| FreeDOS | |
|---|---|
 | |
 FreeDOS 1.1 default shell, FreeCOM | |
| Developer | Jim Hall & The FreeDOS team |
| Written in | Assembly language,C[1] |
| OS family | DOS |
| Working state | Current |
| Source model | Open source[2] |
| Initial release | 16 September 1994; 31 years ago (1994-09-16)[3] |
| Latest release | 1.4[4]  / 5 April 2025; 10 months ago (5 April 2025)[5] |
| Repository | |
| Available in | English,German,Dutch,French,Turkish,Swedish,Spanish |
| Supported platforms | x86 |
| Kernel type | Monolithic kernel[6] |
| Influenced by | MS-DOS |
| Default user interface | Command-line interface (COMMAND.COM) |
| License | GNU GPL[2] with various different licenses for utilities |
| Official website | freedos |
FreeDOS (formerlyPD-DOS) is afree softwareoperating system forIBM PC compatible computers. It intends to provide a completeMS-DOS-compatible environment for runninglegacy software and supportingembedded systems.[7] FreeDOS can be booted from afloppy disk orUSB flash drive[8][9] and is designed to run well undervirtualization orx86emulation.[10]
The FreeDOS project began underJim Hall in 1994, and the firststable version was released in 2006. Unlike most versions ofMS-DOS,[11] FreeDOS is composed offree software,licensed under the terms of theGNU General Public License.[2] However, other packages that form part of the FreeDOS project include non-GPL software considered worthy ofpreservation, such as4DOS, which is distributed under a modifiedMIT License.[12]
FreeDOS 1.1, released on 2 January 2012,[13] is available for download as aCD-ROM image: a limited install disc that only contains the kernel and basic applications, and a full disc that contains many more applications (games, networking, development, etc.), not available as of November 2011[update] but with a newer, fuller 1.2.[14] The legacy version 1.0 (2006) consisted of two CDs, one of which was an 8 MB install CD targeted at regular users and the other which was a larger 49 MB live CD that also held the source code of the project.[14]
FreeDOS is used by several companies:
FreeDOS is also used in multiple independent projects:
| Version | Status | Codename | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.01 | ALPHA | None | 16 September 1994 |
| 0.02 | ALPHA | None | December 1994 |
| 0.03 | ALPHA | None | January 1995 |
| 0.04 | ALPHA | None | June 1995[30] |
| 0.05 | ALPHA | None | 10 August 1996 |
| 0.06 | ALPHA | None | November 1997 |
| 0.1 | BETA | Orlando | 25 March 1998 |
| 0.2 | BETA | Marvin | 28 October 1998 |
| 0.3 | BETA | Ventura | 21 April 1999 |
| 0.4 | BETA | Lemur | 9 April 2000 |
| 0.5 | BETA | Lara | 10 August 2000 |
| 0.6 | BETA | Midnite | 18 March 2001 |
| 0.7 | BETA | Spears | 7 September 2001 |
| 0.8 | BETA | Nikita | 7 April 2002 |
| 0.9 | BETA | None | 28 September 2004 |
| 1.0 | FINAL | None | 3 September 2006 |
| 1.1 | FINAL | None | 2 January 2012 |
| 1.2 | FINAL | None | 25 December 2016 |
| 1.3 | FINAL | None | 20 February 2022 |
| 1.4 | FINAL | None | 5 April 2025 |
The FreeDOS project began on 29 June 1994, afterMicrosoft announced it would no longer sell or support MS-DOS.Jim Hall, who at the time was a student,[31] posted a manifesto proposing the development of PD-DOS, apublic domain version of DOS.[32] Within a few weeks, other programmers includingPat Villani and Tim Norman joined the project. Between them, a kernel (by Villani), theCOMMAND.COM command line interpreter (by Villani and Norman), and core utilities (by Hall) were created by pooling code they had written or found available.[33][34] For some time, the project was maintained by Morgan "Hannibal" Toal. There have been many official pre-release distributions of FreeDOS before the final FreeDOS 1.0 distribution.[35] GNU/DOS, an unofficial distribution of FreeDOS, was discontinued after version 1.0 was released.[36][37]
Blinky the Fish is the mascot of FreeDOS. He was designed by Bas Snabilie.[38]
FreeDOS requires aPC/XT machine with at least 640 kB of memory.[39] Programs not bundled with FreeDOS often require additional system resources.
FreeDOS is mostly compatible with MS-DOS. It supports COM executables, standard DOS executables and Borland's16-bitDPMI executables. It is also possible to run32-bit DPMI executables usingDOS extenders. The operating system has several improvements relative to MS-DOS, mostly involving support for newer standards and technologies that did not exist when Microsoft ended support for MS-DOS, such asinternationalization, or theAdvanced Power ManagementTSRs.[40] Furthermore, with the use of HX DOS Extender, manyWindows Console applications function properly in FreeDOS, as do some rareGUI programs, likeQEMM andBochs.[41]
FreeDOS is able to runMicrosoft Windows 1.0 and2.0 releases.Windows 3.x releases, which had support fori386 processors, cannot fully be run in386 Enhanced Mode,[42] except partially in the experimental FreeDOSkernel 2037.[citation needed]
Windows 95,Windows 98 andWindows Me use a stripped-down version of MS-DOS. FreeDOS cannot be used as a replacement because the undocumented interfaces between MS-DOS 7.0–8.0 and Windows "4.xx" are not emulated by FreeDOS; however, it can be installed and used beside these systems using aboot manager program, such asBOOTMGR orMETAKERN included with FreeDOS.[citation needed]
FreeDOS is designed to work well with virtualization software such as VirtualBox and VMware. The installation process is identical to real hardware. It is also possible to install FreeDOS onDOSBox and its derivatives. By doing so, it provides additional functionality not present in the emulator.[43][44]
FAT32 is fully supported and is the preferred format for the boot drive.[45] Depending on theBIOS used, up to fourLogical Block Addressing (LBA) hard disks of up to 128 GB, or 2 TB, in size are supported.[46] There has been little testing with large disks, and some BIOSes support LBA, but produce errors on disks larger than 32 GB; a driver such as OnTrack or EZ-Drive resolves this problem.[citation needed] FreeDOS can also be used with a driver calledLFNDOS to enable support for Windows 95-style long file names,[47] but most pre-Windows 95 programs do not support long file names, even with a driver loaded. There is no planned support for NTFS,ext2 orexFAT, but there are several external third-party drivers available for that purpose. To access ext2 file systems,LTOOLS, a counterpart toMtools, can sometimes be used to copy data to and from ext2 file system drives.[citation needed]
But FreeDOS has become much more friendly to virtualization and hardware emulation—it's even the heart of the DOSEMU emulator
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