Windows 7 Installation Difficulty With Older Games

I'm having a problem installing certain (2 in fact) older games on my HP Pavilion dm4-1050ea; others install without any problem.

For example: Civilization IV
I have the single DVD ROM version
When I try to install, the install shield reaches at a certain place I get the error box which contains the message

When I click on the OK button in the error box in the installation Window/box closes, and there's nothing obvious on my HDD (no files I mean) The DVD looks perfect in all lighting conditions, and I've even cleaned it a number of times. I have tried all the combinations of compatibility settings. Conversely, Civilization III installs without any hitches, first time.

I can install from the same Civilization IV disk on my XP/SP3 system, and on a Windows 7 Professional machine, although on the latter it warns, at runtime at the first instance but not the second, of compatibility issues which cannot be resolved; I did not need to do anything (explicitly) about admin/compatibility when installing. On both these systems it seems to play single player more very well.

I can only think it's a hardware error (I've tried installing from 2 different DVD players), a software configuration difference on the dm4-1050ea or something to do with Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 or ....maybe someone can think of something else ?

Anyway, how do I install this game on my dm4-1050ea/Windows 7 Home Premium computer ?

DumbAlt95Question
2.April.2016

 

That games own system requirements don't show support for anything newer than Windows XP. If it doesn't run in compatibility mode on Windows 7 Home Premium, then it probably wont run properly or at all.

 

Thank you for tip about VMware, MA

I actually bought a second copy, disk had surface marks in glancing reflected light but I tried in the dm4-1050ea anyway, in XP/SP3 compatibility mode as administrator, and it installed and ran as described above with the first copy under W7 Professional (correction, the message about compatibility issues comes up every time I launch the game)

So now have a kind of solved problem, but why the first disk would not work in my dm4-1050ea still bugs me and I'd like to know the answer to that one

3.April.2016

 

The first disc is defective. Some degrade as they get older or the backing where the data itself is stored was damaged imperceptibly but enough to render it unreadable.

 

->Just Playin

Would this account for the reproducible events I have described above ? I was thinking it was more akin to phenomenon where in former days certain ODDs would not work properly (i.e. to full spec) with certain ODDs or brands thereof.

Dumb_Question
3.April.2016