How to install FreeDOS 1.4rc1 on iOS using UTM SE & QEMU with a shared folder drive


TL;DR

Use “legacy hardware”, “pcnet” ethernet, and add this to QEMU options to enable a shared drive:

-device 

ide-hd,bus=ide.1,unit=0,drive=sharedDrive

-drive 

if=none,media=disk,driver=vvfat,id=sharedDrive,file=fat:rw:/path/to/shared

Fix /path/to/shared, obviously.

Getting Started

First download and install UTM SE from the app store.

Create VM

Open UTM SE and tap New VM


Set the live cd ISO image as the boot image


8gb is a pretty reasonable size. It’s a sparse file so it will really only be about 1gb for a full install.

Legacy HW sets SYSTEM to this, leave it. Set ram to whatever but 32mb is basically infinity for DOS. 1MB would be enough for our needs.


We’ll set up sharing later

It should look like this:


Fix Networking

PCNET is the first one i found that worked

Install FreeDOS

I suggest doing a full install. That requires two CDs, the live and the bonus. Use “fdimples” to install the bonus and any other packages after doing the “full” or base install.

When you boot FreeDos and install the first few times it will ask a bunch of questions, partition and format the drive, and reboot a few times. just choose all the defaults and work through all the prompts until it starts copying files.

the only important question is whether to do a base or full install. full isn’t really full because it doesn’t include bonus packages, so either way you have to run fdimples and install the bonus packages to get a full full system. the only big thing you might not want is games. I suggest a full install with all bonus packages. filtering it down is more trouble than it’s worth.

When you boot the vm you should see:

first tap the keyboard icon, then two-finger drag the whole DOS screen up to clear the KB. seems dumb that you have to do this, but what can i say. you should see


Press ‘i’ for install and chose all the defaults and it should eventually finish and work.

Click the cd icon  and change cd to the bonus cd and reboot. at the C:> prompt run fdimples to install remaining packages.

Congratulations, you now have a complete FreeDOS system on your iOS device.

Enable shared drive

WARNING: Install freedos and reboot BEFORE adding the shared drive. otherwise the share will come up as c: and freedos will try to install on it which is not a good idea.

This adds a shared directory at drive D:. CDROM moves to E:

Open settings and disable normal sharing 


Open the QEMU settings and add these 4 lines to the end; adjust the path as needed 
-device

ide-hd,bus=ide.1,unit=0,drive=sharedDrive

-drive

if=none,media=disk,driver=vvfat,id=sharedDrive,file=fat:rw:/path/to/shared
it should look like this

click done and launch the VM.



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