Command in Windows

[Kieron Capehorn]

Hi,

I have some old CDs with games on them that were designed for Windows 95/98
(Quake I, LBA etc). When I try to run their installation batch files in
windows, the cmd window opened and I get this message in an error prompt:

"16 bit MSDOS subsystem

C:\windows\system32\cmd.exe
C:\windows\system32\autoexec.nt. The system file is not suitable for
running MSDOS and Microsoft Windows applications."


A search reveals I don't have an autoexec.nt file in the system32 folder. I
get a similar error if I try using CMD and use a command such as edit. How
can I solve this??


Also another question. Is it possible to prevent Windows from starting up,
so I can just get a DOS prompt? If I press F8 while the system is loading,
I get the option of Windows Safe Mode with DOS Prompt, but is it possible to
have just the prompt before windows loads?


Thanks

 

[Yves Leclerc]

XP does not have a DOS prompt before boot-up. It only has a DOS emluator
(CMD) which can do 75% of the old DOS functions (???).

Head over to ntcompatible.com so as to find suggestion on how to try to get
your old games to work.

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Kieron.

It's time to lose the MS-DOS/Win3x/9x/ME mindset. WinXP is not built on
MS-DOS and does not include MS-DOS at all. (Except for just enough to
create an MS-DOS boot floppy - but booting from that floppy won't let you
get into WinXP.)

WinXP does have an excellent emulator that runs most MS-DOS (and Win9x/ME)
programs and executes most MS-DOS commands. There are two such emulators,
in fact: a 16-bit version (Command.com) and a 32-bit version (Cmd.exe). To
open the 32-bit emulator, click Start | All Programs | Accessories | Command
Prompt. This opens a "DOS" window; I put "DOS" in quotes to emphasize that
this is an emulator, not true MS-DOS.

You can customize the "DOS" window significantly by right-clicking on
Command Prompt and using the Properties screen, much as we used the PIF
screen in Win3x/9x. Click the Compatibility tab on this Properties screen
to learn more about "Getting older programs to run on Windows XP".

A major difference between MS-DOS/Win3x/9x/ME and WinXP is in how they deal
with hardware. Software (including games) that properly used hardware calls
in DOS and older Windows probably will run just fine in WinXP. But programs
that bypassed DOS - to make a game run faster, for example - probably will
not work in WinXP without special handling. And they may not be able to run
at all in WinXP.

Using F8 to enter Safe Mode with Prompt actually starts WinXP and then
WinXP's DOS emulator. This is not the same as in Win9x, where it first
started MS-DOS and then used that to load Win.com and run Windows if we
typed "Win" at the Command Prompt. Even in Safe Mode with Prompt, WinXP has
no way to load config.sys and autoexec.bat, so WinXP provides for .nt
equivalents that can be used in some contexts to achieve compatibility when
required.

WinXP looks a lot like Win98 - but there are a lot of differences under the
surface, and this is one of the biggest differences.

RC

 

[Kelly]

Error Message: MS-DOS or 16-bit Windows-based program
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_m.htm#16bit

This installaton program will reinstall the missing or corrupt Windows XP
system files command.com, autoexec.nt and config.nt. The absence or
corruption of one or more of these files causes a "16 Bit Subsystem" error.

XP_Fix.EXE by TRF Systems, Inc.
http://www.visualtour.com/downloads/xp_fix.exe

More info here:

Error Message: MS-DOS or 16-bit Windows-based program
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_m.htm#16bit

--
All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

 

[Darrell S]

This worked for me with a Win 98 program that wouldn't run under XP. Find
the file that runs the program. Right click it and choose Copy. On your
desktop, right click and choose Paste Shortcut. (or right click, drag to
desktop, choose Paste Shortcut). Now right click that new shortcut, choose
Properties...Compatibility tab....click a checkmark in the box before "run
this program in compatibility mode for" now in the window below select Win
95, Win 98, 2000, etc to select the compatibility mode that will allow your
games to run. You may have to do this for each game.