DOS program in XP Guest on Windows 7 does not fill screen

[freedomkira]

Hi everyone,

I have a very unique situation here due to the many circumstances and many months of research to come up with a decent workaround.

I have a tool written in Basic for MS-DOS. I need to use this tool and interface it with files created in Windows 7. Since VMWare Player does not have very good support for file sharing between DOS guests with Windows 7, I've opted for a Windows XP guest on my Windows 7 host, and run the program through that. This way, I can share files between XP and 7 and run the program properly in the XP VM. Note that this program does not run at all on Windows 7 due to some graphics driver issues, hence the need for such a workaround.

When I run the XP VM, it is able to match the resolution as expected. However, when I open up the DOS program, it does not full screen as it does on a native XP machine or even on an XP VM running on VMWare Fusion on a Mac. Is there a way to force it to fill the screen? The full screen graphics are vital to visibility - I can barely see anything on the dinky little 640 x 480 screen without blowing it up to its maximum potential.

I have tried several other options, including Windows VM (I'm running Windows 7 Enterprise) and DOSBOX. Windows VM has the exact same resolution problem in addition to requiring integration features enabled to share files and requiring the same integration features disabled in order to run the program, and DOSBOX does fullscreen but performance is far too slow to be practical (it is akin to taking 2 minutes to scroll one notch on a web page that is several pages long) even at maximum settings.

Please no "did you turn the printer on" suggestions - I'm part of a fair-sized team working on getting this to work and this is pretty much the last roadblock after several months of work. We have probably tried everything that is immediately obvious, including recompiling the source code for the DOS program (which we had to do anyway in order to remove a lock imposed by a company that no longer exists).

The closest solution I've got is to reduce the resolution of the Windows 7 host to 800 x 600, which makes the VM a little bit bigger but still not quite fullscreen. I can try enabling 640x480 VGA mode, I suppose? Even then, though, the need to constantly change screen resolutions makes this solution less than ideal.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions/help.

[MarAndreas · Accepted solution]

Do I understand correctly:

- This is a fullscreen application with a fixed resolution of 640x480

- You want it scaled up to fit your screen

AFAIK, VMware Player simply doesn't do that.

There's a tutorial in the documents section for a workaround (Using Display Changer to automatically change the host resolution).

[freedomkira]

Yes, you understood perfectly. Thanks, I will take a look at that.

[WoodyZ]

As already mentioned VMware Player will not scale it however VMware Workstation can, although it may not be worth what it costs for this particular use case.

[freedomkira]

I know that VMWare Workstation can resize DOS guests, but will it resize a DOS program running within an XP guest?

I'm trying to avoid having to get Workstation because this solution is meant to be put out to several people, and thus the cost is not really worth it. The above question is just out of curiosity.

[WoodyZ]

but will it resize a DOS program running within an XP guest?

Off the top of my head I'd say no, however I'd have to test it to be sure.

I'm trying to avoid having to get Workstation because this solution is meant to be put out to several people, and thus the cost is not really worth it. The above question is just out of curiosity.

Under the circumstances then I'm not going to waste time testing it, although you always have the option to test it yourself using a 30-day Trial.

[freedomkira]

It turns out that the answer is indeed no. I've managed to get a workaround, however - set the host's monitor mode to 640 x 480 True Color and do the same on the guest (this is not as simple as changing the resolution, as 640 x 480 is not achievable under normal conditions - one has to change the monitor mode).

In Windows 7: Right click desktop -> Screen Resolution -> Advanced settings -> Adapter tab -> List All Modes

In Windows XP: Right click desktop -> Properties -> Settings tab -> Advanced -> Adapter tab -> List All Modes

Thanks all for the suggestions. I think we will be using this workaround.