DOS commands¶
DOSBox Staging provides a comprehensive set of commands available at the DOS prompt. Most are clean-room reimplementations of classic MS-DOS commands, designed to be compatible with their original counterparts but not derived from MS-DOS source code. A number of additional commands are specific to DOSBox Staging and provide emulator management features like mounting drives and controlling the audio mixer.
Tip
Type HELP at the DOS prompt to see the most commonly used commands, or
HELP /ALL for the complete list. Every command supports the /? flag
for detailed usage help — for example, MOUNT /? or DIR /?.
DOSBox Staging commands¶
These commands are specific to DOSBox Staging and have no MS-DOS equivalent.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
AUTOTYPE |
Perform scripted keyboard entry into a running DOS game |
BOOT |
Boot DOSBox Staging from a DOS drive or disk image |
CLIP |
Copy text to the clipboard or retrieve the clipboard’s content |
CONFIG |
Perform configuration management and other miscellaneous actions |
LOADROM |
Load a ROM image of the video BIOS or IBM BASIC |
MAKEIMG |
Create a new empty disk image |
MIXER |
Display or change the sound mixer settings |
MOUNT |
Mount a directory or an image file to a drive letter |
MOUSECTL |
Manage physical and logical mice |
RESCAN |
Scan for changes on mounted DOS drives |
SERIAL |
Manage the serial ports |
SHOWPIC |
Display an image file |
Note
IMGMOUNT is still accepted as an alias for MOUNT.
File & directory commands¶
| Command | Aliases | Description |
|---|---|---|
ATTRIB |
Display or change file attributes | |
CD |
CHDIR |
Display or change the current directory |
COPY |
Copy one or more files | |
DEL |
DELETE, ERASE |
Remove one or more files |
DIR |
Display a list of files and subdirectories in a directory | |
LS |
Display directory contents in wide list format | |
MD |
MKDIR |
Create a directory |
MORE |
Display command output or text file one screen at a time | |
MOVE |
Move files and rename files and directories | |
RD |
RMDIR |
Remove a directory |
REN |
RENAME |
Rename one or more files |
SUBST |
Assign an internal directory to a drive | |
TREE |
Display directory tree in a graphical form |
Batch file commands¶
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
CALL |
Start a batch program from within another batch program |
CHOICE |
Wait for a keypress and set an ERRORLEVEL value |
ECHO |
Display messages and enable/disable command echoing |
FOR |
Run a specified command for each string in a set |
GOTO |
Jump to a labeled line in a batch program |
IF |
Perform conditional processing in batch programs |
PAUSE |
Wait for a keystroke to continue |
REM |
Add comments in a batch program |
SHIFT |
Left-shift command-line parameters in a batch program |
Miscellaneous commands¶
| Command | Aliases | Description |
|---|---|---|
CLS |
Clear the DOS screen | |
DATE |
Display or change the internal date | |
EXIT |
Exit from the DOS shell | |
HELP |
Display help information for DOS commands | |
KEYB |
Configure a keyboard layout and screen font | |
LH |
LOADHIGH |
Load a DOS program into upper memory |
LOADFIX |
Load a program in a specific memory region and then run it | |
MEM |
Display the amount of used and free memory | |
MODE |
Set the display mode or the keyboard’s typematic rate | |
MOUSE |
Load the built-in mouse driver | |
PATH |
Display or set a search path for executable files | |
SET |
Display or change environment variables | |
SETVER |
Display or set the DOS version reported to applications | |
TIME |
Display or change the internal time | |
TYPE |
Display the contents of a text file | |
VER |
Display the DOS version | |
VOL |
Display the disk volume and serial number, if they exist |
Bundled third-party programs¶
DOSBox Staging ships a small number of
FreeDOS utilities as pre-compiled binaries on
the Y: drive. When the Y: drive is
automounted (enabled by default), the
Y:\DOS directory is added to the PATH automatically, making these commands
available from any drive.
These are not DOSBox Staging reimplementations — they are third-party open-source programs included for convenience.