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Old 05-07-2008, 02:04 PM   #1
Japo
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Default Games for older Windows versions

The ideal solution is getting old Windows games to run natively in your version of Windows, and it can sometimes be managed. First of all try just running it with no modifications; there can result a number of outcomes.
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It may happen that it fails immediately and you see something like



(If it's not this message what you see, click here to skip this part.) This means that your Windows is 64-bit and, either the program is for MS-DOS (6.x or lower) or for Windows 16-bit (Windows 3.x or earlier, really old). So make sure you know which is the case. The sure way to know is to try to run it in DOSBox or DOS: a Windows program will show a clear message: "This program cannot be run in DOS mode."

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 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. 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.
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It may also happen that the game doesn't work right but such a clear message isn't shown. There's something simple you can try. Right-click on the game's executable or shortcut and select "Properties":


In the ensuing dialogue box select the "Compatibility" tab, enable the option "Run this program in compatibility mode for", and just below select the Windows version that the game was made for, from a list that will depend on the Windows version you actually have:


If when starting the game there's still an error because the game doesn't change the colour depth on its own, enable the 256 colours option as well; and if the image size isn't correct enable the 640x480 resolution option.

Windows 3.x isn't available (see the previous step to learn how to run games for Windows 3.x), but most games for that version work fine most times, at least in 32 bits newer versions. On the other hand the more recent versions of Windows (95 and later) can't be installed in DOSBox.
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Oftentimes, programs made for old versions of Windows (and even programs made recently with poor technique) have trouble running without full administrator access, that is in a limited or the guest accounts in XP, or even in an administrator account if UAC is enabled in 7 and Vista. A sure sign of this is a message saying "access denied".

But many programs may fail silently, giving you no information. In this case try the compatibility mode first (click here to read about it), and if that doesn't help, read on here below.

(Please NOTE that you must not do this if you don't trust the origin of the particular program. Running untrusted software with administrator access is a security risk, and it would give virus and other malicious software free rein.)

To see if this is the cause of the problem, if you have Windows 7 or Vista, right-click on the program and choose "run as administrator" (you may be asked for a password, if you're not logged in as admin). If you have XP (or 2000 or NT) right-click on the program and choose "run as..." and enter the credentials of an administrator account. But running a program as another user can only be done if this user has a password (otherwise if allowed any automated virus could do it); if the admin account doesn't have one, just log onto it directly and try running the game from there. In Windows 7 and Vista you MUST choose the "run as administrator" option even if you're logged in as such.

If this solves the problem, the "run as" options can be made the default double-click action by right-clicking on the program or shortcut, selecting "properties" and then clicking on the "advanced..." button.

Be warned that a program may have several problems in a newer Windows version, for example it may be necessary to use both admin access and the compatibility mode to make it run well.
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If we're still having problems after trying all this, the ultimate solution is to install the version of Windows that the game is for on virtualization software such as Virtual PC. Click here to learn how.

Last edited by Japo; 03-10-2014 at 09:48 PM.
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