Drives

2009-10-13T22:33:02Z

Cutop: just fixing the mount link

DOSBox, in an effort to emulate a DOS environment, needs some location to emulate a virtual Hard Drive. Commonly MS-DOS users would be greeted with a <code><pre>C:\></pre></code> prompt once a computer is done booting. The hard drives currently in your system are most likely many times larger than the kinds of hard drives that existed back when MS-DOS was commercially available. Also, they contain software that is not suited for DOSBox. In order to create a realistic (and safe) environment to run your DOS software you should define a path somewhere on your hard disk that will be treated as a virtual hard disk.

Note that upon starting DOSBox the prompt instead reads <code><pre>Z:\></pre></code> which is a virtual drive in memory (RAMDrive) where the OS Tools are stored. Users cannot write data to the Z:\ and it exists only for DOSBox purposes. See the [[ZDrive]] section for more information

Navigation between different drives is done by typing <tt>C:</tt> where C is the letter of the drive you wish to go to. By default DOSBox, like Windows, will detect [[Floppy|Floppy Drives]] connected via floppy cables as the A:\ and B:\ respectively.

==Mounting a C: drive==
''More details on Mounting Drives may refer to'' [[MOUNT|Mount a Drive]] ''topic.''

It bears repeating that it's '''unsafe''' to mount one's entire drive into DOSBox, particularly if another OS is already installed on it. For that reason, it's recommended only to mount a subdirectory (subfolder) of the drive where DOS files will be stored and have DOSBox fool its games/applications into thinking that is the [[CDrive|C: drive]]. Ideal locations for a virtual hard disk are

=== Windows ===
<code><pre>C:\DOSROOT
MOUNT C C:\DOSROOT</pre></code>

=== Linux ===
<code><pre>~/DOSROOT
MOUNT C ~/DOSROOT</pre></code>

=== Mac OSX ===
<code><pre>~/DOSROOT
MOUNT C ~/DOSROOT</pre></code>

=== BeOS ===

=== OS/2 ===

Note that you can have more than one Drive defined if you want to recreate complex configurations, but it is generally easier to have a single drive that will be [[MOUNT|mounted]] as your C: drive.

MOUNT

2009-10-13T22:18:46Z

Cutop: Added info about swap image and accessing changed files outside of DOSBox

'''MOUNT.COM''' is a command inside DOSBox that can connect physical folders and drives to [[Drives|virtual drives]] inside DOSBox. The mounted drive does not automatically refresh files changed out side of DOSBox. You can refresh these files on all mounted drives by activating the Swap Image event (Hot key: ctrl F4). To have access to changed files automatically map the drive as a floppy.

When you enter the command MOUNT from the DOSBox prompt you should see
<code><pre>Z:\>MOUNT
Current mounted drives are:
Drive Z is mounted as Internal Virtual Drive</pre></code>

To mount a folder as a drive, follow this basic template.
<code><pre>MOUNT [Drive-Letter] [Local-Directory]</pre></code>

The local directory can be specified relative to the working directory from which DOSBox was started.

To unmount a drive, follow this basic template.
<code><pre>MOUNT -u [Drive-Letter]</pre></code>

= Usage Examples =

== Windows ==

=== Setting the amount of free space for a drive ===
<code><pre>Z:\>MOUNT C C:\DOSGAMES -freesize 1024</pre></code>

=== Mounting a folder from your harddrive ===
<code><pre>Z:\>MOUNT C C:\DOSGAMES</pre></code>

=== Mounting a floppy drive ===
<code><pre>Z:\>MOUNT A A:\ -t floppy</pre></code>

=== Mounting a CD-Rom drive ===
<code><pre>Z:\>MOUNT D D:\ -t cdrom</pre></code>

=== Extra CD ROM options ===
-t [floppy|cdrom] Define how the mounted folder should behave to the emulated operating system.
-usecd [drive #] For direct hardware emulation ie: audio playback, etc.
-cd = Generate a list of local CD ROM drive's "drive #" values
-label [name] = Set the volume name of the drive (all caps)
-ioctl = Lowest level of hardware access (Win 2K, XP and Linux)...follows the -usecd command

Z:\>MOUNT D D:\ -t cdrom -usecd 0 -ioctl -label GAME_CD

=== Mounting an ISO-File as volume ===
<code><pre>Z:\>IMGMOUNT E C:\Images\MyImage.iso -t iso</pre></code>

=== Mounting a CUE/BIN-Pair as volume ===
If the game plays additional music tracks from the cd ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_Mode_CD mixed mode]), you can still mount it as an image file. Since ISO can only contain pure data, the image has to be in the [[Cuesheet|CUE/BIN format]]. You mount it with
<code><pre>Z:\>IMGMOUNT E C:\Images\MyImage.cue -t iso</pre></code>
The BIN-file has to be in the same folder as the CUE-file. It is also possible to use a cuescheet in combination with an ISO and [[Cuesheet|compressed audio tracks]] in OGG or MP3 format.

=== Mounting Multiple Images (ISO or CUE/BIN) ===
<code><pre>Z:\>IMGMOUNT E C:\Images\MyImage1.iso C:\Images\MyImage2.iso -t iso</pre></code>

When mounting multiple images (useful for any application which requires discs to be swapped while it is running), you can then switch between the mounted disk-images by pressing Ctrl+F4 (by default) while your application is running.

== Linux ==
<code><pre>Z:\>MOUNT C ~/DOSGAMES</pre></code>

<code><pre>Z:\>MOUNT D /MEDIA/CDROM/ -T CDROM</pre></code>

<code><pre>Z:\>IMGMOUNT E ~/IMAGES/MYIMAGE.ISO -T ISO</pre></code>

== Mac OSX ==
<code><pre>Z:\>MOUNT C ~/DOSGAMES</pre></code>
<code><pre>Z:\>IMGMOUNT D ~/Documents/IMAGE.toast -t iso</pre></code>

== Using your mounted drive ==
To change to the newly mounted virtual drive simply type
<code><pre>[Drive-Letter]:</pre></code>

For example (If you mounted a Local-Directory to the Drive-Letter '''C''')
<code><pre>Z:\>C:</pre></code>

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Drives

MOUNT