Read my 60 Seconds Guide to DOSBox (and don't just read it - follow it too).

If that doesn't help, come back with details on how you mounted your C and D drives, how you did the install, how you configured sound, music etc.

when i get all the way to where i pick the install program, DOSBOX tells me that it can not run the file in DOS. everything else went as you described

The install program must be Windows program, and not a DOS program then.

It that the only install-program you can find on the CD?

yeah that is the only one, and i remembered having to run it through dosbox but i guess i could be mistaken, the prompt says "this program needs to run in windows 95", do you know how to get around that?

Doesn't sound like the original game. As the message says you won't get
too far with an emulator which has a DOS system as its target OS.

hmmm, i guess its not a dos game, i thought i remembered from the good old days that it was, i guess not

It is a dos game, so you either got a totally different game with the same
name or not an original copy of the game.

oooohhh, i burned a copy of it because mine was all scratched up and was prone to skipping during gameplay, if i run the original through dosbox to install it and then use by burned one to run it for gameplay it should work right?

Unlikely. Still maybe try it.
As already noted the error message tells that the executable you're running
is not an msdos one.

IIRC, HOMM1 was originally released on a CD by NWC with both a windows and a DOS version, but later editions by Ubi-shite were Windows only.