Windows 7 won't install Photoshop 4

[clayjay]

I am having a nightmare trying to install an old copy of Photoshop 4. This program used to work fine on XP but on anything higher its a lottery. I have tried it on two laptops with Vista, one it installed fine and worked seamlessly and the other I just get the exact same message I am getting when I try to install it on my laptop with Windows 7 home premium, namely:

The version of this file is not compatable with the version of windows you are running. Check your computers system info to see whether you need a 32 bit or 64 bit version.

I have tried to run it in compatability mode and also as administrator but just get the same message. Why have a compatability mode if even after you switch to it its still not compatable!

 

[Barman58]

Compatibility is an attempt by Microsoft to support old programs, this will not always succeed. It relies on the original program being written to conform to set standards, which is not always the case.

Your system specs do not give a lot of system details but ....
one of the major issues with running very old programs is the system architecture, the majority of modern systems are 64 Bit which can also run 32 bit through the use of special virtualization techniques. Unfortunately a 64 Bit system will not run an old 16 Bit program.

Although the actual Photoshop 4 program may be a 32 Bit, it may have some 16 Bit components which will not run if you are running a 64 bit system.

 

[bobkn]

I was curious, so I checked Wikipedia: Photoshop 4 was released in 1996. The most recent major release, CS6 (aka PS 13), was released in May of 2012.

Maybe you should try Windows 8. The compatibility mode for installing software in that seems to be a lot more robust than in Vista or 7.

 

[clayjay]

Barman - yes I suspected that but here is the thing, this old version would install fine on any system up to XP but would crash quite frequently so I had to save work at regular intervals. But I installed it on a friends laptop t the weekend running vista (don't know what version yet) and it runs seamlessly. No crashes no nothing just works like it used to on windows 95, perfect.

 

[Barman58]

The explanation I gave earlier would probably still apply to a vista era system which would likely be a 32 bit system, which can run a 16 bit program or library, the switch to 64bit systems which cannot run 16 bit code only really applies to the Windows 7 era.

If the problem is with some 16 bit code this would most likely work fine on a 32 bit version of windows 7