16 bit Windows Subsystem Problem

[Earthling]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post here. I hope I am in the right forum.

I've been running into a problem ever since I formatted my HDD and
reinstalled Windows XP Pro and SP2. The problem has to do with
installing a program from a CD.

When I double-click on the setup.exe file on the CD, the program
attempts initialization but then fails to go any further. When I try
the "Rub as" command, I get the following error message:

"16 bit windows Subsystem
C:\DOCUME~1\....\Temp. A temporary file needed for initialization
could not be created or could not be written to. Make sure that the
directory path exists, and disk space is available. Choose "Close"
to terminate the application."

This behavior occurs even though my account type is: administrator. I
also checked disk space and found out that I still have about 18 GB of
free disk space. I checked the permissions on the Temp folder. The
check showed that I have full control over this folder.

Additionally, over the years, I have installed and ran this program on
other machines before with no problems at all including the PC that I
was using until last week. This latest computer has Widows XP Pro with
SP2.

When I use the "Run as" command and sign on as the "Administrator",
the program runs smoothly.

I checked the related MS Knowledgebase articles about this subject, but
did find any solution to this problem.

I also checked the 16- bit-related applications in the
C:\Windows\System32 {ntdos.sys, ntvdm.exe, redir.exe, ntvdmd.dll, &
ntio.sys} but found no indication of any problem. I then replaced them
with new copies anyway. None of this helped.

I also checked the system for viruses (using Norton AV), spyware (using
Trend Micro Anti-Spyware and Ad-Aware SE Plus) . There was no
indication of any problem.

I am at a loss now. Any helo is grealt appreciated.

Thanks & best regards.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post here. I hope I am in the right forum.

I've been running into a problem ever since I formatted my HDD and
reinstalled Windows XP Pro and SP2. The problem has to do with
installing a program from a CD.

When I double-click on the setup.exe file on the CD, the program
attempts initialization but then fails to go any further. When I try
the "Rub as" command, I get the following error message:

"16 bit windows Subsystem
C:\DOCUME~1\....\Temp. A temporary file needed for initialization
could not be created or could not be written to. Make sure that the
directory path exists, and disk space is available. Choose "Close"
to terminate the application."

This behavior occurs even though my account type is: administrator. I
also checked disk space and found out that I still have about 18 GB of
free disk space. I checked the permissions on the Temp folder. The
check showed that I have full control over this folder.

Additionally, over the years, I have installed and ran this program on
other machines before with no problems at all including the PC that I
was using until last week. This latest computer has Widows XP Pro with
SP2.

When I use the "Run as" command and sign on as the "Administrator",
the program runs smoothly.

I checked the related MS Knowledgebase articles about this subject, but
did find any solution to this problem.

I also checked the 16- bit-related applications in the
C:\Windows\System32 {ntdos.sys, ntvdm.exe, redir.exe, ntvdmd.dll, &
ntio.sys} but found no indication of any problem. I then replaced them
with new copies anyway. None of this helped.

I also checked the system for viruses (using Norton AV), spyware (using
Trend Micro Anti-Spyware and Ad-Aware SE Plus) . There was no
indication of any problem.

I am at a loss now. Any helo is grealt appreciated.

Thanks & best regards.

Your 16-bit installation program might have a problem with
long path names. You could try this:
- Start a Command Prompt (Start / Run / cmd {OK}).
- Type these commands:
md c:\Temp
set temp=c:\Temp
e: (i.e. your CD drive letter)
setup

 

[Earthling]

Thank you very much Pegasus. I've tried your suggestion. However, the
problem persists.

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

This is my first post here.

And it's a meaty one!

I've been running into a problem ever since I formatted my HD and
reinstalled Windows XP Pro and SP2. The problem has to do with
installing a program from a CD.

OK. What was the reason to format? I ask, becasue often this is done
to fix a problem that persists, recurs or mutates thereafter. See...

http://cquirke.mvps.org/reinst.htm

When I double-click on the setup.exe file on the CD, the program
attempts initialization but then fails to go any further. When I try
the "Rub as" command, I get the following error message:

"16 bit windows Subsystem
C:\DOCUME~1\....\Temp. A temporary file needed for initialization
could not be created or could not be written to. Make sure that the
directory path exists, and disk space is available. Choose "Close"
to terminate the application."

That's interesting, and may be spurious (i.e. not due to disk capacity
issues) if any of the following are true...
- "too many" dir entries in a FATxx directory
- file system corruption, such as duplicate file names
- something else that blocks file creation, e.g. av or malware

There are multiple Temp dirs; a "legacy" one in the base Windows
directory, a system one within System32\Config, one for AllUsers
(perhaps, I can't remember), and one for each user account - including
"machine" users such as LocalSystem and NetworkSystem.

So it would help to know what the "\...\" is in that path, and if it's
the same dir that's used when you sucessfully work around the problem.

