Dos Application on Win XP

Not all DOS apps will work with XP...

This may be simplistic, but have you tried XP's Program Compatibility Wizard (part of XP's Help and Support Center)?

After the wizard scans your system, pick the balky program from the list, then choose an OS compatibility mode, basically, a setting that emulates a prior version of Windows. If you don't know which version of Windows the software requires, we suggest you try Windows 98/Me first, and if that doesn't solve the problem, try the Windows 95 mode. To skip the wizard for a particular piece of incompatible software, right-click the program's executable file from within Windows Explorer, then choose Properties. Click the Compatibility tab, check the "Run this program in compatibility modefor:" box, and choose the OS from the drop-down menu. You can also monkey with the Display Settings options; some old programs want to work in 256-color mode, for instance. To finish, click OK.

You may be able to trick DOS programs by exploitingXP's Memory setting. Many older DOS games use the Expanded Memory Specification (EMS), which XP does not support by default. Right-click the executable file, choose Properties, then click the Memory tab. Under Expanded Memory, choose Auto from the drop-down list. If that doesn't work, you may need to try other EMS settings or dig out the DOS program's documentation to see if it says anything about memory settings.

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Good luck...hope this helps!

That error means to me that the DOS app does not have enought file handles to open the file or the app can not find the actual DBF file to open.

On the Win 95 PC is you open the Autoexec.bat and config.sys files you may find that there are some environment variables that need to be set on the Win XP machine.

This app may also be checking the config.sys file for the line files= So in Win XP look for the config.nt file (the config.sys for NT systems) and add the line files = that the win95 computer has.

That error message appears like a Clipper 5.x error message and there some lines that may be in the autoexec.bat file on the win 95 machine you need to add to the autoexec.nt file on Win XP.

If the Win XP computer is using theNTFS file system, you may find that the application runs very slowy. Some of these older dos programs only like to run in a Fat or Fat32 partition.

This means that Windows does not support 16-bit programs that require unrestricted access to hardware. If your program requires this, your program will not work in Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows XP.

You should next check to see whether theAutoexec.nt and Config.nt file settings are correct. Always try the default settings that are listed earlier in this article. Some programs require special settings or drivers to run in the Config.sys or Autoexec.bat file. If this is the case, thereare two options for initializing these files when you starting your program:
Enter these lines in the Config.nt and Autoexec.nt files in the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder.
Create new Config and Autoexec files to be run when starting this program. To do so, follow these steps:
Create the files and save them with the extension .nt in a folder other than %SystemRoot%\System32 (these files are usually saved in the same folder as the program).
Right-click the desktop, point to New, and then click Shortcut.
In the Type the location of the item box, type the full path to the file that you want to run, and then click Next.
In the Type a name for this shortcut box, type the name for the shortcut, and then click Finish. This creates a new shortcut on the desktop.
Right-click the new shortcut, and then click Properties.
On the Program tab, click Windows to open a dialog box for the path to the Autoexec and Config files.
Type the full path to the files that you created, and then click OKin both dialog boxes.
Clicking this icon runs the Autoexec and Config file specified for the program. These settings are subject to the same restrictions as those listed for MS-DOS-based programs.

Using WinXP Compatibility Mode, the App works on the machine it is installed on, but the error messages appear on networked PCs only.

Using WinXP Compatibility Mode, the App works on the machine it is installed on, but the error messages appear on networked PCs only.

Did you tried to "set files = 255", "buffers=255", and a good old "set clipper = f225;e:0" in a bat file ? Just before calling your .exe ?

Thank-you all for your answers. I'm still woking through them. I'll let you know the outcome asap. Thanks again.

Went back to Win95 box just for this one app. MY GOD!!!

Thanks everyone for your valuable input!

Simon.

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