What messages are displayed in the dosbox console window ?
You might want to run the installer with dosbox debug version.

Akuma wrote on 2020-12-20, 20:57:

What messages are displayed in the dosbox console window ?
You might want to run the installer with dosbox debug version.

I don't understand the Dosbox Debug version. 🙁
Anyone want to try my Turbo C++4.5 installation files? (Please send me a PM).

Sometimes Windows 3.11 installation programs don't run well inside DOSBox.
Install it inside Pcem with Windows 3.11. If you still want to use DOSBox, close Pcem once the program is installed, and then open the hard disk image file with WinImage to copy over what was installed in a DOSBox C mount folder.

I had no problems installing it in the latest SVN release.
Used a standard installation of Win 3.1, then ran the installer with the 'FULL' option.

So if you want this to work you have these options:
1. download a recent SVN build
2. compile the svn yourself.
3. follow xcomcmdr's advice and do a fresh install outside of dosbox and copy over the files.
4. use any of the other precompiled dosbox versions like: dosbox ece or dosbox-x

Happy coding

Indeed, some installers are weird.
For example, the IE 5.x setup alwas hung on Windows 3.11 on my setup..
Some Win32s stuff also seems to have a hick up in DOSBox often..

Some issues seem to be related to applications that use shared files and thus require SHARE.EXE.
On Windows 3.11 (WfW 3.11), there's a virtual implementation of share.exe already installed by default.
On Windows 3.1 by contrast, any of these share.exe alternatives can be used, also.

Edit : If you can, please also try Standard Mode (win /s).
- Standard Mode has no advanced features like swap files or file access via BIOS or native HDD driver.
It will always ask DOS to do the file handling (or indirectly, SmartDrive, if loaded)..

@Akuma, I bet you used the default root folder installation.
The problem is an odd one, as a root folder will always work for the installation but fails completely when you use a subfolder as destination. And only fails in DOSBox, not a real machine.

@Suppawer:

Do you still use dosbox 0.74 (or dosbox 0.74.3)? I've used the latest svn-builds since 2011 and there have been a lot of improvements, including Windows 3.11 compatibilty. That said, I also want to reiterate that although dosbox does not officially support applications, but that most applications run fine just as games do. I have installed Word 5.5 (for DOS), Borland Pascal 7.01 (DOS and Windows) and there is really no problem at all.

I've looked a bit at the problem and it is present in current SVN.

To reiterate: If you install with the default paths, everything works fine!

The only problem is that *when you use a subfolder for the destination folder* , something wonky happens in DOSBox, so the installer suddenly can't find the install files anymore.

Dominus wrote on 2020-12-29, 07:35:

@Akuma, I bet you used the default root folder installation.
The problem is an odd one, as a root folder will always work for the installation but fails completely when you use a subfolder as destination. And only fails in DOSBox, not a real machine.

It ended up in C:\TC45 or something like that IIRC.

kruwi wrote on 2020-12-31, 09:55:

@Suppawer:

Do you still use dosbox 0.74 (or dosbox 0.74.3)? I've used the latest svn-builds since 2011 and there have been a lot of improvements, including Windows 3.11 compatibilty. That said, I also want to reiterate that although dosbox does not officially support applications, but that most applications run fine just as games do. I have installed Word 5.5 (for DOS), Borland Pascal 7.01 (DOS and Windows) and there is really no problem at all.

@kruwi: Since DOSBox 0.74-x or SVN is officially designed for DOS games only, of course there are problems if you use non-gaming DOS applications like Word 5.5 and Borland Pascal 7.01 in it. These applications may run in it to some degree, but since they are not officially supported in vanilla/SVN DOSBox you are really on your own and cannot expect more. For example, you can never print from these applications (which is apparently very important for many users of these applications) and functions like Ctrl+Break (which is important for debugging purposes in Borland Pascal etc) probably simply won’t work because vanilla/SVN DOSBox does not provide such non-gaming features.

Also, since vanilla/SVN DOSBox is designed for gaming, it will never be optimized for non-gaming applications, so for example you are limited to the bitmap rendering which is optimized for DOS games but not for non-gaming (text-mode) DOS applications. On the other hand, DOSBox-X for example is designed to be a general-purpose DOS emulator that goes beyond gaming, so it provides all above-mentioned features (printing, Ctrl+Break, and many more) that will make DOS applications run much better, and with its scalable TrueType font output (output=ttf) DOS applications will look much better too. You will quickly notice the differences when you actually compare between a gaming emulator like vanilla/SVN DOSBox and an emulator like DOSBox-X that goes beyond gaming.

So in summary, the claim that there is really no problem at all for running DOS applications in a gaming emulator is clearly false. Instead, it is possible that the basic functions may work in a gaming emulator but you are on your own and can never expect more, and general users are definitely recommended against it.