This behavior occurs even though my account type is: administrator.
When I use the "Run as" command and sign on as the "Administrator",
the program runs smoothly.

The Administrator account is not the same as your account, even though
both have admin rights, and they use different Temp dirs, so.. . .

I also checked the 16- bit-related applications in the
C:\Windows\System32 {ntdos.sys, ntvdm.exe, redir.exe, ntvdmd.dll, &
ntio.sys} but found no indication of any problem. I then replaced them
with new copies anyway. None of this helped.

Usually "16-bit subsystem" prompts advice to restore AUTOEXEC.NT, but
I doubt if that is relevant here.

I'd:
- clear Temp via Disk Cleanup
- check and fix file system errors
- clear Temp via Disk Cleanup, again

------------ ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

The most accurate diagnostic instrument
in medicine is the Retrospectoscope

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

The 16-bit application appears to have a problem accessing
some folder(s) on your hard disk. It seems its own error reporting
process is flawed, thus deceiving you into thinking that the
problem lies with the %temp% folder. I would try this, in
this order:
- Ensure that everyone has full read/write access to the
%temp% folder.
- Ensure that everyone has full read/write access to the
c:\windows\temp folder.
- Grant everyone full read/write access to c:\windows and
all subfolders.

Create a restore point before going down this path.

 

[Earthling]

Thanks a lot cquirke.

1- The reason for formatting the HDD is that this is a new system and I
wanted to partition the HDD and install all my programs on a clean
slate. There were no problems that I am aware of with the original
installation.

2- The path for the temp folder is:
C:\Documents and Settings\admin_user\Local Settings\Temp

3- Just to reconfirm: the Administrator account has different rights
than another user with Admin rights. Is my understanding here correct?
If not, then I should have the same rights over my Temp. folder as
does the Administrator over its respective Temp folder.

4- I have checked the autoexex.nt & config.nt. I checked these files
against standard ones and found not problems.

I will now carryout the disk cleanup and report back with the results.


Cheers

 

[Earthling]

Thank you very much Pegasus & cquirke.

I've tried the disk cleanup (as per cquirke's suggestion) route as well
as granting full access to Everyone to the %systemroot%\Temp.,
Windows\Temp, and the Windows folder.

However, none helped. This issue is getting really annoying. But, I
will keep with it.

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

Cheers

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

You can, of course, grant full permissions to all files and
folders on drive C:. If this does not cure the problem then
it is likely that the error message refers to a registry key.
This would be much harder to fix.

 

[Earthling]

I tried this last suggestion, but to no avail.

Any syggestion as to how would I go about fixing this problem through
the registry?

thank you Pegasus for taking the time to keep up with this issue.

 

[Peter Foldes]

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/16bit.htm

Also

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;324767

 

[Earthling]

Thank you very much Peter. I replaced the 16-bit files, cleared my
temp folder, rebooted the system. However, none seemed to help. I've
already ran spybot, AdAware, Trend Micro Anti-spyware and Norton AV.

The start-up apps are overwhilming. However, I was not ablt to spot
anything out of the ordinary.

I will run another round of the AV and others and see what turns up.

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

Thanks a lot cquirke.

It's a pleasure...

1- The reason for formatting the HDD is that this is a new system and I
wanted to partition the HDD and install all my programs on a clean
slate. There were no problems that I am aware of with the original
installation.

OK, and IKWYM. While you can BING the C: down to size and create
extra volumes to taste, you can't change from NTFS to FAT32 or change
the base Windows directory name unless you wipe and start over.

2- The path for the temp folder is:
C:\Documents and Settings\admin_user\Local Settings\Temp

O..K.. - did you say "admin_user" or "admin user"? It shouldn't
matter really, given there's already spaces in D&S, unless that
underscore isn't a true underscore, but some illegal character that
the shell is substituting for display purposes.

I might start by defining Temp and Tmp to point somewhere else, or
alternatively by booting Bart CDR and from there (or from another user
account, if no Bart) I'd rename away the old Temp and create a new one

3- Just to reconfirm: the Administrator account has different rights
than another user with Admin rights. Is my understanding here correct?

I think so, but my point was that they would use different account
subtrees and thus a different Temp location - so anything wrong at the
file system level in one subtree would give different mileage.

If not, then I should have the same rights over my Temp. folder as
does the Administrator over its respective Temp folder.

4- I have checked the autoexex.nt & config.nt. I checked these files
against standard ones and found not problems.

OK. I mention that for completeness and FWIW.

I will now carryout the disk cleanup and report back with the results.

One problem can be a dir with the same name as some file one is trying
to create (sometimes useful for blocking unwanted files).

Then there's http://cquirke.mvps.org/9x/lfns.htm as well as the NTFS
option to not have underlying 8.3 names at all (handle with care)

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Reality is that which, when you stop believing
in it, does not go away (PKD)