DOS Compatibility

[Guest]

In our small business we still use three DOS based programs (as well as a
number of Windows programs). Of primary concern is our estimating/invoicing
program.

Currently, all of our computers are running Wlindows 98, with one exception
which uses Windows XP Professional. XP will not allow us to run our
estimating program nor one of the other DOS based programs.

We have used the Properties Menu and tried numerous settings in the
Compatibility and MemoryTabs, all to no avail.

Our delimma is we need to upgrade one of our graphic arts programs which
will only run on Windows 2000 or XP.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to achieve compatibility with our
DOS based programs and XP Professional (or 2000)?

Look forward to your comments.

 

[R. McCarty]

Microsoft Virtual PC allows you to create an run earlier OS'es
in their own separate environment. It works just like an stand
alone PC with a BIOS and generic devices. Microsoft offers a
45-day trial version that you can use. For that matter you could
actually install and run a 98 instance from within XP and use
your older applications.
Trial Download here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...d6-5098-4c64-9ca7-a30f225859f6&DisplayLang=en

 

[Guest]

Hi! I'm having the same problem. I made the mistake of buying Dell with
Windows XP and it will NOT allow me to install any of my MS-DOS programs. I
also stupidly bought the Dell 4yr Warranty thinking it would include support
services. It does NOT. Only for hardware failure. Dell would not answer ANY
of my basic questions about the computer. (I asked if there was any way I
could access MS-DOS on this computer, thinking it might be installed but I
did not know the magic word.) This is my fifth computer (I've had HP &
Gateways before) & this is the first time I've encountered this total lack of
support. My other computers came with MS-DOS (without asking) & Windows. And
HP & Gateway support personnel used to go out of their way to answer ANY
questions about their product. What a shame the computer industry no longer
has any customer support.

 

[Mistoffolees]

In our small business we still use three DOS based programs (as well as a
number of Windows programs). Of primary concern is our estimating/invoicing
program.

Currently, all of our computers are running Wlindows 98, with one exception
which uses Windows XP Professional. XP will not allow us to run our
estimating program nor one of the other DOS based programs.

We have used the Properties Menu and tried numerous settings in the
Compatibility and MemoryTabs, all to no avail.

Our delimma is we need to upgrade one of our graphic arts programs which
will only run on Windows 2000 or XP.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to achieve compatibility with our
DOS based programs and XP Professional (or 2000)?

Look forward to your comments.

Explain more. Most well-behaved DOS programs should be
able to run in the DOS box or under the DOS emulator in
both Windows XP and Windows 2000. In reference to a very
ancient DOS accounting program, viz., PeachTree for DOS,
it runs satisfactorily in its own box.

Are there any special requirements that are needed for these
programs, e.g., DOS extenders, expanded memory, etc.? A peek
at the Win98 (or DOS) autoexec.bat and config.sys file may
provide a hint of what might need to be done in setting up
these programs in Windows XP or 2000.

 

[Guest]

Mistoffolees, How does one access the DOS box or DOS emulator in Windows XP?
ARe you saying DOS programs can be accessed thru Windows XP? Because it sure
won't install any DOS programs.

:

Explain more. Most well-behaved DOS programs should be

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Mistoffolees, How does one access the DOS box or DOS emulator
in
Windows XP?

I'm not Mistoffolees, but you can get to the command prompt, by
going to Start | Run, and typing CMD.

ARe you saying DOS programs can be accessed thru Windows
XP?

You certainly can.

Because it sure won't install any DOS programs.

No, that's false. There may be *some* DOS programs that don't
work under Windows XP (in general, those that access the hardware
directly), but it's far from true that it "won't install any DOS
programs."

 

[Guest]

dragonfire1v

I didn't have a problem getting to DOS, once I figured out system. It isn't
the same as in Windows 98-.

%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe is command to get to DOS.

P.S. My computer is also a Dell.

 

[HeyBub]

In our small business we still use three DOS based programs (as well
as a number of Windows programs). Of primary concern is our
estimating/invoicing program.

Currently, all of our computers are running Wlindows 98, with one
exception which uses Windows XP Professional. XP will not allow us
to run our estimating program nor one of the other DOS based programs.

"... not allow us to run..." is not the way to describe the problem. We
don't need to know what the system WON'T do, we need to know what the system
DOES do when you try to run the program. Error message? BSOD? Flashing
lights? Moan?

We have bags and bags of DOS programs (production, development, and games)
that work swell with XP.

In point of fact, these programs work BETTER under XP than they did under
Win98. For example, a misbehaved program won't/can't knock the system down.

 

[Guest]

I'm no expert!!!

To install two of the DOS programs, I literally copied the entire directory
for the program from the old computer. I used PKZIP and copied onto 3.5"
floppies. Created the desired directory on the new computer (XP), using
Explorer selected the program .EXE file, created a desktop icon and attempted
to opened the .EXE file.

Our estimating/invoicing program is set up on a network. Therefore, I
didn't copy the program to the XP machine. I did route to the server. It
just won't open.

On the other two programs (WordPerfect 5.1 and Lotus 1-2-3), copied files.
WordPerfect works fine. Lotus 1-2-3 wont open correctly.

 

[Bob Knowlden]

As XP doesn't run on top of MS-DOS the way Win95, 98, or ME do, it doesn't
matter who you bought it from: no DOS.

The same would be true of any computer running Windows NT or 2000. Dell
didn't cheat you on that, and HP and Gateway didn't do you any favors.

XP will run some DOS software, but not all. I got an old DOS game or two to
run out of nostalgia, but I use no DOS applications software.

