Free DOS

FreeDOS is a free DOS-compatible operating system for IBM-PC compatible systems. FreeDOS is made of up many different, separate programs that act as "packages" to the overall FreeDOS Project.

These days, there are three main uses of FreeDOS:

1. To run classic DOS games (like Doom, MAME, etc.)
2. To run business software that only supports DOS
3. To support an embedded DOS system, such as a computerized cash register or till

You can run FreeDOS on pretty much anything. While can run FreeDOS on a dedicated PC, now it's most often run inside a PC emulator. You can find PC emulators for all computer platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac.) If you are new to DOS, we recommend you use an emulator to install and boot FreeDOS. You can even run FreeDOS using a PC emulator written in Java, right in your web browser! For Microsoft Windows user, you might want to download Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 (It's provided for free. Review available on this blogspot article).

FreeDOS is open source software; you can view and edit our source code. Most FreeDOS programs are distributed under the GNU General Public License ("GNU GPL") which means they are not only open source software, but they are Free software.

Download FreeDOS, available in several options:

• Floppy Disk Boot Image - 1.44 Mb - Raw Image of FreeDOS Boot Disk.
  To write this image file into physical disk, use RaWrite utility.
  
• CD Image (Base file, contains core distribution files) - 7.9 Mb - CD ISO Image.
  You can use any CD Burner application with Image Burning capability to burn this image file into actual CD-ROM disc.
• CD Image (Base file with LiveCD portion and the SRC_BASE disk set) - 49 Mb - CD ISO Image.
• CD Image (Full version) - 153 Mb - CD ISO Image.

DOS on VPC 2007

Installing DOS VM Additions under VPC 2007

MS-DOS is no longer officially supported under Virtual PC 2007, as such the DOS Virtual Machine Additions are not included with Virtual PC 2007. However - if you want to run DOS on Virtual PC 2007 - you can get the DOS Additions by download the DOS Additions .VFD file (1.4Mb, already extracted from Virtual PC 2004 Free Package for your convenience) and insert it into the floppy drive of your virtual machine under Virtual PC 2007. Run the install program from the floppy under the virtual machine.

With this addition, you can enable CD-ROM and mouse support for your DOS Application and enabling file sharing with host operating system.

As I have already mentioned - this is not officially supported by Microsoft - but should work fine.

See Also in this blogspot: Microsoft Virtual PC 2007