# How I Play Classic Windows and DOS Games

## Setting Up the VM and Software

1. Create a Windows XP virtual machine in VirtualBox (https://youtu.be/mPOmPusoELk)
2. Make sure VirtualBox Guest Additions are installed
3. Shutdown the VM
4. In the Virtualbox interface, right click the Windows XP VM > Settings
5. Select Storage
6. Select the hard disk dropdown to the right
7. Click the Create button at the top
8. Change the size to 500 GB > Click Create
9. Click OK to accept the settings
10. Make sure the Windows XP VM is selected and click Start > Normal
11. Once inside Windows XP, go to Start > Run > type diskmgmt.msc > Press Enter
12. Inside Disk Management, locate the 500 GB virtual hard disk > Right click > Format...
13. Set the following values:

    Volume label: Games
    Files system: NTFS
    Allocation unit size: Default
    Perform a quick format: Checked

14. Click OK
15. Once the disk is formatted and initialized, right click it again > Change Drive Letter and Paths...
16. Click the Change... button
17. Set the drive letter to G > Click OK
18. Download DOSBox Download
19. Install DOSBox to G:\_DOSBOX
20. Locate the game installation media
    - If the game is a CD-ROM image mount the CD-ROM in VirtualBox by selecting Devices > Optical Drives > Choose a disk file... and selecting the image
    - If the game is a physical CD-ROM put the disc in the host computer and mount the CD-ROM in VirtualBox by selecting Devices > Optical Drives > Host Drive
    - If the game is contained on floppy disk images mount the floppy disk(s) in VirtualBox by selecting Devices > Floppy Drives > Choose a disk file... and selecting the image

## Installing a Windows Based Game

1. Once the installation media is mounted in VirtualBox install the game normally making sure to set the installation path to a sub-directory inside G:\Games\
2. If the installer doesn't automatically create a shortcut on the desktop, navigate to the installation directory in File Explorer > right click the game .exe > Send To > Desktop (create shortcut)

## Installing a DOS Based Game

1. Create a sub-directory in G:\Games\ to copy the game to
2. Once the installation media is mounted in VirtualBox navigate to it in Windows Explorer
3. Copy the files from the game media to G:\Games\%game%
4. Navigate to the desktop > Right click > New > Shortcut
5. Click the Browse... button > Navigate to the DOSBox .exe file and select it > Click OK > Click Next > Click Finish
6. Right click the new shortcut > Properties
7. Edit the shortcut properties as follows
   Target: G:\_DOSBOX\DOSBox.exe -userconf "G:\Games\Hugo's House of Horrors" -noconsole
   Start in: G:\_DOSBOX\
8. Click OK
9. Double click the shortcut to launch DOSBox with the game mounted to the C:\
10. Launch the game normally by typing the exe name and pressing Enter

The DOSBox configuration file is located at %userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\DOSBox and can be edited to set preferences such as the resolution and redering method