Is it possible to run a dos application in fullscreen in Windows 10 32 bit

Question

I need to run an old DOS program, Presentations 2.0, on a Windows 10 32bit machine. When running the executable, I get the following error:

OS Subsystem
C:\DosGames\PR20\PR.EXE
This system does not support fullscreen mode. Choose 'Close to Terminate the Application'

If I choose Ignore, the box reappears. The third time I click Ignore, it does not reappear, instead the dos window turns blue, and nothing happens.

I have googled for this issue, but I only find people answering "Use DosBOX", without the elaboration that I am looking for. First of all, I have tried using DosBox, but that would not work for completely different reasons. Second of all, even if DosBox would work, I would still like to know if there is really no way of running it without DosBox or some other emulator? I thought it should be possible to run DOS applications under Windows 10, as long as it is the 32 bit version of Windows 10, that is installed. Is it all fullscreen DOS applications that won't run?

Answer 1

Windows 7 and later have removed support for running DOS applications in "native mode". Under Windows 7, you had the option for "Windows XP Mode", which was a virtual machine running Windows XP, which could run legacy DOS applications. While virtual machines are still an option (provided you have a legitimate license for Windows XP or a DOS clone like FreeDOS installed in the VM), it is not possible to run DOS programs natively in any recent version of Windows, regardless of whether you're using 32-bit or 64-bit Windows.

The so-called 16-bit DOS subsystem in 32-bit Windows 7 was not actually for running DOS applications, but for "console mode" programs (character mode) that did not attempt to manipulate the screen directly.