Method 2: XCOPY

  • 1) Copy your Windows 95 CD

    This method does not require administrative access like the other method, the only tool we are using here is DOSBox itself.

    Copy your Windows 95 CD into an easy to find directory such as shown here. This is only temporary while we complete the file transfer. This method can also be used to move any drivers or other software you want between your host and DOSBox virtual machine.

  • 2) Adjusting DOSBox config

    In our DOSBox configuration file we must make a few adjustments to allow this method to work. First remove or comment out the lines for mounting our floppy and hard drive images that should currently be there.

    Add the lines shown to the config in their place. The lines should read as follows adjusting for other naming of course! The lines should read:imgmount c windows95.img
    mount d c:\doswin

  • 3) Verification

    Boot DOSBox and you should see the successful mounting of your virtual hard drive (it's geometry will be automatically detected) and your host folder.

    If you see both have been successfully mounted then proceed.

  • 4) Proof of Concept

    Just to demonstrate that we have actually established a connection between our host machine's file system and the virtual hard drive you can swap between each drive and see their contents.

    As expected, our "D" drive which is in this case the "Doswin" folder has only the Windows 95 CD. Additionally our blank virtual hard drive is, as expected, blank.

  • 5) The XCOPY Command

    If you have previous familiarity with the original MS-DOS operating system, you will no doubt be familiar with the powerful XCOPY tool. Fortunately for us, DOSBox Daum comes directly integrated with an XCOPY program.

    You may type XCOPY and hit enter to see the syntax and switches available.

  • 6) Preparing to Copy

    To ease this process you should begin by navigating into your Windows 95 CD folder on your host computer.

    In this case, I have chosen to mount the folder with my Windows 95 CD as my D drive. Navigate into this folder via the following set of commands.D:CD win95cd

    Once this is accomplished you may recall "dir" allows us to see the contents of our folder. At this point you should see the full Windows 95 CD as shown.

  • 7) Begin File Transfer

    Unfortunately for us the XCOPY available in DOSBox Daum is not quite as robust as we would like it to be. If you simply try to copy the entire folder in one command it won't be successful.

    Instead you must individually copy each folder. Copy the folders using the commands shown here, naturally changing folder name. Use the command:xcopy 'folder' /h /e /i c:\win95cd\'folder' naturally replacing 'folder' with the folder name.

  • 8) What You Should See

    Since we haven't given XCOPY the switch to be "quiet", we should see a list scroll of each file it copies.

    It should look something similiar to this. If it does, continue copying each folder in this manner. Don't forget the files in the root! (setup.exe, autorun.inf etc, mkcwrt.exe, readme.txt)

  • 9) The Complete Copy

    Once you finish the copy, you should verify that you have successfully copied everything to your virtual hard drive, our C drive in this case.

    To swap to the C: drive simply type "C:" at the command prompt. You may also type "dir" to view basic information and contents of your drive. At this point it should only be the folder containing the Windows 95 CD.

  • 10) Changing DOSBox Config

    The last thing you will want to do is to return the DOSBox configuration file's autoexec lines to the standard. We will want to mount our hard drive and floppy disk using the other method.

    Simply change the lines to read what they did previously.