Physical mounting folder or image as CD-ROM so Windows 95/98 can detect it

[ognjenmi]

I am running Windows 98 inside DOSBox-X. It would be good to be possible to mount image or folder "physically" so Windows can detect it when booted with boot command.

[nckstwrt]

Not sure what you mean by "physically", does putting this in your conf: imgmount d "Windows 98 Second Edition.iso" -t iso -ide 2m do what you want? (does for me at least :) - shows up fine in Win98)

[joncampbell123]

Current support can provide a CD-ROM drive from an ISO image if mounted before booting.

Providing a folder as a CD-ROM drive is more challenging, depending on whether the contents are "frozen" at boot time or if you expect it to update from the folder while Windows 98 is running.

[mgrotke]

Related to this issue. https://github.com/joncampbell123/dosbox-x/issues/316

Both commands (MOUNT and IMGMOUNT) work in the fake version of DOS emulated by DOSBox, but once a real OS boots (i.e. Windows 95/98), the MOUNT command no longer works.

I wanted to mount ~/Pictures/ as drive d or e in Windows 95 so that I could edit pictures using the old school MS Paint. Looks like my use case will not work.

[crazii]

Current support can provide a CD-ROM drive from an ISO image if mounted before booting.

Providing a folder as a CD-ROM drive is more challenging, depending on whether the contents are "frozen" at boot time or if you expect it to update from the folder while Windows 98 is running.

Mounting a folder for CD-ROM is not a good way concerning the CDROM capacity limit (maybe none). but Change ISO image after booting is mostly useful, and works like a real CD-ROM.

BTW, mounting/unmounting folder could be done via USB removable storage with a certain capacity(probably a driver needed for Win9x), My suggestion is that just forget about the update part. the DOS mode mounting have the same problem: del one file in host and execute DIR then it's gone in the box too; you can even "stay" in a folder that is deleted in the host, and even further you can try to write to the deleted folder (i.e. dir >> 123.txt) but the box will die.. it's just too uncommon and we can leave it be. Same behavior is acceptable in Win9x, the only different is to use "Refresh" command (F5) to update the mounted content.

[Torinde]

the DOS mode mounting have the same problem: del one file in host and execute DIR then it's gone in the box too; you can even "stay" in a folder that is deleted in the host, and even further you can try to write to the deleted folder (i.e. dir >> 123.txt) but the box will die.. it's just too uncommon and we can leave it be.

In 0.84.1

• with actions from above comment DOSbox-X doesn't die anymore, but gives an error "Path not found", "File creation error" and similar
• if a mounted image/folder is unmounted while being "active" in DOSbox-X - and then trying to do something with it (e.g. while staying at C:\ the folder is unmounted and then you do dir) - doesn't die and goes to Z: or another valid drive.

So, it seems the above behavior was corrected properly.

But:

• if a mounted folder gets deleted on the host - DOSbox-X doesn't die, gives "File not found - C:*.*" (if mounted as C) - but doesn't go Z: (e.g. continues working as if it's still mounted). Contrary to that - mounted images can't be deleted on the host (Windows says the file is used by DOSbox-X). Can DOSbox-X "protect" mounted folders from deletion at host in the same way mounted images are protected?

• You can get DOSbox-X to show a "." entry with size and file contents. Not sure if to consider that a bug or a clever workaround/feature: On the host: deleting ToDelete On the host – there is a “ToDelete” file (without extension – and with the contents of Z:\README.TXT) in the folder that’s mounted as C: So, when you go outside the deleted folder - DOSbox-X properly shows the copied file as on the host.

If you try copying while in a subfolder of a folder you delete on host - you get an error message and prompt goes to the containing place that's still not deleted: