Overview
Virtual DOS machines normally rely on the virtual 8086 mode of the Intel 80386 processor, which allows real mode 8086 software to run in a controlled environment by catching and forwarding to the normal operating system (as exceptions) all operations which involve accessing protected hardware. The operating system can then perform an emulation and resume the execution of the DOS software.
VDMs generally also implement support for running 16- and 32-bit protected mode software (DOS extenders), which has to conform to the DOS Protected Mode Interface.
When a DOS program running inside a VDM needs to access a peripheral, Windows will either allow this directly (rarely), or will present the DOS program with a Virtual Device Driver which emulates the hardware using operating system functions. A VDM will systematically have emulations for the Intel 8259A interrupt controllers, the 8254 timer chips, the 8237 DMA, etc.
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