Most 16 bit and Windows 95 games work on Windows 8.

[andreaborman]

Like a lot of Windows users,I have installed Windows 8,and I am currently running Windows 8 Release Preview 32 bit. And I have installed several Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 games that I found here on this site on my Windows 8.

And the good news is that most games I have tried are working. And no, I have not installed any Dos games just ordinary 16 bit and some others 32 bit games that were made for Windows 3.1,Windows NT, or Windows 95. But they work on Windows 8.

The games are installed as either an exe file,normal install. Or a Zip install,where you unzip the file to a new folder you have made, preferably on Programs on C/drive. And then to be safe,you should set the exe file of the game to run in compatibility mode for Windows 95. Or if it's a game for a later version of Windows,Windows XP Service Pack 3.

If the game is installed by exe installer,it is also a good idea to set the installer to run in compatibility mode for either,Windows 95,or Windows XP.

I am running Windows 8 on a netbook, but my netbook is a new one that used to have Windows 7. So the hardware is better than an older netbook,I think. And 16 bit programs and games were made to run on computers that had little ram and basic hardware. As that's all they had back then,when they had Windows 3.1,Windows NT and Windows 95 computers.

So that is probably why they work so well on my modern netbook.

Obviously because I have a netbook I may not be able to run Dos games or games that require heavy graphic drivers.Well I cannot run Metro apps on Windows 8 either due to the screen resolution only going up to 600 pixels. Which is the highest they go on a netbook.

But most of the games I have tried do work on Windows 8. The only drawback is that there are no icons on the desktop and start menu shortcuts. This is because Windows 8,Windows 7,Windows Vista and Windows XP cannot display 16 bit icons,only 32 bit ones.

So to resolve this you can just choose an icon from the shell32.dill folder or Moricons.dll. You do this by right clicking on the desktop icon and select properties. Then when you select change icon,you get a message from Windows saying" there are no icons in this folder choose an icon." And then Windows automatically opens the shell32.dill folder,where you can select an icon for your shortcut.

So,yes,you can run Windows 95 and 16 bit games on Windows 8. But you must be running the 32 bit version of Windows 8, not 64 bit. Because 16 bit apps don't work on any 64 bit Windows.

And as well as running on Windows 8,the games also run on Windows 7,Windows Vista and Windows XP,32 bit only.So now you know. Andrea Borman.

[DOSGuy]

Thanks for the report on Windows 8. I haven't tried it out yet.

Windows 8 probably won't run DOS games because Microsoft stopped including a VDM (Virtual DOS Machine) as of Windows Vista, but I would thrilled to be wrong about that. I actually wasn't expecting there to be a 32-bit version of Windows 8. Everyone I know has a 64-bit CPU, so there may not be many people who will be able to take advantage of the 32-bit version's ability to run Win16 software, but it's nice to know that the support is still there.

Have you actually tried running Win16 software on the 64-bit version? Many people believe that 64-bit Windows can't run 16-bit software because Virtual 8086 Mode can't be accessed from Long Mode, but that doesn't stop Wine from running 16-bit software on 64-bit versions of Linux. Microsoft is quite capable of supporting Win16 software on Win64, they've simply chosen not to bother. Hopefully Windows 8 will still come with "Windows XP Mode" so that you can run Win16 software in Virtual PC without having to know anything about virtualization suites.

[andreaborman]

Thank you for your reply. I have read articles on other sites and on the Windows forums,and it says you can run Dos games on modern Windows. That is,Windows XP,Windows Vista,and Windows 7,if you install Dos Box. See this article on the HowTo Geek website here-http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/12771/pl ... windows-7/

And Windows 8 is similar to Windows 7.So if it works on Windows 7,which it does,it will probably work on Windows 8. But as I have a netbook with 1GB of ram.I probably do not have the hardware requirements to run Dos Box. Which is like running virtual PC on a netbook.

I do have other laptops which are netbooks,with Windows XP 32 bit and Windows 7 32 bit and a big laptop with Windows Vista 32 bit. But I don't have 64 bit Windows. And one reason why I have netbooks is because now,they only sell the big laptops with 64 bit Windows 7. And they only do 32 bit Windows 7 on netbooks. And I don't want 64 bit Windows because I have heard it is not as good as 32 bit. As it is slower and cannot run a lot of programs.

And even though I do a clean install of Windows 7 32 bit,when I buy a new netbook.If the laptop was 64 bit,it may not have the 32 bit drivers needed to run 32 bit Windows.

And a lot of other software from older versions of Windows,which I like to run on Windows 7 and Windows 8,only works on 32 bit Windows. So it is not only the old games that need 32 bit Windows in order to run.

