Troubleshooting

Adjusting Program Settings

I can't get my Windows 95 program to work, even if I use the Program Compatibility Wizard.

The Program Compatibility Wizard isn't a cure-all for program compatibility problems, although it can help many otherwise-incompatible programs to run.

Before you decide you simply can't use the program at all with Windows XP, try the following:

1.	Try using additional compatibility settingsWhen Windows 95 was first introduced, many system still used standard VGA (640x480) resolution with only 256 colors. If you didn't select these options before, or didn't disable the visual themes, try running the wizard again and make these additional settings.
2.	Try using a different Windows version when you run the compatibility wizardIf your program specifies "Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0," for example, try both compatibility mode settings before you give up.
3.	Reinstall the programit's possible that when Windows XP was installed that your program's installation was damaged.
4.	Be sure you have installed the latest patches and updates from the program vendor.

These same steps will help you with any program compatibility problem you encounter.

MS-DOS Program Can't Open Enough Files

When I run my MS-DOS application, I get the error "Too Many Files Open" or a similar message.

By default, MS-DOS applications run by the VDM are allowed to open only 20 files. Some older programs, especially database programs, want to open more. In DOS or Windows 9x, you'd have added the line

 FILES=100 

to your config.sys file. In Windows XP, you must add this line to your CONFIG.NT file. Use Search to find this file on your computer, or look in \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32. Of course, if you specified an alternate setup file for this application, you'll want to change that file rather than CONFIG.NT.

MS-DOS Application Displays Garbage Characters

When I run an old MS-DOS application, I see lots of junk characters on the screen, and many occurences of "[Some older programs that displayed text on the computer screen depended on the assistance of a display driver program called ansi.sys. Ansi.sys isn't installed by default in CONFIG.NT, so you're seeing the control message that your program was intending for ansi.sys to interpret; these should have resulted in color changes or cursor movements.

You need to add the line

 device=ansi.sys 

to your CONFIG.NT file. Use Search to find this file on your computer, or look in \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32. Of course, if you specified an alternate setup file for this application, you'll want to change that file rather than CONFIG.NT.

NOTE

If you're a software developer, you should know that when ANSI.SYS works for MS-DOS applications only. There is no support for ANSI escape sequences for Win32 console applications.