Can I run an old 16 Bit app in Windows 7 64?

[darkcyber]

I have an older Windows program and I have tried installing it on my Windows 7 64 Bit system and it immediately comes up and says something about can't install this 16 bit app on this 64 Bit OS. This program runs fine in Windows XP Pro 32 Bit. Are there any 16 Bit emulator programs or anything that I can run this 16 Bit app in Windows 7 64?

Is there anyway to run it without having to use the Windows XP Virtulaztion for Windows 7?

Thanks!

 

[Jonathan_King]

I don't think 64-bit can run 16-bit programs. You can try compatibility mode, but I honestly doubt it will work.

 

[darkcyber]

Thanks! Tried all of those tricks, right clicking on the .exe and selecting compatibility mode and the such, but always get that can't install a 16 bit app in this 64 bit OS.

 

[Bill2]

16 bit apps will mostly not work in 64 bit OS.

Try using vmlite or DOSbox.

 

[ccatlett1984]

You will need to run the 16bit app in some sort of virtual machine, as listed above.

 

[Brian the King]

Pretty much a shot in the dark, but you may want to try anyway. The first sentence about your "best bet" is, of course, referring to the use of a VM

This is definitely the OP's best bet, but I wanted to mention one other idea that has allowed me to run a few programs that use 16 bit installers when the application itself is 32 bit.

Simply install the program to a folder on the desktop of a Win XP machine, then copy the folder over to Program Files on your Win 7 box and run it in compatibility mode from there.

Pretty frequently this does not work, but I've successfully done it with three programs in the past.

 

[pparks1]

It's not going to work. 32 bit OS's supported 32 bit code and 16 bit code, but dropped 8 bit support. With 64 bit OS's, it supports 64 and 32...and dropped 16 bit code. This can be a real bummer. I actually work for a company which has a 16bit product..so we are getting tons of calls on this at the present time since so many computers are coming with 4GB of RAM and thus 64-bit Windows 7.

 

[ccatlett1984]

It's not going to work. 32 bit OS's supported 32 bit code and 16 bit code, but dropped 8 bit support. With 64 bit OS's, it supports 64 and 32...and dropped 16 bit code. This can be a real bummer. I actually work for a company which has a 16bit product..so we are getting tons of calls on this at the present time since so many computers are coming with 4GB of RAM and thus 64-bit Windows 7.

If I may ask, what does your 16bit product actually do?

 

[pparks1]

If I may ask, what does your 16bit product actually do?

It's an electronics parts catalog application. It was never rewritten as a 32-bit application as it was moving to the web as a web application. However, the web application has taken longer to develop and become accepted and thus we are a bit stuck.

 

[acurasd]

Yeah I think the last time anything fully worked 16 bit was windows 98..
that is when they still had a true dos and not just a dos prompt