[Mriceguy]

Hi there,

I have been experiencing terrible error messages such as these:
16 bit Windows Subsystem. An installable Virtual Device Driver failed Dll initialization.
16 bit MS-DOS Subsystem. An installable Virtual Device Driver failed Dll initialization.
(when installing the Toshiba Power Saver driver & when trying to run ms-dos programs.)

And when I followed Microsoft's guide to fixing config.nt, autoexec.nt &command.com (the suspected culprits): http://support.micro...kb/324767/en-us , I seemed to have even more problems! (Now the ms-dos programs won't even run when clicking Ignore!)

Could you please help me?


Much appreciated,
Michael (Mriceguy)

Edited by Mriceguy, 20 March 2006 - 06:40 AM.

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See if any of the below methods will do it

1. Go to My Computer->Tools->Folder Option->View and check 'Show hidden files and folders' and uncheck 'Hide protected operating system files'. Go to your c: drive. Right click on the boot.ini file and go to Properties. Then double click on the boot.ini file to open it. Change the line that says /NoExecute=OptIn and change it to /NoExecute=AlwaysOff. Now save the file and close it.

2. You can disable Dr. Watson by right-clicking My Computer and select Properties. Go to Advanced tab->Startup and Recovery and click Settings. Click the drop-down box next to 'Write debugging information' and select none.

3. Go to Start->Run and type in regedit and hit OK. Go to File->Export and save the registry somewhere as a backup. Go back to the Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\AeDebug. Double click on 'Auto' (in the right pane) and modify the value to 0.

[greyknight17]

See if any of the below methods will do it

1. Go to My Computer->Tools->Folder Option->View and check 'Show hidden files and folders' and uncheck 'Hide protected operating system files'. Go to your c: drive. Right click on the boot.ini file and go to Properties. Then double click on the boot.ini file to open it. Change the line that says /NoExecute=OptIn and change it to /NoExecute=AlwaysOff. Now save the file and close it.

2. You can disable Dr. Watson by right-clicking My Computer and select Properties. Go to Advanced tab->Startup and Recovery and click Settings. Click the drop-down box next to 'Write debugging information' and select none.

3. Go to Start->Run and type in regedit and hit OK. Go to File->Export and save the registry somewhere as a backup. Go back to the Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\AeDebug. Double click on 'Auto' (in the right pane) and modify the value to 0.

[Mriceguy]

Hi there greyknight17,

thanks for your post. I'm sorry I haven't replied lately as I've been away camping! Before I try out any of your suggested methods, would you mind answering a couple of my queries?

Method 1:
I know the Boot.ini file is vital to Windows starting up properly and I would just like to know what editing it to AlwaysOff will do.

Method 2:
What/Who is Dr. Watson?

Method 3:
Similar to my method 1 query, what will changing the registry AeDebug entry do to my computer?

Thanks for your time and effort.

Cheers,
Michael (Mriceguy)

[greyknight17]

1. Turning it off should disable DEP which is probably causing this error.

2. Dr. Watson is just a error reporting tool. See here.

3. Read here.

[macten]

Here's a link for your original problem. I don't know if it's going to solve your problem or not. It's another option for you to look over:

http://www.5starsupp...xp-faq/1-15.htm


Take a look at xp_fix.exe on this link:

http://www.visualtour.com/downloads/

[Mriceguy]

Hi guys,

I tried all of your methods but they don't seem to work!

greyknight17, I followed each of your steps but nothing seems to have changed. I still can't run dos programs.

macten, the ms-dos method asks what program to open each file with and xp_fix.exe doesn't seemed to have helped (i might have already tried it before also).

Thanks again.


Have I lost?
Michael (Mriceguy)