Running any DOS game from this site

[DOSGuy]

In your browser

Almost every DOS game on this site can be played in your browser without having to download or install them on your computer. The full list of games that can be played in your browser is here. You must agree to the security warning that will pop up the first time you try to play a game in your browser.

jdosbox_warning.png

Operating systems

If you can't play a game in your browser, or prefer to download and install the game on your computer, there are a number of operating systems that can run DOS software. Operating systems that can run DOS games without an emulator include:

DOS (MS-DOS, PC DOS, DR-DOS, FreeDOS)
Windows (Windows 95, 98, Me, XP, any other NT-based OS that has NTVDM)
OS/2 (OS/2, eComStation)

DOS Emulators

If your operating system doesn't natively support DOS software, you can use an emulator that includes DOS emulation. These are great because they run DOS software without actually having to own a copy of DOS. These include:

DOSBox
DOSEMU - Linux only

PC Emulators

If you have a copy of DOS, you can also use the following emulators to run DOS software in a real copy of DOS.

Bochs
QEMU
PCem

Virtualization suites

Emulators can be slow because they have to emulate an x86 processor, even if you already have one. Virtualization suites work like emulators, except that they try to pass instructions directly to your computer's actual hardware (CPU, graphics cards, etc) instead of emulating hardware that you already have. Virtualization suites that can run DOS include:

VirtualBox
VirtualPC
VMWare

[Miki800]

Your site fails in running some games, here is a screenshot of the (kind of) bug report:


waiting further instructions on what I need to do on my end to make this stop freezing for ∞

it was from here:
https://www.classicdosgames.com/online/xatax.html

most other games work for me though.

[Lunick]

I've had this happen to a few games as well but refreshing seems to fix the problem sometimes.

[DOSGuy]

You will only see that message if you fail to agree to the security warning. Refresh the page and accept the security warning.

[BirdWatcher]

I can't figure out how to play a game in the browser. I agreed to the security warnings, and the game, "Skyroads", is running, because I see the demo. However, I can't figure out how to actually play. It says to click on the window to play, but nothing happens when I click on the window. Oops, I just realized, I'm not sure if this is a DOS game, I think it's a Windows16 game, but I'm not sure where to post about that. Also, my everlasting thanks to DOSguy for creating this site! This means so much to me, as these games are precious childhood memories!

[MrFlibble]

Skyroads is a DOS game IIRC.

Your problems might have something to do with your browser settings. I've never used the play-in-your browser option myself so I can't really imagine what's wrong, but hopefully DOSGuy will post a solution soon.

[BirdWatcher]

I figured it out! All I had to to was click in the window and then press a key. It's been so long since I played that kind of game, I had forgotten you had to press a key to start! Sorry I didn't figure this out before posting!

[DOSGuy]

Well, I'm glad you figured it out!