I would like to help my colleague with a software installation problem. She has just bought a new PC with Windows XP as the OS. She intends to install a DOS based software (DacEasy ver. 9) but it cannot be installed. She had no problem running it with Windows 98 with her old PC. Her new PC is partitioned to NTFS format. Is there a way to get this software installed into her new PC, such as refomating the hard disk to FAT 32, or buying the latest version of the software being the only way out ? Would anyone advise.

tghauw

Whether the computer is formatted to Fat32 or NTFS makes no difference.

What does make a difference is that there is no DOS in Windows XP, just a DOS emulator. Window 95/98 sits on top of DOS. Windows XP is NT based and therefore no DOS.

A lot of DOS applications will not run under Widows XP, especially any that try to access the hardware directly instead of going through the necessary driver.

Probably the only solution is to get an up-to-date version that is certified for Windows XP.

Stuart

You could also run a dual boot configuration with DOS and XP. Then, she'd have to boot to DOS to install and run the software.

Soylent Green is PEOPLE!!!

There appears to be an upgrade that works under WinXP.

http://www.daceasy.com/daceasy/upgrade/default.asp

Unlike StuartS, I'm not sure that NTFS is not a problem.

But like he says, there's no DOS and no direct hardware access allowewd.

"but it cannot be installed"

That doesn't narrow it down much.

I'd just wipe the drive and install w98se. It's faster, cleaner and [surprise] it will run DacEasy.

If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

M2

Thank you all. Does dual boot mentioned above involve creating partitions on the hard disk, with one of the partitions to install DOS software and the other for Win XP so that evey time she wants to switch the system, she needs to restart the pc to select the OS to be used ? May be the most practical solution would be to clear Win XP and install Win 98 and then instal DacEasy (ver 9) since both are currently available.

Henryhauw

Why would you want to zap a $100.00 window programs just to run a dos program? You can buy dos capable computers for $10 or so off ebay or locally. A pent2 will do.

DOS does not recognize NTFS drives. Therefore, depending how the program was coded to access the drive, it may not recognize it also.

Actually, no one has bothered to ask what happens when trying to install the program OR suggest they create a FAT partition on the drive. :-)

WILL POST FOR FOOD.

DOS doesn't recognise FAT32 drives either, but some DOS programmes will run from a FAT32 and an NTFS partition under Windows XP.

It is only if the application makes direct access to the disk that the file system becomes a problem. If that were the case it wouldn't run under XP anyway, regardless of the file system it is stored on.

Just to give you an idea how irrelevant the file system is, I have a DOS application called TV.EXE (Tree View). Its a DOS replacement for the Dir command. It is run from an NTFS partition and reads files on an NTFS partition. The OS takes care of the translation. Gets a bit confused when displaying disk size and free space though. Not many 80Gb drives around in 1990 when the programme was written.

Stuart

Hi Zenith,

Yeah, "but it cannot be installed" is somewhat akin to the world-famous, "it didn't work".

If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

M2

Hi
Have you thought about setting up a virtual machine system, such as Microsoft Virtual PC 2004? This woiuld allow to run dos6.22 or windows 98 in a window running in XP.