MS-dos Programs won't run on Vista

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fred
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Fred

I have several old MS-DOS programs that run fine on my Win XP machine, but
will not run on my Vista Laptop. I get a message"This system does not
support full screen mode". I have tried all the compatibility settings, but
get the same message. Also in the title bar is written ntvdm-1348e84.300001
of the DOS screen. Nothing in MS Knowledge base. Anyone have any ideas?
 
Hi,

Either they work or they don't. Apparently, in this case they don't. You can
always run a virtual session of DOS is you still have or can find the
install disks (which really isn't too hard for any accomplished googler)
under VirtualPC (which is free and, despite the disclaimer, runs fine in
Vista Home Premium).

Virtual PC:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
 
The best recommendation then is run those applications in a Virtual Machine
in a supported operating system such as Windows 95 or 98 on top Virtual PC
2007.
 
virtual pc? thats like killing a fly with a nuclear weapon!

those vista nerds have lost it...

try DOSBOX HERE>>> dosbox.sourceforge.net
 
Fred said:
I have several old MS-DOS programs that run fine on my Win XP machine, but
will not run on my Vista Laptop. I get a message"This system does not
support full screen mode". I have tried all the compatibility settings,
but get the same message. Also in the title bar is written
ntvdm-1348e84.300001 of the DOS screen. Nothing in MS Knowledge base.
Anyone have any ideas?
Click to expand...

This is a change from XP, and is a side-effect of Vista's new WDDM ("Windows
Display Driver Model") graphics drivers. WDDM drivers in Vista do not
support full-screen mode for DOS apps. You can run many DOS apps on Vista,
as long as they are happy to run in a Window. But if the app explicity calls
Int 10h to go into full-screen mode, you'll get the error you saw. Your DOS
app is probably such a program.

One workaround is to use a non-WDDM graphics driver. The standard VGA Driver
supplied with Vista uses an XPDM ("XP Driver Model"), so it does not have
the same limitation. Also, graphics drivers designed for XP rather than
Vista, can often permit a full-screen DOS app. Of course, you'll loose all
the goofy, whizz-bang Aero graphics in Vista, by using an older driver - but
your application can still run.

The other workaround, as other posters suggested, is to use a DOS emulation
such as Virtual PC or DosBox.

I can't remember why Microsoft dropped full screen support from WDDM ... the
question came up several times during the Vista Beta, but the response was
that it was not easy to fix or change. There was some deep technical
motivation, not just a "can't be bothered".

Hope this helps a bit.
 
Thank you for your suggestions and comments, Andrew. I can still run the
programs on my XP machine or my Win 95 Aptiva. I'll have to try your
suggestions first, since I need to keep up with the new technology and try
to get them to work on Vista.
best,
Fred
 
DOSBOXdoes what it's name suggests. It emulates DOS if you want to run
old DOS programs.

But what happens if you need to run an older application (that requires
Windows 95) that doesn't work in Vista? CanDOSBOXdo that?

I don't think so.

--
dzomlija

____________________________________
Peter Alexander Dzomlija
Do you hear, huh? The Alpha and The Omega? Death and Rebirth? -And as
you die, so shall I be Reborn-...

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Click to expand...

DosBox can run Windows 3.1x pretty well and 3.1.x games.

As for Windows 95.

Windows 95A and Windows 95B install and run but performance is pretty
slow and there's no support for greater than 16 colors. For improved
support there are unofficial patches but they haven't been commited to
CVS yet. For now Vmware/VPC are the better options there but yesterday
I did do some tests with Win95B/Trio64+ and the unofficial patches and
got Sonic R and Blood Omen Legacy of Kain working in Win95B in DosBox.
(Not perfectly of course but they ran).
 
he was talking about a dos program... not windows...

I use vmware and have almost ALL versions of windows installed (3.11 and
up), as well as several versions of linux.
 
I recently had a new VISTA computer installed by the Geek Squad and attempted my old financial management application (Meca'a MYM) only to encounter the subject problem with full screen mode.

The "geek" suggested trying it after booting in SAFE MODE and I was then able to use alt-enter to obtain full screen mode. I haven't yet done complete testing, but it looks promising as a short-term work-around since I'm in the proces of converting to Quicken. These guys seem to really know their business.
 
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