Not a Win32 Application...

[Nigel V Thomas]

I have an old MS-DOS compiler which runs fine under 2000\XP but not refuses
to run under VISTA

I get a <name of exe>\is not a Valid Win32 Application

Any ideas

Nige

 

[Andrew McLaren]

"Nigel V Thomas" <nigel@couriersystems.co.uk> wrote...
>I have an old MS-DOS compiler which runs fine under 2000\XP but not refuses
>to run under VISTA
>
> I get a <name of exe>\is not a Valid Win32 Application


Hi Nigel

Is this 64 bit Vista, by any chance? 16-bit binaries - whether DOS or Win
3.x - cannot run on 64 bit Windows. This is due to a design aspect
(limitation?) of the x64 instruction set - there is not Virtual DOS Mode
when the processor is in 64 bit mode. The NTVDM in Windows which runs DOS
apps relies on this VDM processor feature. There is no workaround. But you
could run the DOS app in a virtual machine, such as DosBox or Vrtual PC.

If you're getting this error on 32 bit Vista then, um ... sorry, I dunno.
Most frequent cause of that error is a corrupted biunary image, such that
the Windows program loader cannot interpret the file header. Is it a COM
file or an EXE file? Are you running it direct from the local hard drive?

Which Compiler is it? (if it is Clipper, you will have many problems!)

--
Andrew McLaren
amclar (at) optusnet dot com dot au