XP Mode wouldn't install solved, thought I would pass along the reason

I recently installed Win7 Ult 64bit which for me was an upgrade from XP Pro 32.

Pretty much every former program I had worked albeit one which was a 16 bit program, AutoCADLT 97, that wouldn't even load.

So with recommendations from members on the board, I went to install the Virtually PC thing and followed every process to the letter but the second I tried to do the install of the first part of it, WindowsXPMode_en-us.exe, my machine would virtually turn into a slug and then after a few parts of the install eventually seem to run, typically after about 20min I would get a failure that read something to the effect of, "Windows installer service could not be access" with some further related text.

So after, I tried everything I could find regarding this failure, including several from posts on this board, including the re-registering of msiexec.exe, adding permissions in the Reg, setting Windows installer service to auto start and everything else that I could find but none of it worked.

Early on I though it might be because of the aftermarket firewall I have, but I tried disabling that and it didn't help.

Anyway after 9 hrs I finally decided to uninstall the firewall program and whalla!

XP mode installation went off without a hitch! And even better yet, so did the install of AutoCAD97!

After, I reinstalled the firewall program and all is working perfectly.

Anyhow, I just thought I would post this incase anyone else might run into the same issue, just incase it might help.

Note: as I seem to have gotten some flack about this already via another post, I am not making this post to bash or hail anything, just thought it might be helpful for others to know.

Personally I don't blame MS for this although if this had been part of the full install, this would not have happened. Nor do I blame my Firewall program as even especially, it did exactly what it was supposed to do.

After all it stopped a program from being installed that gives a great amount of access to everything on my machine and it could just as easily been a hidden one that was pushed onto my machine from behind the scenes and designed to run hidden.

So if anything it was great to see that even disabled, my firewall program did its job.

As well I would post which one it is but given all the intelligence on this board, I'm to scareD.

Anyway I don't think it really matters as the point is, if you run into this, this might be something to try as it really wasn't all that much trouble...once I figured out the reason.


So again, just thought I would post this incase anyone runs into the same.

Hope it helps.

Night Hawk said:

I'm glad to hear you found a solution to your problem there.

One thing to know about most firewall programs is the option for allowing exceptions for programs where the firewall will then hold off from halting any processes involved with a particular program you are trying to run. If your firewall app has this you should be able to add AutoCAD '97 to the "safe list" and not run into any further problems.

Just to reply as I'm not quite sure if I understand this but, I didn't have any issues with AutoCAD in regards to the Firewall program.

Essentially as it is a 16bit program and the second I tried to install it into Windows 7 64 I got a window that said as it was a 16 it will not allow a install to a 64 bit system.

I'm not quite sure if this was a AutoCAD prompt or a Win7 one, but I know it wasn't via my Firewall. Personally I think it was AutoCAD and I have also herd that this program is even very fussy about installing a 32bit on a 64 bit system as AutoCAD will just not allow it despite all that an 64 OS allows.

Then from what I read the only version that will go on a 64 bit system are the last two, 2010 & 2011. both of which retail for about $900.00 to $1,200.

In regards to the exceptions or rules thing, typically if there are any issues, I can usually make a rule for it via the program while it is blocking it. Typically when I open it up I can see that and then can make a allow rule for it.

But in this case as since the second the install started it virtually locked up the machine I couldn't do that, although I did try once and let the 15 mins go by before I could finally get the program to open but in finally getting to the right area, it showed nothing was trying to run.

I suppose I could have tried to make a rule before I started the install an I'll admit I didn't try but one, to make a rule for a install seemed silly, then two, without all the auto configuring that goes on when it makes one for itself, to play figure that out on my own could have taken some time. Plus too, it even did this when deactivated so...

All in all it was just ton's easier to uninstall it and reinstall it.