Existing executables fail to launch after Win 7 install

Hello,

I performed a clean install of Windows 7 Ultimate on a system that previously had XP Pro. The hard disk contained 2 partitions (C: and D:). Windows 7 was installed on C: with a custom install, without formatting, and D: was left untouched. After the install, I have taken ownership of D: and all its children.

I have a ton of small programs and executables on D:, and they worked fine in XP. Whenever I try to launch any of those executables, I get the "busy" mouse cursor, and the process shows up in Task Manager for a while, but then it dissapears, and the application isn't launched. All of the programs above worked on XP without being installed.

Interestingly, if I redownload a program and overwrite it (same version) it launches without a problem. For example, Warcraft 3 wouldn't launch. After I recopied it from another computer that initially copied it from my computer when running XP, Warcraft 3 miraculously started working.

Compatibility mode doesn't work, Run as Admin doesn't work; in fact nothing works other than reobtaining the program. I've searched for solutions, and even found a few other threads with vaguely similar problems, yet no reason why this happens or solution.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Alex G.

GNuke said:

Hello,

I performed a clean install of Windows 7 Ultimate on a system that previously had XP Pro. The hard disk contained 2 partitions (C: and D:). Windows 7 was installed on C: with a custom install, without formatting, and D: was left untouched. After the install, I have taken ownership of D: and all its children.

I have a ton of small programs and executables on D:, and they worked fine in XP. Whenever I try to launch any of those executables, I get the "busy" mouse cursor, and the process shows up in Task Manager for a while, but then it dissapears, and the application isn't launched. All of the programs above worked on XP without being installed.

Interestingly, if I redownload a program and overwrite it (same version) it launches without a problem. For example, Warcraft 3 wouldn't launch. After I recopied it from another computer that initially copied it from my computer when running XP, Warcraft 3 miraculously started working.

Compatibility mode doesn't work, Run as Admin doesn't work; in fact nothing works other than reobtaining the program. I've searched for solutions, and even found a few other threads with vaguely similar problems, yet no reason why this happens or solution.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Alex G.

Alex,

The most likely cause is the registry and dll's. 99% of all apps write config settings and app handlers to the registry and a good chunk of apps put DLL's in the Windows\System 32 folder. When you wiped your C:\ Drive for Windows 7 you erased all the app settings and any DLL's they put in the Windows folder causing apps to be incomplete.

The reason the apps worked after reinstalling is because the installer put all those missing pieces back in place.

Hope this helps

Hi ironicsky,

Your answer seems reasonable, except that I had some applications on the D: drive before the XP install and they worked under a clean XP install. Usually if I were missing the correct versions, I'd get a "dll not found error". I actually had a program I compiled that had all the dependencies in its folder, and gave me the same error. It also doesn't explain why recopying Warcraft 3 worked.

I do remember getting the same problem under a Server 2008 SP2 clean install, but didn't give it much attention at the time.
I will try installing the Visual studio redistributables, and see if that solves the problem.


Thanks,
Alex

Ok, I installed the redists, and also checked that I have the correct dependencies with Dependency Walker. I seem to have the correct version dlls for several apps I'm trying to run, but to no avail.

Alex