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virtualizationvirtualboxmicrosoft-virtualization

Scripting 16-bit DOS Binaries on 64-bit Windows via a command-line VM?

I know that this is possible in principle, but the tools may not exist to do it:

Rather than booting up XP-Mode or some other VM to use Leydesforff's tools (http://www.leydesdorff.net/indicators/index.htm), I'd like a very thin command-line vm that I can use to just run a single 16-bit .exe file and pass input back and forth, i.e.:

vm.exe "oldthing.exe" -options ...

Or, any other way that I can write scripts (.bat, python, something like that) using these 16-bit .exe files that I can run on my Win7 x64 machine...

Solution

  • If they are DOS programs you can run them in DOSBox. It is a DOS/16bit x86 emulator writing primarily for games, but it should run any DOS application.

    You can start it with a command line option indicating which application you want to run in DOSBox:

    C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.72\dosbox.exe" -conf "C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.72\dosbox.conf" "C:\Games\Settlers 2\S2.exe"