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DOSBox without install?

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First post, by mgman

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I remember when I downloaded the earlier versions of DOSBox years back, I could just unzip the program and its contents to a folder. Now, it seems that you can only get it as an install. Is this really the only way, now, to get DOSBox?

Reply 1 of 5, by h-a-l-9000

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7-Zip can open the installer, as probably many others can too.

1+1=10

Reply 2 of 5, by Dominus

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Yes, kind of (really only if you are a Windows user and can't compile your own Dosbox). Unless you use an intelligent unpacker. The installer helps the common user and also avoids cries for help from those that think they don't need the installer. It sets up some useful links in the startmenu that proved helpful

Windows 3.1x guide for DOSBox
60 seconds guide to DOSBox
DOSBox SVN snapshot for macOS (10.4-11.x ppc/intel 32/64bit) notarized for gatekeeper

Reply 3 of 5, by butterfly

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Up till version 0.73 everytime I installed DOSBox I used to zip the resulting installed folder. I have an offline repository containing many Windows versions of DOSBox which don't require an installation.
Also consider DOSBox Portable @ PortableApps

Reply 5 of 5, by collector

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There is no real purpose to the PortableApps version. It doesn't really do anything more than what you can do with a quick edit of the official DOSBox conf file and starting it with that specified conf file. As stated, 7zip will treat the installer as a zip. There is no real reason to avoid the installer. It only creates a folder for the files and adds some useful shortcuts to the Start Menu. It make no registry entries or add/change any system files or settings.