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virtual cd in DOS

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First post, by jazvecina

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https://youtu.be/PKXZB48CmeE?t=622
im watching this tutorial but to be honest it isnt very good. its skipping too much important steps.
i dont have a cdrom plugged in, i dont have any cds or a burner so the MSCDEX wasnt running.
i had to figure it out but in the tutorial there is zero mentions of this.
next is the infodr. phill just mentions it but doesnt show how to actually run it what is the right command line.
im checking the official documentation but they are focused on how to copy a real cd and stuff like that which is not my case. i have an iso that i want to run virtually which i think would be use case of almost everybode interested in this.
but whatever i try it doesnt work. it wants me to use directory of the cd but i dont have any i have just the empty-cd setup. can anyone help how to actually run this so it works? /
thanks.

Reply 1 of 3, by wierd_w

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As long as you dont need redbook audio capabilities, then you should look into the SHSUCDX package.

One of the programs in it is SHSUCDHD, which mounts an .iso file with a virtual dos CDROM drive driver. It can then be used with either SHSUCDX or MSCDEX.

Reply 2 of 3, by NeoG_

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FakeDR doesn't work with ISO files so you should use a method like SHSUCDHD/SHSUCDX.

Download SHSUCD package r3-7 from here: http://adoxa.altervista.org/shsucdx/index.html

Put all the r3-7 files into a directory like C:\DRIVERS\SHSUCD
Put your ISO file into a location like C:\ISO\

Put these lines into autoexec.bat

LH C:\DRIVERS\SHSUCD\SHSUCDHD.EXE /F:C:\ISO\image.iso
LH C:\DRIVERS\SHSUCD\SHSUCDX.COM /D:SHSU-CDH /L:D

Replace /L:D with the drive letter you want the CDROM to be, e.g. /L:D, /L:E, L/L:F.
Replace /F:C:\ISO\image.iso with the correct path to your image file e.g. /F:C:\ISO\image1.iso or /F:C:\ISO\image2.iso

Note: As mentioned software based virutal CDs in DOS are data-mode only. They cannot play audio soundtracks in redbook/CD audio format.

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Reply 3 of 3, by PCGamingTimeMachine

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wierd_w wrote on 2026-04-24, 01:56:

As long as you dont need redbook audio capabilities, then you should look into the SHSUCDX package.

One of the programs in it is SHSUCDHD, which mounts an .iso file with a virtual dos CDROM drive driver. It can then be used with either SHSUCDX or MSCDEX.

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-04-24, 02:12:

Note: As mentioned software based virutal CDs in DOS are data-mode only. They cannot play audio soundtracks in redbook/CD audio format.

Happy to say that it's possible now 😀
I'll update a video demoing this in my post tomorrow

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