installing old win games

[ajoin007]

Hello Guys,

i recently found my old copy of Zapitalism back but it needs windows to be installed (dosbox doesnt work). In windows i get the error that i have a 64-bit operating system. Also all the compabilityoptions don't work.

I don't know how i could install this game. Any help?

[Japo]

That appears to mean that the game is for Windows 3.x or earlier (16-bit):
If the program is for DOS, refer to the DOSBox tutorials. If it's for Windows 16-bit there are two possible solutions:

- Install Windows 3.11 on DOSBox (http://www.abandonia.com/vbullet/showthread.php?t=27770) easily, courtesy of Mr. Horseman, so this kind of games can run inside DOSBox's emulation.

- Install Windows 95, 98 or Me on virtualization software such as Virtual PC (http://www.abandonia.com/vbullet/showthread.php?t=28390). The good thing about these versions of Windows is that they run both 32-bit and 16-bit Windows programs natively, so it should cover everything that DOSBox and your own Windows don't. On the other hand in Windows XP and higher 32-bit (and NT), 16-bit Windows programs are run in emulation, not natively, even if they may work fine; and in 64-bit versions of Windows they can't run at all, as we've seen. Besides, Windows NT, 2000, XP and higher introduced user accounts with access restrictions, even if little used in practice, that could cause problems with programs for Windows 9x and earlier which had no such thing.

And Virtual PC is really fast and efficient (except for leveraging your graphic card), and very easy to set up.

[usagi9000]

You can install it on any version of Windows on a virtual machine, such as VMWare. I'm playing Space Bar on VMWare Workstation 11 with Windows 98SE installed.

You may need a copy, virtual or otherwise, of the operating system you wish to install on the virtual machine, such as Windows 98SE.