You're assuming wrong things. I'm surprised nobody just gave it a try to see by themselves.
Here is how it works, so maybe thing would be stated more precisely :
It's obviously on a 32 bits Version. A 64 bits version just can't launch any 16 bits program anyway as NTVDM has been removed from all 64 bits Windows versions.
There's absolutely no lag at all when using an emulator. It has nothing to do with the program itself, it's only an arbitrary and quite incomprehensible delay when launching it from Windows, or from the shell, or whatever.
You can very easily check by yourslef, launching any Microsoft app provided with Windows itself, such as edit !
By the way, as soon as you launch any DOS program, you also lose your keyboard localization !
Just do this simple test :
Launch the command prompt
type edit -> damn 5 seconds (or so) lag, then the classical DOS text editor opens
type anything -> your keyboard is now in US layout.
About that, adding lh kb16 in autoexec.nt solves the problem, except the AltGr key is disabled so you can't type any "\", "@", etc. You have to se ALT + ASCII code... Note that it worked correctly in Windows Vista (and wasn't needed in XP). From Windows 7, MS provided a faulty keyboard table and never fixed it.
Back to our concern :
It has nothing to do with screen resolution, frequency or whatever, for a very simple reason : full screen mode doesn't exist anymore. You can definitely not launch any DOS program in full screen, period. They always have to be windowed. So obviously, nothing at all changes in the windows desktop display (this too is easy to check before writing !)
However, the idea about Intel based graphics may be a serious hint.
As a matter of fact, it worked a breeze up to LGA 775 motherboards, and the lag first appeared with LGA 1055 chipsets. I could clearly see it (yes, my customers are using programs written in Clipper. Then what ? They do the job perfectly).
So is it connected to integrated video processing in the latest motherboards chipsets and intel processors ?
I can confirm it behaves exactly the same with any processor (from the weakest Celeron to the fastest i7), and that the lag is absent on any motherboard using an LGA 775 chipset or older, whatever the processor and with or without an add-on video card.
At least, these are the facts.
Now about the cure... I'm still investigating. :p
For now, the most satisfying solution I could find is the vDos emulator. Unlike DosBox, it correctly manages file sharing for multi-user applications (though in this case, it's not free). WMWare also works a breeze, though heavier to install (vDos needs almost no installation. It's actually much faster and easier to use than DosBox).
As I said above, launching a DOS program through vDos is immediate : no lag at all. Of course, it's mostly aimed at 64 bits Windows, but it does make using DOS program under 32 bits Windows more convenient, because it removes the damn lag to start with.
On the practical side, our multi users customers actually work through PuTTY connected in ssh to Linux servers running Dosemu. At least, we don't have any keyboard nor display issues in this setup (about display issues, Microsoft has been adding CHCP in Windows, while it made no sense at all, since all DOS progams have always been using the standard 437 code page. As a result, some semi-graphic characters display fancy exotic accented characters instead).
Of course, being able to launch DOS programs under native Windows without the weird lag would be more satisfying. This and the damn keyboard translation bug... It worked allright in Vista, so I'm wondering if the Vista files could be inserted in the latest Windows versions... I still have to identify them.
This seems more conspiracry theory than problem-resolution. – Frank Thomas – 2015-07-22T17:06:54.993
Try to run that program in compatibility mode... Probably windows xp sp3 mode – pun – 2015-07-22T17:07:02.837
1What emulator are you using exactly? Your installation a 64-bit or 32-bit installation? Windows has not had direct support for MS-DOS programs since Windows 2000 and Windows XP. I ask the first question because a virtual machine is NOT an emulator. – Ramhound – 2015-07-22T17:17:51.323
Its a 32 bit Win 7 Pro. – Old-fashioned – 2015-07-22T18:47:37.647
Thank you for trying (except you Frank). Its a 32 bit Win 7 Pro and I'm running the DOS prog in the Win 7 internal/native emulator. I've tried Win XP sp3 mode, Win 95 mode, with and without Administrator privileges - all give the same 8 second delay. (PS "In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is an emulation of a particular computer system." See wikipedia for virtual machine.) – Old-fashioned – 2015-07-22T18:56:17.423
AT Ramhound, you're not really being useful unless you state the distinction between a virtual machine and an emulator, (and if you're going there, 'execution environment' too, and how that impacts what he is saying. – barlop – 2015-07-22T19:13:52.623
@Old-fashioned how about trying DOSBOX? BTW on a related note, archive.org have lots of dos games running online, it's unfortunate they don't have other dos programs – barlop – 2015-07-22T19:14:30.860
Did you try disabling your anti-virus software temporarily? – Rik – 2015-07-23T16:19:40.023
maybe the AV software is scanning it before launch. – Moab – 2015-07-23T18:57:27.370
Thank you Rik and Moab, Good suggestions. But I turn off the anti-virus when running that program. That's OK because its an air-gapped computer and this is a DOS program that I've run for years. You inspired me to wonder if the DEP (Data Execution Protection) was involved. But no. Thanks anyway. – None – 2015-07-26T17:16:28.453
See How can one link/merge/combine/associate two accounts/users? and/or I accidentally created two accounts; how do I merge them? for guidance on how to merge your accounts.
– DavidPostill – 2015-07-26T17:46:57.233I came here via my Google search for this: "Windows 7 dos 8 second delay." I'm having the exact same experience as the original poster. I have three Dell Windows 7 Professional 32-bit systems, and the delay occurs on two of them. It does NOT occur on my older Dell Optiplex 7010 desktop. It DOES occur on my newer Dell Optiplex 9020 desktop. It DOES occur on my brand-new Dell E7450 ultrabook. (I'm using TameDOS and 4DOS and WordStar 7.0. The eight-second delay starts as soon as the 4DOS window opens, and before 4DOS's autoexec file (I call mine load-tsr.btm) runs.) Happens whether or not I have – user267998 – 2016-01-29T01:43:36.250