# MS-DOS Games and Vista
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-games-and-vista/482541
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 22, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-games-and-vista/482541 "2009-01-22T23:35:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MeDrewNotYou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeDrewNotYou)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-games-and-vista/482541/1 "2009-01-22T23:35:23Z")
Today I got lucky and got my hands on the original Oregon Trail in floppy disk form. I put the disk in and try to run the setup. The DOS window pops up, but blank with no command line or anything, just black throughout. I also get a pop-up box titled “16 bit MS-DOS Subsystem.” Inside it shows the file path and underneath that says, “This system does not support fullscreen mode. Choose ‘Close’ to terminate the application.” I have the option to Close or Ignore, but Ignore just brings the box back up.
I’m running Windows Vista Home Premium on a Toshiba Satellite. I get the feeling that I need to do something to let Vista allow fullscreen MS-DOS, but I have no idea where that would be or how to do it.
So does anyone know the problem and solution? I’ve got a hankering to have my party die of cholera.
---
### Author:  [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-games-and-vista/482541/2 "2009-01-22T23:57:13Z")
I have had enough trouble running Windows 98 games on Windows 2000, so it comes as no surprise to me you’re going to have a good amount of difficulty getting DOS games to run on Vista.
My only suggestion would be to open the command prompt first, and to do it as an administrator by hitting Start, typing in “cmd”, then right-clicking on the command prompt icon that pops up and selecting “Run as Administrator.” If that or compatibility mode doesn’t do it, I’m out of ideas.
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### Author:  [@MeDrewNotYou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeDrewNotYou)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-games-and-vista/482541/3 "2009-01-23T00:03:34Z")
> [@BrandonR](#):
>
> I have had enough trouble running Windows 98 games on Windows 2000, so it comes as no surprise to me you’re going to have a good amount of difficulty getting DOS games to run on Vista.
>
> My only suggestion would be to open the command prompt first, and to do it as an administrator by hitting Start, typing in “cmd”, then right-clicking on the command prompt icon that pops up and selecting “Run as Administrator.” If that or compatibility mode doesn’t do it, I’m out of ideas.
I’ll give that a shot, thanks. And you mentioned compatibility mode. I know _of_ it, but I don’t know how to use it. How would I go about using it?
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### Author:  [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-games-and-vista/482541/4 "2009-01-23T00:06:13Z")
> [@MeDrewNotYou](#):
>
> I’ll give that a shot, thanks. And you mentioned compatibility mode. I know _of_ it, but I don’t know how to use it. How would I go about using it?
You would find the exe, right click and choose Properties. In my experience, though, that won’t work. I ended up downloading some DOS emulator, but I can’t remember which one.
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### Author:  [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-games-and-vista/482541/5 "2009-01-23T00:06:31Z")
Well I know for regular programs that are installed, you just right-click the program’s executable icon (the main program icon) and select Properties. There’s usually a “Compatibility” tab. However, since this is a DOS game, you’d have to make DOS go into compatibility mode and I’m not so sure that’s possible since on my machine, all the options are grayed out. Still, I’ve found that often when DOS is behaving weirdly and disappears, making it run as an administrator often fixes some stuff.
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### Author:  [@unclelem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclelem)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-games-and-vista/482541/6 "2009-01-23T00:11:58Z")
> [@MeDrewNotYou](#):
>
> I’m running Windows Vista Home Premium on a Toshiba Satellite. I get the feeling that I need to do something to let Vista allow fullscreen MS-DOS, but I have no idea where that would be or how to do it.
>
> So does anyone know the problem and solution? I’ve got a hankering to have my party die of cholera.
You need [DOSBox](http://www.dosbox.com/information.php?page=0).
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### Author:  [@MeDrewNotYou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeDrewNotYou)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-games-and-vista/482541/7 "2009-01-23T00:18:27Z")
> [@unclelem](#):
>
> You need [DOSBox](http://www.dosbox.com/information.php?page=0).
Yeah, looks like I’ll need to go with the emulator. Thanks for the help! I’ll put a Brandon, a Paul, and a Lem in my party. Hopefully you guys won’t die of cholera or typhoid. 🙂
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### Author:  [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2009, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-games-and-vista/482541/8 "2009-01-23T00:46:15Z")
> [@MeDrewNotYou](#):
>
> Yeah, looks like I’ll need to go with the emulator. Thanks for the help! I’ll put a Brandon, a Paul, and a Lem in my party. Hopefully you guys won’t die of cholera or typhoid. 🙂
DOSBox! That’s the one I used!
And if I have to die, I’d prefer it to be of consumption. I always fancied myself as a romantic poet 🙂
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### Author:  [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-games-and-vista/482541/9 "2009-01-23T01:12:20Z")
Personally, I’m rooting for dysentery.
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### Author:  [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-games-and-vista/482541/10 "2009-01-23T01:38:27Z")
> [@unclelem](#):
>
> You need [DOSBox](http://www.dosbox.com/information.php?page=0).
Seconded.
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### Author:  [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2009, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-games-and-vista/482541/11 "2009-01-23T01:40:38Z")
I suppose that leaves **UncleLem** to be killed by the falling pig. Sorry, mate.
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### Author:  [@MeDrewNotYou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeDrewNotYou)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2009, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-games-and-vista/482541/12 "2009-01-23T01:42:29Z")
DOSBox seems to have done the trick, so thanks again.
And no offense Brandon, but if you get dysentery, you’re on your own. Taking care of a consumptive isn’t too bad. Broken limbs I can deal with. Violent bloody diarrhea? The rest of us are taking off in the middle of the night bud. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2009, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-games-and-vista/482541/13 "2009-01-23T07:51:35Z")
Just so long as it isn’t starvation. You’re a good shot, right?
And remember, give it up after one bear or bison, or two deer. Beyond that, you’re just wasting ammo.
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### Author:  [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2009, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-games-and-vista/482541/14 "2009-01-23T08:02:38Z")
But I liked doing the Death Blossom, twirling around and around shooting everything in sight.
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### Author:  [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2009, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-games-and-vista/482541/15 "2009-01-23T09:18:15Z")
> [@MeDrewNotYou](#):
>
> Violent bloody diarrhea?
Band name.
Other than DosBOX and similar emulators, another option is running a virtual windows 98 machine (e.g. VMware). It takes up more space (lots more), but it has less compatibility problems in my experience, and can play win95 games as well when the win2k “run as…” option fails.
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### Author:  [@MeDrewNotYou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeDrewNotYou)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2009, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-games-and-vista/482541/16 "2009-01-23T12:43:26Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#):
>
> But I liked doing the Death Blossom, twirling around and around shooting everything in sight.
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Just so long as it isn’t starvation. You’re a good shot, right?
>
> And remember, give it up after one bear or bison, or two deer. Beyond that, you’re just wasting ammo.
I’m a decent shot, but I’m with EvilTOJ sometimes. Doing my part to contribute to the destruction of a food web is satisfying. 😃
> [@Kobal2](#):
>
> Band name.
>
> Other than DosBOX and similar emulators, another option is running a virtual windows 98 machine (e.g. VMware). It takes up more space (lots more), but it has less compatibility problems in my experience, and can play win95 games as well when the win2k “run as…” option fails.
That might be something I need to do to play some other games that ran fine on XP. Do you have any links with safe downloads or instructions?
Really, its been pretty hit-and-miss as to which games run. Master of Orion 2 and Gazillionaire do absolutely nothing, but for Diablo 2, I just had to download a patch.