Running Old Programs On New Win7 PC

I have three old programs from my book series that were written back in 1996-97 using QBasic and C++.

They ran on every version of Windows, up to and including XP.

Set-up still works and the Wizard creates a folder and desk-top icon shortcut, but (ah...the big but) the programs will not run.

I've tried the XP compatibility function and a couple of other things but all attempts eventually take me to the Win 7 statement "Contact the publisher for a 32 or 64 bit version.":cry

I'm the publisher! I don't have a 32 or 64 bit version. I think these programs are considered to be MS-DOS programs. I didn't write them (volunteers wrote them) I merely designed and tested them. The volunteers are long gone.

Is there anything I can do to get these programs running on a Win7 PC?

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

If you have, or can beg steal or borrow a Win 98 or Win 98SE disk you could set up a Win 98 virtual machine. For the virtual machine itself you could use VMware Player or VirtualBox.

No guarantee it will work of course but a fair chance I would think.

 

Earthling suggestion is a good one or you could create a 2nd partition of your hard drive and install window 98 or 98SE on that partition and make a dual boot to see if you can run your old programs but then again not 100% guaranteed to work.

Hope this helps

Andy

 

Installing Win 98 on a second partition would stop Win 7 from booting as the installer would overwrite Win 7's BCD store. Not recommended.

 

Thanks for your replies. Slight misunderstanding from my post.

These programs are part of my set of books which are sold on Amazon.com and my web site. So I need to "change" (or add) something to the CDs that go with the books so the reader can run the programs (as he reads the books) on what is becoming the ubiquitous Win 7 PC.

Would including instructions (or the software) for creating a VM (or partition) and a copy of Win98 be practical? Then again, maybe just instructions to contact the publisher (me) and I would provide information that would allow the reader to create the necessary changes to his/her PC to be able to run the programs, after which they could be removed once the reader is finished using them after reading the books?

I have the original source code (QBasic and C++). Could that code be used to compile a new program that would run on Win 7?

I assume from your answers and knowledge/experience that there are no "emulators" for running old WinXP programs. Early on (around 1997) Apple added a Windows emulator to their current Mac O/S and I was shown a demonstration of how well it ran those programs.

My alternative at this point is to mention in the description of the book's listings that the programs will not run on Win 7. That would solve the problem, in that it would probably be the end of any more sales of the books.

Thanks for any thoughts on this matter.

 

Yes, misunderstood what you want, sorry. Other than rewriting the software for Win 7 the only thing i can think of that might make the program usable is compatibility mode. Compatibility mode is available in Win 7 for both Win 95 and Win 98, whose life cycles are more aligned with the original program dates than is the case with XP which wasn't launched until Dec 2001. Try running the installer (not the program itself) in compatibility mode for Win 98. If that doesn't work it does look like end-of-life.

 

Couldn't figure out how to get INTO compatibility mode. Win 7 told me it is automatic. Always ended up in Compatibility Mode Troubleshooter.

Last thing it told me, after suggesting I try different things, was "to contact a trusted friend for help."

I guess I should begin making funeral arrangements.

Thanks to all for giving it a shot. Windows wins again!

 

Don't call the funeral director just yet, let's give it one more go Right click the installation file > click Properties > Compatibility tab. Put a check in Run this program in compatibility mode for

Let us know how it goes.

 

I selected Win 95 - Apply - OK - Absolutely nothing happens.

I don't even get the message that tells me to contact the publisher for a 32 or 64 bit version.

 

Patience!

I should have said that before running the installer in any compatibility mode you need first to uninstall the program if it is already installed in any mode. I really wouldn't expect Win 95 to work but Win 98 just might.

If you cannot get the installer to install and run satisfactorily in compatibility mode then install the program normally in Win 7 and then try running the program's executable in compatibility mode.

There are no rules for this sort of thing. It's just trial and error I'm afraid.

 

I think I've tried just about everything you have suggested.

The set-up (installer) runs and does what is intended. Activates Wizard and creates a folder for all the files, puts a short-cut icon on the desktop.

No matter how (using short-cut) directly opening and trying to run the crypto.exe file, either selecting compatibility before or after I try to run the program, the result ends up the same.

Win 7 message telling me to contact the publisher for a 32 or 64 bit version.

The largest amount of space the #3 crypto program takes on the 700 Meg CD is less than 25 Meg. Crypto #1 and #2 on the other CDs are even smaller.

