1DOSBOX(1) General Commands Manual DOSBOX(1)
2
6 dosbox - an x86/DOS emulator with sound/graphics
7
9 dosbox [-fullscreen] [-startmapper] [-noautoexec] [-securemode] [-user‐
10 conf] [-scaler scaler|-forcescaler scaler] [-conf configfile] [-lang
11 langfile] [-machine machinetype] [-socket socketnumber] [-c command]
12 [-exit] [NAME]
13 dosbox --version
15 dosbox --printconf
17 dosbox --editconf [editor]
19 dosbox -eraseconf
21 dosbox -resetconf
23 dosbox --list-glshaders
25 dosbox -erasemapper
27 dosbox -resetmapper
29 dosbox -opencaptures program
31
33 This manual page briefly documents dosbox-staging, an x86/DOS emulator.
34 The optional NAME argument should be a DOS executable or a directory.
36 If it is a dos executable (.com .exe .bat) the program will run auto‐
37 matically. If it is a directory, a DOS session will run with the direc‐
38 tory mounted as C:\.
39 For an introduction type INTRO inside dosbox.
41
43 A summary of options is included below.
44 -fullscreen
46 Start dosbox in fullscreen mode.
47 -startmapper
49 Start the internal keymapper on startup of dosbox. You can use
50 it to change the keys dosbox uses.
51 -noautoexec
53 Skips the [autoexec] section of the loaded configuration file.
54 -securemode
56 Same as -noautoexec, but adds config.com -securemode at the end
57 of AUTOEXEC.BAT (which in turn disables any changes to how the
58 drives are mounted inside dosbox)
59 -userconf
61 Load the configuration file located in ~/.config/dosbox. Can be
62 combined with the -conf option.
63 -scaler scaler
65 Uses the graphical scaler specified by scaler. See the configu‐
66 ration file for the available scalers
67 -forcescaler scaler
69 Similar to the -scaler parameter, but tries to force usage of
70 the specified scaler even if it might not fit.
71 -conf configfile
73 Start dosbox with the options specified in configfile. This file
74 has a section in which you can put commands you wish to execute
75 on startup. Multiple configfiles can be present at the command‐
76 line.
77 -lang langfile
79 Start dosbox with the language specified in langfile.
80 -machine machinetype
82 Setup DOSBox to emulate a specific type of machine. Valid
84 choices are:
85 hercules
87 Hercules Graphics Card (monochrome)
88 cga IBM Color Graphics Adapter
90 cga_mono
92 IBM CGA attached to monochrome display (monochrome)
93 pcjr IBM PCjr
95 tandy Tandy Graphics Adapter (Tandy 1000)
97 ega IBM Enhanced Graphics Adapter
99 vgaonly
101 IBM Video Graphics Array (see below)
102 vesa_oldvbe
104 VESA SVGA - VESA BIOS Extensions (VBE) 1.2
105 vesa_nolfb
107 VESA SVGA - VBE 2.0 with Linear Frame Buffer disabled
108 svga_paradise
110 VESA SVGA - Paradise Systems PVGA1A - VBE 2.0
111 svga_et3000
113 VESA SVGA - Tseng ET3000 - VBE 2.0
114 svga_et4000
116 VESA SVGA - Tseng ET4000 - VBE 2.0
117 svga_s3
119 VESA SVGA - S3 Trio - VBE 2.0
120 The default is svga_s3.
122 For some special VGA effects the machinetype vgaonly can be
124 used, note that this disables SVGA capabilities and might be
125 slower due to the higher emulation precision."
126 The machinetype affects the video card and the available sound
128 cards.
129 -socket socketnumber
131 Passes the socket number socketnumber to the nullmodem emula‐
132 tion. See README for details.
133 -c command
135 Runs the specified command before running file. Multiple com‐
136 mands can be specified. Each command should start with -c
137 though. A command can be: an Internal Program, a DOS command or
138 an executable on a mounted drive.
139 -exit dosbox will close itself when the DOS program specified by file
141 ends.
142 --version
144 Output version information and exit. Useful for frontends.
145 --editconf [editor]
147 Open the default configuration file in a text editor. If no edi‐
148 tor name is given, then use the program from EDITOR environment
149 variable, otherwise DOSBox will try to guess the name.
150 -opencaptures program
152 calls program with as first parameter the location of the cap‐
153 tures folder.
154 --printconf
156 Prints the location of the default configuration file.
157 -eraseconf, -resetconf
159 removes the default configuration file.
