Windows 7: Work arounds to install old programs into Windows 7?

I have a few old programs that Windows 7 is not allowing to be installed. One is Microsoft FrontPage, which was discontinued a few years ago. It runs fine on Windows XP, but won't install on Windows 7. ("Cannot be started. Error number 5")

It's actually a bit tricky to install FrontPage on Windows XP because I have to install FrontPage 97, then the 2000 upgrade, then FrontPage 2003 upgrade.

Unfortunately Windows 7 won't even let me start the Windows 97 installation. Any ideas?

Hi, Welcome to SF,

Not sure whether it Runs on Windows 7. But you might wanna try Compatibility Mode. Here this tutorial should help you Compatibility Mode

Hope this helps,
Captain

Welcome to SF! WestSide

You may still run into problems with the compatibility mode options or the new "troubleshoot compatibility" tool due to that being an outdated MS app. Different MS softwares are generally tied to one or two versions plus the newer Vista kernel followed the new MinWin seen in 7.

The image here shows the new tool located in the right click properties screen for a go with that to see if you are able to get anywhere. That will have you run the installer which you right click on first as part of the process. You will also be prompted as to whether the program installed correctly.

What version of Windows 7 are you running? You maybe able to use Windows XP mode.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/vir.../download.aspx

-Bill

I'm using Professional 64-bit. I'll try those suggestions...

UPDATE: Yee Haw!!! Got it all up and running! I installed the Windows Virtual PC so that I could install and run FrontPage in XP mode. This virtual PC is pretty neat!

Many thanks!

Hello,
I have Windows 7 Ultimate and have finally found that if you can get Frontpage 2003 and get it to update this version 11.8164.8221 SP3 it works fine. I have been use to using Frontpage 2002 with xp for years.

This is what I've found out to work. Get Frontpage 2003 to update to 11.8164.8221 SP3.

hitek

I have several installation CD's including the original v2.50 for win95/98, Me, NT4.X,and 2000. and separate Win XP CD's (v3.10).
I upgraded Vista Premium x64 to win 7 Pro hoping to use XP mode to install and run under Win 7, only to find that I can't install Virtual Machine because my CPU does not have the VT hardware support that is mandatory. If I can get a compatible VT Hardware CPU, that would probably work, but that's another $150 on top of $189 for Win 7, which I did not really need otherwise.

I can get the win 7 drivers to use the scanner and print functions, but no FAX (installs a FAX Printer) and no scanner-OCR-Word interface apps.

I can see the application cabs and files on the CD. Does anyone know how I might configure Installshield or another installer program to install the software, which I think would run in compatibility mode? I know that I would have to install in the (x86) program directory, since these are 32 bit apps.

Welcome to the forums, next time, please start a new thread instead of reviving an old one. It usually helps for us to respond to your questions and not get them confused with the rest of the posts.

There are solutions that do not require VT, check out the following link.

VMLite XP Mode Alternative to Windows XP Mode for Windows 7