vDosPlus (formerly vDos-lfn) is a free general-purpose non-gaming DOS emulator running on Windows, based on vDos and DOSBox. vDosPlus is designed to run non-gaming DOS applications in all current Windows versions. NTVDM (NT Virtual DOS Machine) is included in 32-bit Windows, but NOT in 64-bit Windows. However, most today's Windows is now 64-bit, and to run DOS programs you need a DOS emulator. vDosPlus is exactly for this purpose, and like original vDos it provides advanced features such as support for file-locking (needed by multi-user applications) and printing to Windows-only (GDI) printers, but it also has many unique features such as a tighter integration with Windows and enhanced keyboard, mouse and display support. It was formerly known as vDos-lfn because its initial focus was added support for Windows-style long filenames or LFNs in addition to traditional DOS 8.3 file names, but now with a wide range of additional features there are much more than this. It is based on mature projects and also well tested by for example the XyWrite community and many normal or power users of various DOS applications, so it should be considered pretty stable as well.

Highlights of vDosPlus's Features:

Screenshots of vDosPlus

Below are some screenshots of software running in vDosPlus.

4DOS Help running in vDosPlus	WordPerfect 6 running in vDosPlus	XyWrite 4 running in vDosPlus

     

Relationship with vDos and DOSBox:

This software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but as with vDos and DOSBox, vDosPlus is provided "as-is", without any express or implied warranty. In no event can the developer be held liable for any damages arising out of the use or inability to use the software.

For a list of notable features that only exist in vDosPlus but not in original vDos, please refer to the vDosPlus feature list page.

vDosPlus Branches:

Later, vDos 2017.08.01 was released on August 1, 2017 by Jos Schaars. As a result, I also released the corresponding vDosPlus 2017.08.01 that is based on this most recent version of vDos. vDos(Plus) 2017.08.01 features important enhancements such as FPU support and can replace the earlier 2016.10.01 branch in most cases. As a result the 2017.08.01 will be the main branch for the recent development of vDosPlus. It will work with Windows XP while original vDos of the same version does not. Even Windows 2000 is supported by vDosPlus via the special version (just download the executable from the next section and replace the original file).

vDosPlus is free of charge to download and use. Furthermore, as the vDosPlus binary is updated from time to time, the vDosPlus package also includes the "Check for updates" feature as a shortcut in the Windows Start menu to check for the latest build of the currently installed branch of vDosPlus.

Note: As of more recently (2022) I have been actively working on DOSBox-X, a cross-platform DOS emulator designed to be a complete DOS emulation package that supports both DOS applications and games. Select the TrueType font (TTF) output to get the same feeling as in vDosPlus. Features such as LFN (long filename) and time synchronization can be enabled in DOSBox-X via config or menu options, and DOSBox-X has many more features not found in vDosPlus. If you wish to continue the developments of the vDosPlus project, please let me know. Thanks for your support!

vDosPlus Downloads:

The official vDosPlus 2015.11.01 branch is 100% open-source and completely free to use and distribute. Donations are very welcome, though.

Last build of the vDosPlus 2015.11.01 branch (build 2017.03.15):

Additional downloads for the vDosPlus 2015.11.01 branch (build 2017.03.15):

Note: The vDosPlus 2015.11.01 branch (build 2017.03.15) is Free Software, distributed under the GNU General Public License, version 2.

The vDosPlus changelog page contains a list of improvements and other changes that have been made to vDosPlus recently. While the 2017.08.01 branch of vDosPlus was the latest development branch, all changes mentioned in the changelog page as of build 2017.03.15 applied to both the 2016.10.01 branch and the 2015.11.01 branch of vDosPlus, also downloadable from the links above. Yet another branch, the 2016.06.01 branch of vDosPlus had been discontinued starting December 1, 2016 in favor of later branches.

In addition, special vDosPlus XyWrite installers maintained by Kari Eveli are downloadable from the XyWWWeb page.

For the latest build of the vDosPlus 2017.08.01 branch, the customized unofficial vDosPlus build (build 2018.03.01) is available and may be downloaded in a Zip archive. More information about this build can be found at Edward Mendelson's customized vDosPlus build page.

You can also build your own copy of vDosPlus with the Microsoft Visual Studio development platform. The source files of vDosPlus that have been changed from original vDos can be found at the Git repository in the vDosPlus SourceForge site.

vDosPlus Getting Started

The vDosPlus installer will automatically install a vDosPlus shortcut in the Windows Start menu and/or the desktop for you. You can launch vDosPlus directly from this shortcut. If you use the portable version instead of the installable version, then you can go to the vDosPlus directory and then launch vDosPlus.exe from there. By default, there are two special files for vDosPlus, namely config.txt and autoexec.txt, which roughly correspond to the DOS config.sys and autoexec.bat files. The config.txt file contains the configuration options for vDosPlus sessions, and you can see the comments in the file for details about these options (for example, you can change the default font for vDosPlus by setting the FONT option in config.txt). The autoexec.txt file is equivalent to the DOS autoexec.bat file, and commands contained in this file is automatically executed when DOS starts. It should be fairly easy to adjust these two files to your needs, or if you simply want to use the default settings then you don't need to change anything in these files.

Once you start vDosPlus you can run do different things with the default 4DOS 8.00 shell, or run your favorite DOS applications inside vDosPlus. Both traditional DOS 8.3 short filenames (SFN) and Windows-style long filenames (LFN) are supported by vDosPlus, so the DIR command for example will list both names. You probably first want to see vDosPlus's built-in full-screen 4DOS help system by typing the HELP command and check out information from there. Doszip Commander, an LFN-aware file manager is included with vDosPlus, and you can start it by simply typing the DZ command from the vDosPlus command line. To run your favorite DOS applications you need to first mount drives for use in vDosPlus with the USE command, e.g. USE D: D:\. You can also let vDosPlus mount all available Windows drives automatically for use in vDosPlus by setting the option "USEDRVS = ON" (without quotes) in the config.txt file. Once you go to the directory that contains your DOS application in vDosPlus, you should be able to launch the application easily as you do in a real DOS system.

vDosPlus Advanced Tips

Current tips (more tips are coming):

1. Windows environment variables in vDosPlus
2. Using file names in a long filename environment
3. Switching the command shells in vDosPlus
4. Blinking text and cursor in vDosPlus
5. Non-USA keyboard support and date formats
6. Start a Windows program or command processor
7. vDosPlus command line syntax

Donations to the vDosPlus project

vDosPlus is 100% free to download and use, so I cannot get any income from it directly. However, if you find this software or any information on this site useful or valuable, please consider making a donation so that I will be able to continue the development of vDosPlus and pay for the cost of maintaining this site. Donations can easily be made by clicking the button below; they are optional but are very welcome and would be valuable support for continuing the vDosPlus project. Thank you very much for your contributions to the project!

You can donate with either PayPal, debit or credit card (Visa, Mastercard etc) using the button above. I greatly appreciate your support!

vDosPlus Support and Discussions

If you have problems running your DOS programs in vDosPlus, or you want to play DOS games or run Windows 3.x/9x, please be sure to check out DOSBox-X, a cross-platform DOS emulator which I have been actively working on recently (as of 2022). Select the TrueType font (TTF) output to get the same feeling as in vDosPlus. Please post any issues or suggestions related to DOSBox-X in the DOSBox-X issue tracker.

There were also very active discussions relating to vDosPlus in the XyWrite Mailing List. For example, an archive of November 2016's discussions can be found here.

vDosPlus Links