160 --list-glshaders
162 List available GLSL shaders and their directories. Results are
163 useable in the "glshader = " conf setting.
164 -erasemapper, -resetmapper
166 removes the mapperfile configured in the clean default configu‐
167 ration file.
168
170 dosbox supports most of the DOS commands found in command.com. In addi‐
171 tion, the following extra commands are available:
172 MOUNT [-t type] [-size size] driveletter sourcedirectory [-usecd num‐
174 ber] [-label drivelabel] [-freesize freesize]
175 MOUNT -listcd (or -cd)
177 MOUNT -u driveletter
179 Program to mount local directories as drives inside dosbox.
181 driveletter
183 The driveletter inside dosbox (eg. C).
184 sourcedirectory
186 The local directory you want to have inside dosbox.
187 -t type
189 Type of the mounted directory. Supported are: dir (stan‐
190 dard), floppy, cdrom.
191 -size drivesize
193 Sets the size of the drive. See the examples in the
194 README for details.
195 -freesize size_in_mb
197 Sets the amount of free space available on a drive in
198 MB's. This is a more simple version of -size.
199 -label drivelabel
201 Sets the name of the drive to drivelabel. Needed on some
202 systems if the cd label isn't read correctly. Useful when
203 a program can't find its cdrom. If you don't specify a
204 label and no lowlevel support is selected (-usecd #):
205 For win32: label is extracted from "Real Drive".
207 For Linux: label is set to NO_LABEL.
209 If you do specify a label this label will be kept as long
211 as the drive
212 is mounted. It will not be updated !!
213 -usecd number
215 Forces to use SDL cdrom support for drive number. Number
216 can be found by -listcd/-cd.
217 -listcd (or -cd)
219 Displays all detected cdrom drives and their numbers. Use
220 with -usecd.
221 -u Unmounts a mounted drive. Doesn't work on virtual Drives
223 (like Z:\)
224 Example:
226 To mount your /home/dos/dosgames directory as C drive in dosbox:
228 mount c /home/dos/dosgames
229 MEM
231 Display the amount of free memory
233 CONFIG [-writeconf] [-writelang] file
235 CONFIG -securemode
237 Write the current configuration or language settings to file, which is
239 located on the local filesystem. Not a mounted drive in dosbox.
240 -securemode
242 Switches dosbox to a more secure mode. In this mode the
243 internal commands MOUNT, IMGMOUNT and BOOT won't work.
244 It's not possible either to create a new configfile or
245 languagefile in this mode. (Warning you can only undo
246 this mode by restarting dosbox.)
247 The configuration file controls various settings of dosbox: The amount
249 of emulated memory, the emulated soundcards and many more things. It
250 further allows access to AUTOEXEC.BAT.
251 The language file controls all visible output of the internal commands
253 and the internal dos. See the section FILES for more information.
254 LOADFIX [-size] [programname] [parameters]
256 LOADFIX -f
258 Program to reduce the amount of memory available. Useful for old pro‐
260 grams which don't expect much memory to be free.
261 [programname]
263 The name of the program which is executed after loadfix
264 eats up its memory.
265 [parameters]
267 Parameters given to the programname executable.
268 -size The amount of memory to eat up (in kb). Example -32, -64
270 or -128
271 -f Frees all memory eaten up by loadfix.
273 RESCAN [-All] [Drive:]
275 Make dosbox reread the directory structure. Useful if you changed some‐
277 thing on a mounted drive outside dosbox. (Ctrl+F4 does this as well!)
278 -All Reread directory structure for all drives.
280 Drive: Reread directory structure for drive Drive:
282 If both -All and Drive: are missing, then the current drive is used.
284 IMGMOUNT
286 A utility to mount disk images and CD‐ROM images in dosbox.
288 Read the README of dosbox for the full and correct syntax.
290 BOOT
292 Boot will start floppy images or hard disk images independent of the
294 operating system emulation offered by dosbox. This will allow you to
295 play booter floppies or boot to other operating systems inside dosbox.
296 Read the README of dosbox for the full and correct syntax.
298 IPX
300 You need to enable IPX networking in the configuration file of dosbox.
302 All of the IPX networking is managed through the internal dosbox pro‐
303 gram IPXNET. For help on the IPX networking from inside dosbox, type
304 IPXNET HELP and the program will list out the commands and relevant
305 documentation.
