This guest operating system is supported on the following VMware products:
Note: If you are installing a guest operating system through VMware VirtualCenter, be sure it is supported under the VMware product - ESX Server or GSX Server - on which you are running the virtual machine.
Be sure to read General Guidelines for All VMware Products as well as this guide to installing your specific guest operating system.
Before installing the operating system, be sure that you have already created and configured a new virtual machine.
You can install MS-DOS 6.22 inside a virtual machine using the Microsoft full-version MS-DOS installation disks. If you have the upgrade disks, you must install an earlier version of DOS before you upgrade. To start installing MS-DOS 6.22, put the first disk in the floppy drive used by your virtual machine, power on the virtual machine and follow the instructions on the screen.
After you install DOS, VMware recommends that you install a CPU idle program within the virtual machine. Most versions of DOS do not idle the CPU when they are idle. Therefore, when you are running DOS in a virtual machine, the virtual machine takes up CPU time on the host even when DOS is idle. VMware products rely on the guest operating system to use the Halt instruction or advanced power management to deschedule the virtual machine when it is idle.
We have tested a program called DOSIDLE.EXE and have found it works successfully with VMware Workstation, VMware ACE and GSX Server. It can be downloaded from www.vmware.com/software/dosidle210.zip.
Follow the instructions provided with the DOSIDLE.EXE program. But be aware of the -cpu option, which causes the idle program to access the CPU at a low level in order to optimize performance. There is a good chance that this will not work with some CPUs under VMware products. VMware suggests that you not use it.
You can install Windows 3.1x using the standard installation disks. VMware Workstation, VMware ACE and GSX Server virtual machines support the networking features found in Windows 3.11 (or Windows for Workgroups). If you set up networking, choose the Advanced Micro Devices PCNET Family (NDIS2/NDIS3) Ethernet driver.
VMware GSX Server: The sound device is disabled by default and must be enabled with the virtual machine control panel (VM > Settings) after the operating system has been installed. To set up the virtual machine to play sound, see Configuring Sound in the GSX Server documentation.
We intermittently encounter erratic mouse behavior in virtual machines running Windows 3.1x in window mode. This problem does not appear in the full screen mode.
No VMware Tools package exists for DOS or Windows 3.1x guest operating systems; therefore, Windows 3.1x is limited to VGA mode graphics and you must always use the Ctrl-Alt key combination to release the mouse from a DOS or Windows 3.1x virtual machine.
On a Linux host with an XFree86 3.x X server, it is best not to run a screen saver in the guest operating system. Guest screen savers that demand a lot of processing power can cause the X server on the host to freeze.