Help with FreeDOS

[Karmashock]

I have an old DOS database doesn't work on 64bit systems thought it worked fine in XP 32bit.


Anyway, I've tried running the database in an XP VM and it doesn't work. It freezes and has other bugs I won't get into. So I thought why not just emulate DOS directly.

Anyway, this is where i run into some problems. What drivers is virtualbox compatible with in the first place? When you install the MS Network client program on FreeDos it wants to know which network card you're using... it gives you a long list of cards that were apparently released around the time. So... which one?


General assistence in getting a FreeDos VM with full windows networking support would be appreciated. I tried downloading some of the disk images that supposedly have this all set up but they don't work. They can ping things but that's about it.

I get frustrating errors when I try to map drives like "this is only supported on enhanced workstations" etc.


For this to work, I need to be able to map a network share to a drive letter in the FreeDOS VM. Where upon I can test to see if the database actually works.

Virtualbox with an XP guest freezes with this database if you stop interacting with the database for about 5 seconds. If you keep doing things constantly then it doesn't freeze. But stop... and the database freezes with an XP guest.

I then tried VMware which actually works really well unless more then 3 people access the share. Again, this works just fine with actual XP machines. You can have 40 machines all accessing the same database at once and there's no problem. But more then 3 VMware VMs and the VMs just start hanging and freezing.


So... I'm now trying this... Skipping windows and going down to the DOS level hoping that that can avoid the hangs, freezes, and other assorted irritations.


Any pointers would be appreciated.

[mpack]

What does your question have to do with "Windows Hosts"?

The network card is selected by you in the VM settings (Network tab), assuming you added one at all. Check the "Other Guests" and Tutorials forums for advice on installing DOS with networking support, and I'd say that "Other Guests" i's also the correct forum for your question - moving it now.

[Karmashock]

The host is windows. The Freedos OS is a guest OS.

no?


As to the networking cards etc, the issue is not which card is selected in the bridging but what card Freedos or whatever version of dos uses to actually access it.


I've been looking around for a freedos VM that I can just download that has networking built into it. I think I have one but its a little squirrely.

[mpack]

No. Do you also drive a Ford car? Perhaps you should have posted your question in the Ford user forums? It's really very simple: post the question in the forum which is relevant to the question. A.K.A. the forum which other users would choose when looking for answers to that question. They would not look for info on FreeDOS guests in the "Windows Hosts" forum.

So, returning to the question... In my earlier answer I said nothing about bridging. Your VM settings describes a hardware "recipe" for the VM, and it includes the type of network adapter card installed. See <VM settings> | Network | Adapter1 | Advanced | AdapterType. Whatever NIC simulation is selected, you need corresponding drivers for the guest OS.