306 Read the README of dosbox for the full and correct syntax.
308 KEYB
310 Keyb can change the keyboardlayout and the codepage used inside dosbox.
312 Read the README of dosbox for the full and correct syntax.
314
316 Configuration and language files use a format similar to Windows .ini
317 files. If no configfile is specified at the commandline, a file named
318 dosbox.conf (if present in the current directory) will be loaded auto‐
319 matically. If a configfile is specified at the commandline that one
320 will be used instead. If no configfile is specified or found in the
321 current directory then dosbox will load one from $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/dos‐
322 box/ (which defaults to ~/.config/dosbox/). It will try to create a
323 new default config file if it does not exist yet.
324
326 Alt+Enter Switch between fullscreen and window mode.
327 Alt+Pause Pause/Unpause emulator.
329 Ctrl+F1 Start the keymapper.
331 Ctrl+F4 Swap mounted disk‐image (only used with imgmount). Update
333 directory cache for all drives.
334 Ctrl+F5 Save a screenshot.(png)
336 Ctrl+F6 Start/Stop recording sound output to a wave file.
338 Ctrl+F7 Start/Stop recording video output to a zmbv file.
340 Ctrl+F9 Kill dosbox.
342 Ctrl+F10 Capture/Release the mouse.
344 Ctrl+F11 Slow down emulation (Decrease number of cycles/s).
346 Ctrl+F12 Speed up emulation (Increase number of cycles/s).
348 Alt+F12 Unlock speed (turbo button).
350 These are the default keybindings. They can be changed in the keymap‐
352 per.
353 Saved/recorded files can be found in current_directory/capture (can be
355 changed in the configfile). The directory has to exist prior to start‐
356 ing dosbox else nothing gets saved/recorded !
357 Note: Once you increase your dosbox cycles beyond your computer's maxi‐
359 mum capacity, it will produce the same effect as slowing down the emu‐
360 lation. This maximum will vary from computer to computer, there is no
361 standard.
362
364 Fast machine. My guess would be Pentium-2 400+ to get decent emulation
365 of games written for an 286 machine. For protected mode games a 1 Ghz
366 machine is recommended and don't expect them to run fast though!! Be
367 sure to read the next section on how to speed it up somewhat.
368 To run resource-demanding games
370 dosbox emulates the CPU, the sound and graphic cards, and some other
371 stuff, all at the same time. You can overclock dosbox by using
372 Ctrl+F12, but you'll be limited by the power of your actual CPU. You
373 can see how much free time your true CPU has by various utils (top).
374 Once 100% of your real CPU time is used there is no further way to
375 speed up dosbox unless you reduce the load generated by the non-CPU
376 parts of dosbox.
377 So:
379 Close every program but dosbox.
381 Overclock dosbox until 100% of your CPU is used. (Ctrl+F12)
383 Since VGA emulation is the most demanding part of dosbox in terms of
385 actual CPU usage, we'll start here. Increase the number of frames
386 skipped (in increments of one) by pressing Ctrl+F8. Your CPU usage
387 should decrease. Go back one step and repeat this until the game runs
388 fast enough for you. Please note that this is a trade off: you lose in
389 fluidity of video what you gain in speed.
390
392 Any configuration option can be override using an environment variable.
393 Environment variables starting with prefix DOSBOX are processed and in‐
394 terpreted as follows: DOSBOX_SECTIONNAME_PROPERTYNAME=value
395 For example, you can override render aspect this way:
397 $ DOSBOX_RENDER_ASPECT=false dosbox
399
401 While we hope that, one day, dosbox will run virtually all programs
402 ever made for the PC... we are not there yet. At present, dosbox run
403 on a 1.7 Gigahertz PC is roughly the equivalent of a 25MHz 386 PC.
404 While the 0.60 release has added support for "protected mode" allowing
405 for more complex and recent programs, but note that this support is
406 early in development and nowhere near as complete as the support for
407 386 real-mode games (or earlier). Also note that "protected mode" games
408 need substantially more resources and may require a much faster proces‐
409 sor for you to run it properly in dosbox.
410
412 To report a bug, please visit https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-
413 staging/issues
414
417 You'll find long and detailed manual in README file in
418 /usr/share/doc/dosbox-staging
419
422 DOSBox Staging project is maintained by the DOSBox Staging Team
423 (https://dosbox-staging.github.io/)
424 This manual page was written by Peter Veenstra <H.P.Veenstra@stu‐
426 dent.rug.nl> and James Oakley <jfunk@funktronics.ca>, for the Debian
427 system (but may be used by others), updated by Patryk Obara
428 <dreamer.tan@gmail.com> for dosbox-staging project.
429 Jan 23, 2021 DOSBOX(1)