Word 5.5 on DOSBox

Continuing with my exploration of old versions of Word in various platforms, I wanted to experience one of the last versions of Microsoft Word for DOS, Word 5.5. Here are the instructions to run it on any platform that supports DOSBox Staging.

Installing DOSBox on Fedora

Turns out, Microsoft are still offering Word 5.5 as a freely available download from their website! So, just wget it.

1. sudo dnf install dosbox
2. mkdir -p ~/CDRIVE/INSTALL
3. cd ~/CDRIVE/INSTALL
4. wget https://download.microsoft.com/download/word97win/Wd55_be/97/WIN98/EN-US/Wd55_ben.exe
5. dosbox

Installing Word 5.5 on DOSBox

1. Z:\>mount C ~/CDRIVE
2. Z:\>C:
3. C:\>cd INSTALL
4. C:\INSTALL>WD55_BEN.EXE
5. C:\INSTALL>SETUP

Follow instructions using all defaults. Launch application:

6. WORD

Have fun! The good thing is that LibreOffice can read Word 5.5 for DOS files without problem, which is not the case of Word 5.1a for Mac, which we learned how to install last week.

Configuration

For more control of your DOSBox environment, you can edit the ~/.config/dosbox/dosbox-staging.conf file adding the following at the end:

[autoexec]
@ECHO OFF
MOUNT C ~/CDRIVE
C:
PATH C:\WORD
ECHO Use ALT+ENTER to toggle fullscreen.

Now your DOSBox will always start maximized and ready to use. Just type WORD and write your heart away!