Did you know DOS is still being updated in 2025? FreeDOS just hit version 1.4.
FreeDOS just hit version 1.4 on April 5th.
For most people, that headline might not mean much. But for anyone who’s ever installed MS-DOS from a stack of floppy disks, it hits different.
My first proper OS install was actually MS-DOS 6.0, way back in 1993. This was pre-Windows 3.11—actually, pre-most-things we take for granted today.
I remember sitting there, installing disk after disk after disk – hoping none of them had a read error. It was thrilling! And yes, this is a fond childhood memory.
That should tell you everything you need to know about what kind of nerd I was back then (still is to this day, maybe?).
DOS is still an actual OS in 2025.
Seeing the MS-DOS nostalgia live on through the FreeDOS initiative makes me genuinely happy.
It’s a functioning, open-source OS that can still run old software, games, and tools that were built for MS DOS. The kind of stuff that would’ve been lost without efforts like this.
For me, installing FreeDOS in a WM looks like the perfect project for quiet night of nerding out. Load FreeDOS 1.4 into a virtual machine, fire up retro computing OS classics, or tinker with autoexec.bat. Fun!
Whats cool is that FreeDOS isn’t just nostalgia. It’s actively maintained and updated.
What is FreeDOS?
FreeDOS is an open source DOS-compatible operating system that you can use to play classic DOS games, run legacy business software, or write new DOS programs. Any program that works on MS-DOS should also run on FreeDOS.
Boy, that does sound fun.
FreeDOS 1.4 release notes
The newly released version 1.4 brings a bunch of new features:
- Updated FreeCOM, installer, and HTML Help system
- Improvements to tools like FDISK, JEMM, FORMAT, 7Zip, FASM, and more
- A reorganized package system
- New installation options like a LiveCD, USB installer, Legacy CD, and even a floppy edition
Maintaining old software support
FreeDOS isn’t designed just for tinkerers, it serves real use cases.
It’s for running legacy business software, developing or maintaining DOS-based tools – or playing classic games like Scorched Earth, Monkey Island or Prince of Persia.
In fact, most software that worked on MS-DOS will work fine on FreeDOS.
There’s so much cool stuff happening out there in tech, and projects like this are a great reminder. Not everything has to be bleeding-edge.
Sometimes, it’s about keeping the old stuff running—and doing it well.