No need to trash your system files! Right-click on the executable, choose properties, then click on the "advanced..." button, on the ensuing dialog window enable the "MS-DOS mode", and then you can toggle another option to substitute the current config.sys/autoexec.bat with custom ones for this particular game (keep only essential stuff you need, including SoundBlaster emulation, so that you have enough conventional memory).
(click to enlarge)
Pro tip: if, instead of entering "exit" into DOS to return to Windows, you just power down the computer, the next time it will boot again in DOS, until you enter "exit" at any time.