or Adlib. If you are asked about details like IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA addresses when configuring the game to use SoundBlaster for sound, use IO = 220, IRQ = 7, DMA = 1 (and sometimes High DMA = 5).
7. Start the game.
   
   Again, the installation program and/or the manual will tell you how to to do this. Typically, you will need to locate a file called MyGame.Exe, MyGame.Bat or something similar. Check your Manual/Installation Guide for MyGame for the exact command to use.
   
   If you don't have a clue how to start the game, you can try to locate the file yourself. If you are not already seeing the C:\> prompt in DOSBox, switch from the emulated D-drive to the emulated C-drive with:
   
   D:\>C:
   C:\>
   
   Then have a look at the files with the dir command:
   
   C:\>dir /w
   
   Use the cd name-of-folder command to move into a folder (also known as a <DIR>ectory), and cd .. to move out again. In each folder, do a dir /w until you see the MyGame.Exe / MyGame.Bat file. Now start it with:
   
   C:\>MyGame

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If you have more than 60 seconds to spare, go to Start => Programs => DOSBox-0.73 > Edit Configuration. That should start Notepad on the (semi-hidden) configuration file.

On Windows Vista the file will be something like C:\Users\your-user-name\AppData\Local\DOSBox\dosbox-0.73.conf.
On Windows XP, it will be %UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\DOSBox\dosbox-0.73.conf.

Add the mount commands to the section named autoexec (at the bottom of the file):

1[autoexec]
2mount C "C:\Users\your-user-name\Documents\DOSBox stuff\MyGame"
3mount D "D:\" -t cdrom
4C:

That way, the mount commands will automagically be executed by DOSBox everytime you start DOSBox.

OBS: If you have a lot of games, a single configuration file will often not be enough.

You have 2 solutions:

1. Copy the dosbox-0.73.conf file to somewhere in your Documents folder and name it according to which game or configuration you want, e.g. MyGame-0.73.conf.
   
   Next, edit your DOSBox shortcut (or make a new one, call it Run MyGame) and change the target into something like
   %ProgramFiles%\DOSBox-0.73\dosbox.exe -conf "C:\path\to\your\MyGame-0.73.conf"
2. Install one of the DOSBox frontends that makes it a breeze to edit and create game-specific configurations.

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For more information on DOSBox and how to use it, please visit some of these pages:

• The DOSBox ReadMe file.
  Essential reading and your first source of information on how to start DOSBox, how to mount drives, change keyboard layout, etc, etc.
• The DOSBox Wiki. A good supplement to the ReadMe file.
• All the other DOSBox guides here at VOGONS.
• ErikGG's DOSBox FAQ.

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