The suggestion to use the Microsoft Virtual PC emulator (with a copy of DOS
or Win9x, which it does not include) may be the best one, if it's necessary
to run legacy software on new hardware. I once fiddled briefly with the
trial version. It seemed to work OK, but I had no real need for it, so I
didn't buy it.

I'm surprised that Dell declined to answer your question. I would not expect
them to give you much help in getting third-party software to run, but I
expect that Dell support would cheerfully answer any question that is
covered in their support scripts. At least, that seemed to be true the last
time I called them with a question on a machine at work. They couldn't
answer the question, but they tried. I admit that this was through the
business channel; perhaps Dell is less accommodating to home users.

Disclaimer: I have a close relative who works for Dell. However, I own no
Dell hardware, or company stock. This is being written on a homebuilt
machine with an AMD Athlon64 CPU, which makes it about as far from being a
Dell as a Windows machine can get.

Address scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.

Hi! I'm having the same problem. I made the mistake of buying Dell with
Windows XP and it will NOT allow me to install any of my MS-DOS programs.
I
also stupidly bought the Dell 4yr Warranty thinking it would include
support
services. It does NOT. Only for hardware failure. Dell would not answer
ANY
of my basic questions about the computer. (I asked if there was any way I
could access MS-DOS on this computer, thinking it might be installed but I
did not know the magic word.) This is my fifth computer (I've had HP &
Gateways before) & this is the first time I've encountered this total lack
of
support. My other computers came with MS-DOS (without asking) & Windows.
And
HP & Gateway support personnel used to go out of their way to answer ANY
questions about their product. What a shame the computer industry no
longer
has any customer support.

(snip)

 

[Guest]

I wouldn't say the estimating/invoicing program (printLEADER) is acient -
circa 1996/7. The Lotus 1-2-3 program is circa 1991.

I'm not familiar with the "DOS emulator." Could you give a little more info
here.

Thanx

 

[Bob Knowlden]

It's not DOS. It is a command line interface (that looks like a DOS window).

I'm not familiar with the differences between the XP command line and real
DOS, but I believe that they are significant. I know that the rare DOS
utility I use (like a BIOS flash utility) will not run from an XP command
line window, or from a safe mode command line mode.

 

[Guest]

HeyBud

The vendor's comment is the "newer computers run to fast for the program to
operate correctlly." I find that hard to believe. Especially, when we are
running pre-1996 DOS based programs.

Recognize the vendor is trying to sell $3500 upgrades to his program. Yah,
it has some enhancements but nothing that we can't do with our DOS based
program. Plus the Windows based version won't convert a lot of the data in
the DOS version. Why spend the money and time to upgrade when the DOS
version is acceptabe.

 

[David Candy]

Read the manual for the program. You have to configure dos for the program like any Dos computer. What does it want?

 

[David Candy]

It will be in the program's manual.

 

[Guest]

God bless you, Ken Blake!! I got to the DOS prompt by clicking on "Start"
then "Run" and typing in CMD, just as you instructed. It opens up a small,
black DOS box displaying the DOS prompt. I just installed an old (1992/93)
DOS program and it works great. So now I know that MS-DOS CAN be accessed
thru WIN XP.

It only took me about seven hours today to find someone who could answer my
questions!! Thank you Horatio, Bob Knowlden, HeyBub & Ken Blake for taking
the time to respond!! I learned something new from all of you!

 

[Galen]

In horatio <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

In our small business we still use three DOS based programs (as well
as a number of Windows programs). Of primary concern is our
estimating/invoicing program.

Currently, all of our computers are running Wlindows 98, with one
exception which uses Windows XP Professional. XP will not allow us
to run our estimating program nor one of the other DOS based programs.

We have used the Properties Menu and tried numerous settings in the
Compatibility and MemoryTabs, all to no avail.

Our delimma is we need to upgrade one of our graphic arts programs
which will only run on Windows 2000 or XP.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to achieve compatibility with
our DOS based programs and XP Professional (or 2000)?

Look forward to your comments.

DOSBox, a x86 emulator with DOS:
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/

Galen
--

"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the
very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be
made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby."

Sherlock Holmes

 

[Ken Blake]

In

God bless you, Ken Blake!! I got to the DOS prompt by clicking
on
"Start" then "Run" and typing in CMD, just as you instructed.
It
opens up a small, black DOS box displaying the DOS prompt. I
just
installed an old (1992/93) DOS program and it works great.

You're welcome and glad to help.

So now I
know that MS-DOS CAN be accessed thru WIN XP.

But that's not correct. There is no MS-DOS in Windows XP and you
can't access it from Windows XP. What you can do is access and
run *some* MS-DOS programs, but that 's not the same thing as
accessing MS-DOS itself.

As I said, some DOS programs will work and others won't. In
general, those programs that access the hardware (mostly disk
utilities and games) won't run and others will.

 

[Plato]

did not know the magic word.) This is my fifth computer (I've had HP &
Gateways before) & this is the first time I've encountered this total lack of
support. My other computers came with MS-DOS (without asking) & Windows. And

But, if the price of the Dell was $300 more to account for the type of
support you wanted ie support for non-dell third party software, they'd
miss the sale as you would not have paid $300 more for the unit.

 

[Greg R]

You can install most dos software.
However, some dos software won't run or run poorly

Watch out for dell sells reps. They will tell you something and then
say the didn't.

I know a business, who bought 3 computers and there were supposed to
get 300 back on each computer. They claim they the told her she
would only get $150 back total. The Email proves dell wrong. She has
no received any money at all.

Any time I see a rebate (Unless it is an instant rebate) and say
forget it.


Greg R