DOSBox Exit to error: CPU_SetSegGeneral: Stack segment zero

Question

I am trying to run an old Clipper application. It runs fine on Win 7 32bit but when I try using the DOSBox 0.74 it crashes with the following error:

Exit to error: CPU_SetSegGeneral: Stack segment zero

Are there some settings I forget to set when running the DOSBox?

I need to be able to run this app in DOSBox as it appears to be only portable solution that would work on any Win 7, being it 32 or 64bit.

If no apparent solution is known for this problem maybe you can tell me what alternatives I have to run a Clipper 5.3 application on a Win 7 64-bit Home edition?

EDIT: I tried it on Win 7 Home 64 bit with the very same result. What can I do?

Answer 1

Wanting to close this question I will write what was the only solution thanks to which I was able to run that aged application on Win7 64bit.

It was VMLite XP Mode. I simply followed the steps described in their how to guide and it was up and running then I copied my application into the VMLite XP Mode, and it was running fine.

Finally I created, after some googling, a shortcut to my desktop and now I can easily start the application from my Win7 64bit desktop which then lunches the VMLite XP Mode which starts the application :) or something along this lines anyway, so far, it works great.

Answer 2

I used clipper many years ago, clipper does cause problems because incorrect config.sys configuration, specially the setting "FILES" must be big enough (let´s say 200) for your application, but "original" dosbox does not provide a way to adjust this setting.

Try the patch from http://www.shdon.com/blog/2009/09/05/adjustable-files-setting-in-dosbox This patch allows to configure FILES adding a new setting on dosbox options file

Steps:

• Backup dosbox.exe and replace it with the patched version
• Edit the dosbox options file and add FILES=200 to the [DOS] section

Try it and post the results since i don't have clipper 5.3 to test.