Vista and 2000 pro

[Guest]

Hi

I recently bought a brand new shiney Vista machine, I successfully migrated
my settings from my old PC but I have run into a small problem. I have a
program that runs under DOS and will not run in windows Vista. As it worked
on my old 2000 pro PC I am trying to install 2k pro onto my vista machine.
All the howtos say you have to have the old OS on first but is there a way i
can add 2k pro to my Vista machine?

Is it as simple as crating a new partition and then changeing the boot files
to tell vista it has to check?

Help would be *much* appreciated!

 

[Dominic Payer]

Does your DOS program need access to any peripherals?

If not, there is DOSBox http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/download.php?main=1
which may do all you need or Microsoft VirtualPC
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx
which will both avoid the need to dual boot the machine.

 

[Guest]

hi

Yes it does need to access peripherals - namely a printer! I have tried all
teh work arounds availabele but to no avail, which is why I am left with thte
option of installing 2k pro!

Thanks though, DOSBox is nice, I use it alot!

 

[Seth]

hi

Yes it does need to access peripherals - namely a printer! I have tried
all
teh work arounds availabele but to no avail, which is why I am left with
thte
option of installing 2k pro!

But have you tried Virtual PC, or the free VMWare server (not mentioned
yet)? Those can be granted access to a printer and then you install Win2K
in the VM. Now you don't have to close your programs and reboot to a
different OS to run the legacy application.

 

[Dominic Payer]

Your DOS printer is presumably a serial or parallel port printer and
VirtualPC provides access to both, but not USB, so VirtualPC would be your
best option.

VMware Server is not supported on Vista, though there are reports that some
have persuaded it to work. The free VMware Player 2 is Vista compatible, but
cannot be used to create Virtual Machines.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Hi

I recently bought a brand new shiney Vista machine, I successfully migrated
my settings from my old PC but I have run into a small problem. I have a
program that runs under DOS and will not run in windows Vista. As it worked
on my old 2000 pro PC I am trying to install 2k pro onto my vista machine.
All the howtos say you have to have the old OS on first but is there a way i
can add 2k pro to my Vista machine?

Is it as simple as crating a new partition and then changeing the boot files
to tell vista it has to check?

Help would be *much* appreciated!

The older OS must be installed first unless you wish to acquire and
use some 3rd-party partition and boot management utility 3rd-party products.

However, dual-booting is no longer necessary in most situations.

Why not download a Virtual Machine application, such as Microsoft's
VirtualPC 2007 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.asp?) or
Innotek's VirtualBox (http://www.virtualbox.org/) and run Win2K and your
legacy applications within a virtual computer. Both are free and work
with Vista. (Microsoft does not support the use of VirtualPC 2007 on
Vista Home editions, but several people have reported that it works just
fine.)


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[Guest]

Ok, that sounds good but I do need it to support a printer - I have a USB to
parallel converter tha I use (I could swap my old card into the new machine
if I really had to). Can it do this?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Ok, that sounds good but I do need it to support a printer - I have a USB to
parallel converter tha I use (I could swap my old card into the new machine
if I really had to). Can it do this?

I haven't tried, but I don't see why not. Of course, I also don't
think you'd need the USB to parallel converter (unless it's for a legacy
printer), as at least VirtualBox software should allow you to access a
USB printer.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[Seth]

Your DOS printer is presumably a serial or parallel port printer and
VirtualPC provides access to both, but not USB, so VirtualPC would be your
best option.

The USB printer could still be accessed by the VM and DOS app by "sharing"
it as a network device and then mapping it from the VM to an LPT port.