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!

[NodDawg]

I posted this in another thread and wasn't sure if it would be better to post it here...

----------
Hello!

I am really trying to figure out how to play Castle of the Winds on my Windows 11 laptop. I don't care if it's online or on my local machine, but I can't get anything to work. I have been able to download DosBox and (separately) I've gotten GOG Galaxy to use DosBox to play Settlers II successfully (it comes with a pre-configured file). I did not grow up with Windows or Dos and played the game at a friend's home, so dos commands and dosbox are not intuitive to me, but I think I've figured out most of the details thus far.

As best I can tell, thus far:
-Emulators other than DosBox are unlikely to work on Windows 11.
-The game requires Windows 16 (I'm not familiar with this) or 3.1, and 3.1 is not available for free.

Do I have any options for playing on my local machine for free?

I'd also be happy to play online (at https://www.classicdosgames.com/online/castl11a.html). When the page loads, however, a purple circle briefly appears before it is replaced by this statement: "Exception thrown, see JavaScript console".

-I'm not sure how to open the console.
-I've seen several statements about accepting a pop-up regarding a security warning (e.g., the initial post in this thread), but I've never seen this pop-up.
-I've gone into chrome's settings to add all the white list permissions I can find (including based on various internet searches) to allow permissions and popups by/at classicdosgames.com but nothing changes.

Can anyone please help me get this game running in any capacity? Thank you!

-------------------------------
EDIT: I just realized that the reference to the console was likely to the console on the site itself, which is only visible after checking the box to show it. Here's what my console says:

Starting ...
Using root directory: /root/base
TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'mkdirSync')

[MrFlibble]

I am really trying to figure out how to play Castle of the Winds on my Windows 11 laptop. I don't care if it's online or on my local machine, but I can't get anything to work. I have been able to download DosBox and (separately) I've gotten GOG Galaxy to use DosBox to play Settlers II successfully (it comes with a pre-configured file). I did not grow up with Windows or Dos and played the game at a friend's home, so dos commands and dosbox are not intuitive to me, but I think I've figured out most of the details thus far.

As best I can tell, thus far:
-Emulators other than DosBox are unlikely to work on Windows 11.
-The game requires Windows 16 (I'm not familiar with this) or 3.1, and 3.1 is not available for free.

Do I have any options for playing on my local machine for free?

You should be able to run the game via winevdm locally, it's a compatibility player specifically designed to run Win16 applications on Win64. I haven't tested it with Castle of the Winds though so I cannot guarantee that it works.