Open-Source DoS for classic Operating Systems

The freedos project started in 1994, and Microsoft released Windows 95 and stopped supporting MS-dos. Jim hall started working on this open-source operating system at that time. Freedos is based on the gnu gpl protocol, so programmers can To develop new software without relying on MS-DOS.

Download the beta9 Service Release #2 distribution:

(Updated 5/2006)

Please read the release notes.As of December 2005, an updated official freedos distribution will be available on ibiblio and fdos.org. it replaces the exactly 1 year old (and in software terms quite outdated) beta9sr1 distribution. this release is available as an ISO image.

TheFdos1440.imgDiskette image contains drivers to help with installing on systems which cannot normally boot from CDROM. however, you shoshould still have the CDROM or at least the contents of the CDROM. if you need a diskette-only distro, use beta9sr1, wait for beta9sr3, or useONeDISKInStaller: Odin @ xdev.codigolivre.org.br. Odin contains most 'base' components but most of the documentation and all the source code had to be omitted to save space.

Please see the README file for more information about obtaining and installing freedos. Alternatively, have a look at the freedos installation Wiki which features more recent documentation.

The MD5 sums for the freedos beta9sr2 main files are:

  799906c1829db2957548f2f860f7f666  fdbootcd.iso (patch 5/2006)   no update - please avoid file!   fdfullcd.iso (still the old iso!)  31bf499be78bfa8300f55b199d612d57  fdos1440.img (boot helper diskette)  0606c3411a930ffa4cf1d53e7e931af5  rawrite.exe  (writes img to diskette)

Don't download these "broken" ISO files (old version ):

  751556e9b8e3806efd80cf3d896aa754  fdbootcd.iso.broken (original 11/2005)  073b78ef205fb46af613c44934b6e29a  fdfullcd.iso.broken (original 11/2005)

Note about the 5/2006 update:The original ISO uses some experimental drivers by default, most notably nlsfunc (often crashes, in particle if no emm386 is loaded) and a method to load the XMS driver from a batch file. beta9sr2 also contains the experimental atapicdd driver. please do not use atapicdd-recommended alternatives are Xcdrom.
The updatedFdbootcd. ISOContains two simple patches: The nlsfunc line in Autoexec got commented out and the "select default XMS driver from batch magic after 2 seconds" menudefault got commented out. so now the config. sys menu is shown (without timeout) until a menu item isManuallySelected. the recommended options are 1 himem or 4 himem & emmquota. The old default is now called 3 magic. the option 2 safemode simply boots a very minimal dos, it will not start the installer. A more useful dos can be found in the Odin directory on the CDROM. people who already have the classic ISO do not have to update: simply be quick and hit the 1 (himem) or 4 (himem & emm386) key at once when the config. sys menu is shown, to avoid the magic option. during install, eltorito is used, normal dos cdrom drivers are only a problem when you boot the installed dos. that shoshould be upgraded to xcdrom manually. -Eric (5/2006)

Primary download:

• Http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/old/beta9sr2/

BitTorrent is available for ("Old broken") CDROM image file:

• Http://tracker.freedos.pri.ee/torrents/fdbootcd-b9sr2.iso.torrent (view stats ..)

Mirrors of the (old and patched) beta9 Service Release #2 distribution:

• Germany:
  • Http://ftp.rz.tu-bs.de/pub/mirror/freedos/files/distributions/old/beta9sr2/
• Portugal:
  • Http://chefax.fe.up.pt/mirrors/freedos/files/distributions/old/beta9sr2/
• Spain:
  • Http://sunsite.rediris.es/mirror/freedos/files/distributions/old/beta9sr2/
• Sweden:
  • Http://freedos.wermlandsdata.com/files/distributions/old/beta9sr2/

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If you wowould like to mirror the freedos distribution, please email the webmaster.

Download freedos software:

Were you looking for the source code?You may want to visit the project page at http://sourceforge.net/projects/freedos/ to get the source for the kernel, freecom, and install program. For more source code to freedos, refer to the Software List.

Files archive: Primary download:

• Http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/
• Ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/

Mirrors of the freedos files archive:

• Australia:
  • Http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/freedos/files/
  • Ftp://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/freedos/files/
• Austria:
  • Http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/pc/dos/freedos/files/ (no longer processing ?)
  • Ftp://gd.tuwien.ac.at/pc/dos/freedos/files/ (no longer processing ?)
• Estonia:
  • Http://cyberside.dyn.ee/files/
  • Http://freedos.pri.ee/files/
• Germany:
  • Http://ftp.rz.tu-bs.de/pub/mirror/freedos/
  • Ftp://ftp.rz.tu-bs.de/pub/mirror/freedos/
  • Http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/misc/freedos/files/
  • Ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/misc/freedos/files/
• Portugal:
  • Http://chefax.fe.up.pt/mirrors/freedos/
  • Ftp://chefax.fe.up.pt/pub/mirrors/freedos/
• Spain:
  • Http://sunsite.rediris.es/mirror/freedos/
  • Ftp://ftp.rediris.es/mirror/freedos/
• Sweden:
  • Http://freedos.wermlandsdata.com/files/

If you wowould like to mirror the freedos files archive, please email the webmaster.