A wild thought. Could something be placed in the remaining 675 Meg that would contain what is needed to run the program and have it designed so the program runs from the CD and never gets installed in the PC itself?

 

I just found this on the Internet -

Windows XP Mode works in two ways—both as a virtual operating system and as a way to open programs within Windows 7. It runs in a separate window on the Windows 7 desktop, much like a program, except it's a fully-functional, fully-licensed version of Windows XP. In Windows XP Mode, you can access your physical computer's CD/DVD drive, install programs, save files, and perform other tasks as if you were using a computer running Windows XP.

I do not have Win XP Mode per se on my system (Lenovo ThinkCentre) as described above. Or is what I have just another implementation of this function?

Could this be a solution to running my old Crypto programs?

 

I'm not a big fan of this, but it can work: http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/microsoft_windows_xp_mode.html

I know that if this doesn't work you should be able to use vmware player for free to boot to a windows 98 environment if that is needed.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/vmware_player.html

 

XP Mode is just an alternative to VMware Player that I suggested earlier and is only available for Win 7 Professional or higher, not Home Premium. Also it is no longer supported by Microsoft. For the reasons katkat has stated it's a non-starter imo, even if your programs were to run in it.

 

Maybe you should just contract a developer to update them for you. They are nearly unusable now, and its not going to get any better. Might as well move them to something like .NET and go from there.

.NET 4 supports all the way back to XP.

 

To answer a few of the replies -

My books are not anymore popular than reading about crypto itself. Only a small percentage of the population even reads anymore and an even smaller percentage can understand "crypto." Sales do not justify the cost of updating the programs that accompany the books.

When I started this thread I was hoping that getting the programs to run on a Win7 machine would be relatively easy. One just needed to know how to do it without making any changes to their PC. It has become apparent to me that Microsoft doesn't want anyone running XP programs. They have abandoned backward compatibility.

Strangely (to me, at least) was the fact that the set-up program on the CD ran with no problem, creating a folder for the programs, files and placing a short-cut Icon on the desktop. It was only when you try to click on that Icon that Win 7 tells you it can't run the program.

A year or so ago, I received an e-mail from a person who had bought a set of my books asking if I could tell him how to run them on his Win 7 PC. Not having a PC with Win 7, my comments (suggestions) were pure speculation and I told him that. He finally wrote and told me that it was much easier for him to find an "old" PC that was running XP and run the programs on it.

The programs are not "essential" to reading and understanding how to break codes (ciphers). I provided them as a substitute for pencil and paper (and erasers) so the reader wouldn't get bogged down to the point of distraction, since most code breaking is trial and error.

As I am fond of saying: "My past is a foreign country and I have become a legal alien in the country of my birth."

My codebreaking books are a part of my past and they will be laid to rest. Anyone who would like a set can e-mail me a shipping address and send PayPal the shipping cost (Media rate). More than a few readers have told me that they found the books very interesting and didn't even bother to run the programs. You can see what they are all about by using Google (to find my website) or search on Amazon.com.

Thanks to all for the time and effort spent trying to solve this problem. Major Geeks forums have saved my bacon many times over the years and I appreciate all that the forum members have done for me.

 

Update -

I posted a request for a quote on converting my Secret Code Breaker programs on Guru.com.

One of the replies was from a fellow in India that requested I send him a zip of the E-book and the QBasic source of the program, which I did.

The next day he sent me a zip that contained, as far as I could tell, an emulator and a bat file along with the QBasic progam I had sent to him.

I double clicked on the bat file and the SCB program ran. He said he may charge me $5 and requested the SBC II E-book and QBasic source for it's program.

 

How big are these?
Any chance you can just use a C++ to VB conversion and clean up what it spits out?
I have done this for a couple of programs with great success, much easier than building from scratch but you have to know some VB syntax.

 

Have you considered converting the program to a portable app? Older programs are easier to convert and should then run under any newer Windows OS. Give Cameyo a try.

 

Program is small, 125 Kb and it uses a word list file that is 260 kb.

Don't know anything about C++ to VB conversion. I'm not a programmer.

My up-date was just intended to indicate that my specific "problem" had what seems to me a much simpler solution than the VM approach discussed earlier in the thread.

I received a reply from a Guru in Australia that wants to try yet again a different approach.

BTW, each of the books programs are really a single executable that has 10 - 12 subroutines that make it appear that there are a number of programs (one for each chapter in the book).