Windows 7: Microsoft App Compat Toolkit 5.6-Compatibility Manager Issue

I will be using Compatibility Manager to fix some corporate apps that currently run in Windows XP, but will not run in Windows 7 x64 on the client machines. Sooooo, I thought I would try a test with a personal 32-bit exe that will not launch (similar to our corporate apps that will not install).

Manually clicking on a Setup.exe file for a 32-bit app pops the following error message, "The version of this file is not compatibile with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information to see whether you need an x86 (32-bit) or x64 (64-bit) version of the program, and then contact the software publisher.

Perfect, I'm ready to try my first shim ....

First time using Compat Mgr - I watch some videos on how to do this, launch the 32-bit Compat Mgr, create a custom database and then try to create a fix, but when I browse (or manually input) the 32-bit exe, it tries to launch the exe (as opposed to the videos that let the user simply click the "Next" button) and a Compatibility Manager error pops up noting, "This version of the Compatibility Administrator only supports applying compatibility fixes to 32-bit applications. Please use the Compatibility Administrator (64-bit) tool to apply this fix to your 64-bit applications."

OK, I thought the 32-bit Compat Mgr was for working on 32-bit apps, but I try the same thing with the 64-bit Compat Mgr ... I then get a similar error, "This version of the Compatibility Administrator only supports applying compatibility fixes to 64-bit applications. Please use the Compatibility Administrator (32-bit) tool to apply this fix to your 32-bit applications."

I want to apply the WinXPSP2Lie fix, but I never get the chance. What am I doing wrong ?? Thanks for the help !!

Still doing research and came across this, which may be helpful to others:
Determining the Application Compatibility Fix to Apply

Thanks for the Mod that moved my post into Software - and without any chastisement either (Better than I deserved) ... Sorry for the newb move putting it under General Discussion ... I appreciate the help !!

I take it from the lack of response on this that this is an unusual situation. Has anyone else run into the problem where the Compatibility Manager fails to even allow a shim to be applied to an exe?

Are there any workaround suggestions? Perhaps there is another tool that someone could recommend for applying compatibility fixes or another mechanism to fool older apps? Thanks for any ideas !!

OK, I tried to apply a fix to an executable on our network drive that I do need to get to work. When I try to run in on a Windows 7 Pro x64 machine, it coughs up the error, "The version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information to see whether you need to x86 (32-bit) or x64 (64-bit) version of the program, and then contact the software publisher."

When I'm in Compatibility Manager and click "Fix" and browse to the "Program File Location" I get the same errors that I previously described from Compat Mgr ... Help !!

My search in this forum for Compatibility Manager showed very old threads that never received a response and having not received even a single response I fear that my post could suffer the same fate. Perhaps I'm not in an appropriate forum to discuss details of Microsoft's Compatibility Manager utility.

Could someone offer a suggestion for a forum that is more dedicated to this utility where I could research my issue and post for a response, depending on what I find? I mean nothing disrespectful, but am simply trying to find the proper venue for my situation. Thanks in advance for your help !!

I am not familiar with your problem. Have you looked into running in XP Mode?

Do a search for Win 7 XP mode.

HammerHead - Thanks for the response !! I've tried the built-in compatibility troubleshooter with no luck (apps don't even launch after applying numerous fixes). If you mean the virtualization XP Mode, which involves running XP virtualized on the Windows 7 machine, then you end up with a solution that requires you to patch and protect two operating systems. I'm not saying that I won't go that route, but applying some simple shims to fool the app into running would be a much better option.

I recently found that some of the Compatibility fix methods (such as the OS fix) add the Compatibility layers in the registry key: HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers\[app path] so perhaps there is a way to use the registry directly rather than the Compatibility Manager tool. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather use the tool, but if I can't get it to work for several executables ...

FYI - I was able to get past this error when I chose Notepad as a test and having looked at many tutorials I don't think that I'm doing anything wrong with my process. I'll have to read more about applying the database to new machines to apply any fixes that I'm able to create, but I can't even get a fix created with this issue. I'm happy to test out any theories for getting past this problem if anyone has any suggestions ... Thanks in advance for any and all replies !!!

When you set the built-in Windows 7 compatibility configurations for an executable, it gets written to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers

If you want this applied to the machine, you can create a string key and manually edit it to apply the settings in this location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers

You can script changes directly using something along the lines of this example:
REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers" /v "C:\temp\compatmodel\iconsext.exe" /t REG_SZ /d "WINXPSP3 RUNASADMIN" /f

I understand that this fixes UAC issues, but not my problem ...
With this appearing to be a fairly simple app that I'm trying to get to work, I copied the app from the network location to my C: drive (so I don't screw up the network exe), edited PATH.CNF (Just a list of paths for the app) to point to the app now on my C: drive and tried to open it with Compatibility Administrator (32-bit) and (64-bit) and both say to use the other bit version ... same issue.

I did create a key for the exe on my C: drive and put it in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers folder, and added the # WINXPSP2 RUNASADMIN values under the C:\PTWIN\PTWIN.EXE key, but no joy ...

I wonder if these are 16-bit applications that run on a 32-bit system. That may explain the errors you are getting. If so, you will need a virtual environment with a 32-bit OS installed, or you can dual boot with a 32-bit OS. If you buy a second Windows 7 retail license, you can use Windows 7 32-bit to dual boot and see if it will work. If you already have a 32-bit version of Windows 7 as part of your retail discs, you could try it first and make sure it will work first. You will get a 30 day trial period to test before deciding to buy a second license.