Please post the dosbox version, exact steps you're performing (including the batch file contents).

and don't run dosbox inside vmware

Dosbox version is "0.74 windows";
exact contents of .bat file (one line):
"c:\Program Files (x86)\DOSBox-0.74\DOSBox.exe" c:\csoft\angeb\finzmath\fms.exe -exe -noconsole

Program comes up fine, but doesn't end so.

What's this funny stuff about "don't use it with vm-ware" ?
Could try it - but must get a real machine first. If you say that it is not usabe under vmware - no problem, i'll try with a real machine.

You are running an emulator under an emulator. That's not supported.

DOSBox runs on all commonly used OS's. If you can run vmware on your host then you can definetly run DOSBox on your host.

-exit instead of -exe ?