And a lot of software from Windows XP works on Windows 8 and Windows 7 so you don't need to install Windows XP mode. You only need to have a Windows XP computer or laptop to copy the program files from Windows XP onto Windows 7 or Windows 8. Andrea Borman.

[leilei]

if you install Dos Box

that's not what he meant!

[DOSGuy]

Wow. Okay, where to start.

It is certainly true that you can run DOS games in DOSBox. I've written two tutorials about that, such as this one. I was talking about running DOS games without the need for an emulator, which was possible until Windows Vista.

There weren't many computers with 1 GB of RAM when DOSBox came out in 2002, so I'm pretty sure that your netbook can handle DOSBox. DOSBox is actually renowned for its ability to run DOS and Windows programs much faster than more complete emulators like Bochs, QEMU and MESS. By only emulating hardware that's necessary to run DOS games, the system requirements are low.

64-bit Windows and 64-bit programs sometimes benchmark slightly slower than their 32-bit equivalents, but it shouldn't be noticeable. On the other hand, 64-bit operating systems can address more RAM, and you can always run a 32-bit operating system in a virtualization suite like VMWare, VirtualBox or Virtual PC if you really need one.

Which brings us to "Windows XP Mode", which is a free download for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate. The point of Windows XP Mode isn't just to run software designed for Windows XP, since most Windows XP software runs quite well under Windows Vista/7. Windows XP Mode is actually a virtualization suite called Virtual PC that comes with a pre-installed, licensed copy of Windows XP Professional SP3. This allows you to do anything that you could do under Windows XP -- such as running DOS and Win16 software -- on your 32/64-bit Windows 7 PC. You could do the same with VMWare or VirtualBox, but it was nice of Microsoft to do all of the work, and to give you a free copy of Windows XP!

[andreaborman]

Well I thought you could not run Dos games on Windows XP either unless you install Dos Box.

From what I read on the web it said that from Windows 3.1 to Windows 98,you could play Dos games. And on start up you had the choice of booting into Windows or Doss.

But they stopped that in Windows 2000 and other versions of Windows after that. So you could no longer boot into Dos mode or play Dos games unless you installed Doss box or other software. Andrea Borman.

[MrFlibble]

Well I thought you could not run Dos games on Windows XP either unless you install Dos Box.

You can, but there's chance there will be trouble with some. On the other hand, I know personally that some games actually seem more stable under WinXP than they are under Win98. Still, I prefer DOSBox as it offers a pretty functional emulation of a pure DOS system. (Even in the days of Win95 it was generally recommended to run DOS games from the real DOS mode, not the built-in DOS shell.)

But as I have a netbook with 1GB of ram.I probably do not have the hardware requirements to run Dos Box. Which is like running virtual PC on a netbook.

May I assure you that DOSBox is going to run splendidly with that much RAM. In fact, it's probably not going to require most of it anyway (IIRC DOSBox can be configured to use no more than 63 Mb RAM). DOSBox works great for a lot of games (I'd venture a majority, even) on a 256 Mb RAM system.

[andreaborman]

Icons selected from Moricons.Dill for 16 bit games..JPG

Pifmgr.Dll icon folder..JPG

Well from the articles I read on the web,they recommend installing Dos Box on Windows XP. But I read your tutorial here on this site about how to install and make Dos games run on Dos Box. And it seems complicated.

So the easiest way is just install the 16 bit and 9x games that can be installed normally,without Dos. The games that I have got on Windows 8 that work are Spherejong,Morejong,Slim City 2000,Pac-Man trial from Microsoft Arcade. And I also have Microsoft Entertainment Pack Games with are all 16 bit as well.

And they all work on Windows 8 as well as on Windows 7,Windows Vista and Windows XP. But the problem is that Windows does not show the icons for the 16 bit games or any 16 bit apps. But that is not a Windows 8 issue as even on Windows XP the 16 bit icons don't show.

So I have to choose an icon from the shell folders(shell32.dill.) And all of the Windows 3.1 and 95 desktop icons are in the moricons.dll and also the pifmgr.dll folder. As you can see in my pictures,I have chosen some very nice icons for my 16 bit apps and games.

But I don't know if there is a fix for the 16 bit icon issue that is on all the new versions of Windows,from Windows XP to Windows 8.That will make the 16 bit icons show up. Andrea Borman.

[DOSGuy]

From what I read on the web it said that from Windows 3.1 to Windows 98,you could play Dos games. And on start up you had the choice of booting into Windows or Doss.

