MS-DOS was (and is) an iconic part of the personal computer revolution, but modern hardware doesn’t support it. If you want to give MS-DOS a spin today, you need an emulator or some ancient hardware. Here are a few easy ways to run DOS as documented by How-to-Geek:
If setting up DOSBox, another emulator, or running DOS “bare metal” (directly on old hardware) isn’t for you, then you can always use an online service instead.
I tested a few different services, but ultimately settled on PCJs Machines.
Can I Run MS-DOS in VirtualBox or VMWare?
Yes, you can, but you probably shouldn’t unless you have a good reason. This is especially true since FreeDOS—an operating system designed to give you everything MS-DOS does—is safe, reliable, and freely available.
Running MS-DOS itself has a few major problems. VirtualBox and VMWare both use image files (ISOs) to install operating systems. The trouble is that MS-DOS was never officially released as an ISO, so you have only two choices: get a physical copy of MS-DOS from somewhere (they can be found online, and I’ve seen them at garage sales before), or download an ISO that someone built from the floppies.
While an MS-DOS ISO isn’t a prime vector for malware, you should never trust unofficial operating system ISOs to be safe—they’re potentially enormous security vulnerabilities.
To go through how to do these options, see this article on How-to-Geek.
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