[Crowbar]

Hello to all,

Recently bought my wife a new HP desktop, with Win 7 64 bit. The computer is great compared to her old computer, and I do mean old! I am considering sending the old one to the Smithsonian it is so old!!

Since she had an old computer, her favorite software packages are also pretty old, and this is the heart of our problems. There is one package that will not run in win 7. Parsons Announcements 5.0 - it comes with a 16 and a 32 bit version on its disk.
I can't even get the 32 bit installer to run in win 7, it give me an error message that this program won't run in this version of windows. So I install XP mode.
I can run the 16 bit version (yuck) on the machine in XP mode, but it will not even start the installer for the 32 bit version.

I have tried all the compatibility settings for both 7 and XP mode. Tried running as administrator in 7 and the account in XP Mode is an administrator account, also tried the actual administrator account in XP mode. In fact in XP mode, the icon won't even display properly for the 32 bit program, like its an unrecoginzed file type, although it is an .exe file.

I made sure the disk is good by firing it up on my XP pro laptop, and all runs just fine. I am stumped, can anyone offer any other advice, or point me to some other resources? I have googled this issue every way I can think of for a week now, and am starting to pull out the little hair I have left!!

Thanks!

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Unfortunately not all programs work in Windows 7. Programs that come in 16-bit flavour are almost certainly unable to work in a 64-bit environment. The fact it works in XP speaks volumes - it's not a Windows 7 compatible program. The fact it comes in a 16-bit version at all would indicate it's the best part of over 10 years old.

The only option you realistically have is to run the 16-bit version in your XP mode to be able to use this program. Either that or give your partner your XP laptop

[Neil Jones]

Unfortunately not all programs work in Windows 7. Programs that come in 16-bit flavour are almost certainly unable to work in a 64-bit environment. The fact it works in XP speaks volumes - it's not a Windows 7 compatible program. The fact it comes in a 16-bit version at all would indicate it's the best part of over 10 years old.

The only option you realistically have is to run the 16-bit version in your XP mode to be able to use this program. Either that or give your partner your XP laptop

[Crowbar]

Yes it is quite old. I am going to keep plugging along for a while, trying to get it to work if I can. I guess we can use it in 16 bit mode for now

[diabillic]

I wonder if running it in an XP virtual machine would work. Try checking out Virtualbox and see what happens.

Also, +2 if your username refers to Crowbar the band.

[Crowbar]

I have tried it in XP Mode, but you know, making a new virtual machine in virtualbox is a good idea, could be xp mode that is causing the weirdness. I will try and report back.

Yes, I love Crowbar the band, and way before they were around someone called me Crowbar because I used to fit into small places, so it's a combination of both.

Thanks for the nudge in a new direction, just what I was looking for!

[diabillic]

Not a problem. Sometimes the XP Mode doesn't exactly work the way you want it to, so hopefully running it native in a VM will work for ya. Let us know.

[Crowbar]

I read good things about vmplayer as well as virtualbox, so I grabbed both. I installed vmplayer first and bingo, the good old 32 bit program worked great. I don't think I even need to install the other.

Thanks for your help!