But they stopped that in Windows 2000 and other versions of Windows after that. So you could no longer boot into Dos mode or play Dos games unless you installed Doss box or other software. Andrea Borman.

Windows XP came with a VDM (Virtual DOS Machine) that let you run DOS software in Windows. XP's VDM is actually better than DOSBox for certain games, such as those that use overscanning to put a border around the edge of the screen (i.e. Commander Keen: Invasion of the Vorticons, Secret Agent). 32-bit Vista could only run text-mode DOS games due to its new video system, so XP was the last Windows operating system that could run DOS games without an emulator.

But I read your tutorial here on this site about how to install and make Dos games run on Dos Box. And it seems complicated.

It's not complicated if you've ever used DOS before. You just type "mount c [wherever your game is located]", go to the C: drive and type in the command to run your game.

But I don't know if there is a fix for the 16 bit icon issue that is on all the new versions of Windows,from Windows XP to Windows 8.That will make the 16 bit icons show up. Andrea Borman.

I wouldn't be surprised if someone created a program to let Windows display 16-bit icons, but I'm not aware of one. A search of SourceForge might come up with something.

[andreaborman]

Return of Microsoft Arcade on Windows 8..JPG

Microsoft Arcade Windows 8..JPG

Sin City 2000 on Windows 8..JPG

I have got Windows XP Home Edition which came pre-installed when I bought my netbook. And as far as I know there is no virtual Dos machine on my Windows XP.

And as you can see from my pictures I have Pac-Man from the trial version of Microsoft Arcade running on my Windows 8. Both in full screen mode and desktop mode and also Sim City 2000 which also works on my Windows 8.But they are not the Dos version. Just the PC version that I downloaded from this site.

Most of the games I have tried work on Windows 8 and the other versions of Windows. But not being able to display the icons is a bit of a let down. And the icons don't show on Windows XP either. Why is this? That 16 bit software cannot show the icons? Andrea Borman.

[DOSGuy]

I have got Windows XP Home Edition which came pre-installed when I bought my netbook. And as far as I know there is no virtual Dos machine on my Windows XP.

It's called NTVDM. You don't have to do anything to use it. Just run any DOS executable and NTVDM automatically executes it.

[andreaborman]

Well I tried installing a Dos game on Windows XP but it did not work. So I don't think you can run dos games without Dos Box on Windows XP.

From what I read and saw on a video on You Tube,Windows 95 and 98 gave you the option to boot into Dos mode or Windows,the OS. But they don't have that on Windows 2000 and later versions of Windows. Andrea Borman.

[MrFlibble]

Well I tried installing a Dos game on Windows XP but it did not work. So I don't think you can run dos games without Dos Box on Windows XP.

It's true that some DOS installers won't work on WinXP. The only workaround is to run installers from DOSBox. If "pure" DOSBox seems complicated, there are frontends (interface shells) for DOSBox. I've never used one but I think D-Fend is a popular one.

From what I read and saw on a video on You Tube,Windows 95 and 98 gave you the option to boot into Dos mode or Windows,the OS. But they don't have that on Windows 2000 and later versions of Windows.

That is correct - under Win95/98 you can either run a DOS application from a built-in DOS shell or boot pure DOS, which is a recommended method, as I said above.

But the problem is that Windows does not show the icons for the 16 bit games or any 16 bit apps. But that is not a Windows 8 issue as even on Windows XP the 16 bit icons don't show.

So I have to choose an icon from the shell folders(shell32.dill.) And all of the Windows 3.1 and 95 desktop icons are in the moricons.dll and also the pifmgr.dll folder. As you can see in my pictures,I have chosen some very nice icons for my 16 bit apps and games.

But I don't know if there is a fix for the 16 bit icon issue that is on all the new versions of Windows,from Windows XP to Windows 8.That will make the 16 bit icons show up. Andrea Borman.

Not all 16-bit applications have Windows icons. DOS applications don't have any embedded icons at all, if the developers wanted so supply a Windows icon they would use a separate icon (*.ico) file or put icons into *.dll library files. So yeah, sometimes selecting a generic icon from Windows is the only available option.

[leilei]

Windows 7/8 doesn't display icons of Win16 executables probably so they can tarnish them to appear like they're unrunnable

[andreaborman]

Windows 7/8 doesn't display icons of Win16 executables probably so they can tarnish them to appear like they're unrunnable

Well I have tried the games on Windows XP. And it's the same as on Windows Vista,Windows 7 and Windows 8. The 16 bit games work,most of them do,but they won't display the icons. So you have to choose an icon from the shell file. Andrea Borman.