DOSBox/Configuring

DOSBox is controlled by a file called. Game-specific files can also be designed and loaded using command line switches.

Below are the default values of all settings in, and what values you can change them to. A word written like  indicates a term to type, while one written like   indicates a wide number of values you can define.

Serial


Can be.

Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of parameter:value. Parameter for all types is irq.

Example: serial1=modem listenport:5000
 * for directserial: realport (required), rxdelay (optional).
 * for modem: listenport (optional).
 * for nullmodem: server, rxdelay, txdelay, telnet, usedtr, transparent, port, inhsocket (all optional).

autoexec
Lines placed here will run at startup. In addition to autoexec commands recognised by MS-DOS you can also use some special commands that only DOSBox recognises.

Mounting a virtual hard drive
For a virtual hard drive, simply create a folder on your physical hard drive (you could mount the root directory of your hard drive but this is not recommended). You can call this folder whatever you like, and it doesn't even have to have an 8.3 file name. Add the drive mount in the following manner:

mount C C:\Games

In this example, DOSBox will treat C:\Games as the C:\ root of the emulated hard drive. You can manipulate the files in this directory both through your operating system and also from within DOSBox itself.

Mounting an optical drive
If you want DOSBox to be able to access your optical drive, use the following:

mount D D:\ -t cdrom

In this example, a physical optical drive assigned to the letter D:\ is treated by DOSBox as a CD-ROM drive assigned to the letter D. If your optical drive has a different letter simply change the second instance of the drive letter. You can also use this method to treat a folder on your hard drive as the emulated CD-ROM drive.

Starting drive letter
By default, DOSBox starts in the Z: drive. Since some applications will only run from a drive with the letter C:, unless you have a particular reason for using the Z: drive you will want to set a different letter as the default.

To do so, simply add the following on its own line: C: This will make DOSBox launch in the emulated C: drive rather than the Z: drive. If you have mounted your virtual drive with a different letter, or want DOSBox to start in a different letter, change this line appropriately.

Other commands
Users with a non-English keyboard layout may want to use their local layout. This is done by the "keyb" command with the country code. For German layout, it would be:

keyb gr

On some games, the American keyboard layout is assumed so their setting can't be overwritten by this.

At Mac OS X systems, the keyb.com of DosBox is said to crash GEOS. There are other keyb files available that are not officially supported where this doesn't occur.