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Show me another »Will Windows 7 run DOS programs easily?
We all know it can be a pain in the butt to run a DOS program in XP or Vista, so I'm wondering if anyone knows if Windows 7 will run DOS programs natively, without any compatibility programs required.
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No, support for native DOS has been completely phased out. As you are probably already aware, the command prompt in Windows is NOT DOS, though it does function in a similar manner. To the best of my knowledge, though, there will never again be native support for DOS or DOS-based applications.
As the previous poster noted, you can use the emulator DOSbox, which I used myself and have found to be a very competent emulator, though certain more advanced games may not run as well. Be aware also that when you configure the emulator, you're actually telling it how many processor cycles and how much RAM you want it to suck away from Windows processes. If you run DOSbox by itself, it's not really an issue, but if you want to run it in conjunction with your normal Windows programs, it can be a performance issue depending on what you're doing at the time.
I am probably going to be installing the Windows 7 beta sometime this week. If I discover anything different, I'll try to update this answer.
I hope this helps. If you need additional computer assistance, please consider supporting me on-line at http://www.supportspace.com/support/expe… or visiting my blog on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/the_pc_ally .
As the previous poster noted, you can use the emulator DOSbox, which I used myself and have found to be a very competent emulator, though certain more advanced games may not run as well. Be aware also that when you configure the emulator, you're actually telling it how many processor cycles and how much RAM you want it to suck away from Windows processes. If you run DOSbox by itself, it's not really an issue, but if you want to run it in conjunction with your normal Windows programs, it can be a performance issue depending on what you're doing at the time.
I am probably going to be installing the Windows 7 beta sometime this week. If I discover anything different, I'll try to update this answer.
I hope this helps. If you need additional computer assistance, please consider supporting me on-line at http://www.supportspace.com/support/expe… or visiting my blog on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/the_pc_ally .
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Other Answers (3)
- Probably not, but you could just use dosbox
http://dosbox.com/ - I opened the CP easily enough to type
net user administrator /active:yes
before pressing ENTER and restarting the computer
so the Command Prompt definitely works but not sure about running full DOS programs as I've never needed to. - It won't. Most DOS programs are 16-bit, which 7 cuts support off. However, the best thing to do is try using Dosbox.
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