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I've set up an MS-DOS 6 + Windows 3.1 VM in VMware. Player. It works, but "too well". I want it to run like I remember it.

I have set the RAM to 8 MB and the HDD size to match my first 486, but there are no GUI settings for the CPU at all. Nothing like "simulate 486" or anything like that. It goes at super speed. It's not fun and doesn't feel genuine to run it like that.

No, I can't use DOSbox. DOSbox is bad software for several reasons, and does some kind of non-MS-DOS approximation instead of actually emulating it.

PCem's website doesn't even have an "about" section and I don't trust it whatsoever. Besides, it seems just like DOSbox.

After all, I've already set up the VMware VM, and all I want is to make it run slower. There's got to be some kind of configuration file option or something to set this?!

L Ripley
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    @harrymc Not really, frankly. None of the "solutions" there are sane/practical. – L Ripley Dec 24 '20 at 13:12
  • In Settings for the WIN 3.1 machine, Display: Can you enable Stretch Mode. This setting gave a smoother display for another user trying to slow down the machine. I am not sure if this setting exists in Player or if it exists for a WIN 3.1 machine (no Tools). – John Dec 24 '20 at 13:20
  • "There's got to be some kind of configuration file option or something to set this?!" No there doesn't. VMware does CPU *virtualization*, not emulation. The whole point of virtualization is to let the guest OS execute CPU instructions directly on the hardware. – jamesdlin Dec 26 '20 at 02:18
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    Also see https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Pro/Is-possible-to-limit-CPU-clock-speed/m-p/953090. Basically: no, you can't. You're better off running something in the guest to slow it down. – jamesdlin Dec 26 '20 at 02:21

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