


Once you?ve launched DOSBox and mounted your C drive, cd into the folder where you?ve extracted your Windows install disks and run SETUP.EXE to begin the install!Ĭhoose ?Express Setup? and follow the prompts. I have a folder in my home directory for all of my Windows mounts, the folder 3.11 being the one I?m using for Windows 3.11. The mount command looks something like this: mount c /home/egee/Windows/3.11/C When you launch DOSBox, you?ll need to run the mount command to mount the folder for Windows to use during the install. I recommend creating a separate folder called C to use as your Windows? actually C drive. It?s safe to overwrite files as you extract them. So if you have 4 install disks, extract the files from each disk to a single folder. Once you have your Windows install disks, extract all of them to a single folder. That being said, downloaded copies will probably work for this tutorial. Windows 3.1 is not free software, so you cannot legally download a copy, even if you find it on some site somewhere. Obtaining the install disks is a bit more tricky. Installing Windows in DOSBox is super easy. If you are on Linux, feel free to try the Snap version, Flatpak version, or even the Lutris runner version of DOSBox. Windows: Chocolatey or the DOSBox website.I?ll be using a desktop Linux distribution called Manjaro for this article, however, the steps are basically the same for each OS.

DOSBox has been around since 2002 and runs on practically every operating system. Install DosboxĭOSBox is a free application that allows you to emulate a DOS operating system. Remember that from its conception, Microsoft wanted Windows to be something more than just a skin on top of DOS. In this article, we?ll be installing Windows 3.1 as well as sound & video drivers to tie everything together. The exceptions to this are software specifically made for Windows 9x. There?s little reason to install Windows 3.1 in DOSBox because DOSBox itself can run pretty much any DOS game or application you need. Useful for getting those troublesome Windows 9x applications running.
