Keyboard

dosbox-automation captures your keyboard input and passes it straight to the emulated DOS environment - most keys just work without any fuss.

The one wrinkle is that your host operating system intercepts certain key combinations (Alt+Tab , Cmd+H , etc.) before DOSBox ever sees them. The keyboard_capture setting lets you override this, so DOSBox gets first dibs on those keys. This is especially useful in fullscreen mode or when a game relies on key combinations that collide with OS shortcuts.

All key bindings can be customized through the key mapper (Ctrl+F1 on Windows/Linux, Cmd+F1 on macOS). See Keyboard shortcuts below for the full list of default bindings.

Configuration settings

The keyboard capture setting is configured in the [sdl] configuration section.

keyboard_layout

See keyboard_layout.

keyboard_capture

Capture system keyboard shortcuts. When enabled, most system shortcuts are captured and sent to dosbox-automation instead of being intercepted by the host OS. Examples of captured shortcuts:

• Alt+Tab (task switching on all platforms)
• Ctrl+Esc (Start menu on Windows)
• Ctrl+F4 (virtual desktop switching on KDE)
• Ctrl+Left (show desktop on macOS)

This is particularly useful for Windows 3.1 and DOS programs that use key combinations which conflict with your OS shortcuts.

Possible values: on, off (default)

Keyboard shortcuts

dosbox-automation has two layers of key bindings: shortcuts that control the emulator itself (fullscreen toggle, screenshots, CPU speed, etc.) and DOS key mappings that pass keyboard input through to the emulated DOS environment.

All bindings can be customized in the key mapper, accessible via Ctrl+F1 on Windows/Linux or Cmd+F1 on macOS. Shortcuts use a "primary modifier" key: Ctrl on Windows and Linux, Cmd on macOS.

Default shortcuts

General

CPU

Audio

Capture

Display

Input

Joystick calibration

These shortcuts are only active when use_joy_calibration_hotkeys is enabled in the joystick settings.

Video adapter-specific

These shortcuts are only available when emulating specific machine types.

Image adjustments