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Run a 16 bit Install Program on 64 bit Windows 10 (Is this possible?)

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David H. Hartman:

--- Quote from: Bob Foster on October 14, 2021, 14:28:38 ---That said, I've had little trouble with running very old programs on Windows 10 Enterprise. With a modest amount of hacking even most 16 bit programs can be made to run acceptably with no ill effects on the OS.

--- End quote ---

Can a 32 bit program with a 16 bit install be run on Windows 10 64 bit? If so where can I find instructions on how to do this?

I've used for years a program called File Sync (maybe FSync.exe) from Fileware England, designed for Windows 95 and updated perhaps up to Window 98 SE or perhaps Windows XP. The program uses a simple to understand interface dating back to Windows 95. It can be used to sync or contribute files from one drive or folder, source to target. It can do a bit mapped compare of files. Used with some skill it's fairly easy to synchronize a target from a source without over-writing a good file on the target with a corrupt one on the source. It can be used to contribute new files to the target without deleting needed files on that target. I find the interface easy to understand and easy to avoid deadly mistakes.

The newer programs (sync/contribute programs) I've tried as have complex interfaces that make it easy to brainlessly sync folders deleting needed files and or over-writing good files with corrupted ones.

The only way I know to use Fsync.exe (Fileware England) in 64 bit Windows 10 is install the program in an early Windows 7 OS and then update that Windows 7 OS to Windows 10. At a point of update the install program for Fsync.exe fails to run on Windows 7.

Any help, especially links to a step by step guide to running a 16 bit install program on a 64 bit Windows 10 OS. Are there any utilities that allow running a 16 bit install program on 64 bit Windows 10?

The program itself, Fsync.exe (Fileware England) runs almost flawlessly on Windows 10 64 bit. If a drive or folder contains too may files to copy it may take 2 or 3 passes but other than that it's efficient and safe. The help feature don't work but I don't need it.

Thank you for considering this!

Dave

Gone:
Sorry - can't help as  I dumped Windoze years ago for Linux - but generally 64 bit operating systems won't play with other than 64 bit programs.

MILLIREHM:
The only way I can think of this working currently is running a Virtual Machine with an old operating system installed

mxbianco:

--- Quote from: MILLIREHM on October 15, 2021, 00:13:30 ---The only way I can think of this working currently is running a Virtual Machine with an old operating system installed

--- End quote ---

Agree, try VMware Player (it has a free fully functional version), then install Win XP in the virtual machine, then share the drives from the W10 machine and map them on the XP machine as network resources (drive D: E: F: ... Z:). At this point you can install your software in the XP machine and work with the mapped drives as if they were local drives, with the added benefit that you can see partitions greater than 2TB on the XP machine.

Ciao from Massimo

ThomasAdams:
David,

 I have some older programs that I have run in VM (Virtual Box by Oracle) by creating a machine and installing an OS as has been suggested. Once I get one setup I create a clone of it and use only the clones for testing which I later delete. This has worked for much of what I do, however sometimes access to non-virtualized hardware or hardware offered via the virtualized machine interface and application presents a problem. I have tried NTVDM on a couple of occasions with windows 10 32 bit OS (rare) with some success. If you have Windows 10 32bit, search for and run Turn windows features On or Off and locate Legacy Components click to show children and then check NTVDM then click OK to enable 16 bit support.

Regards,
Tom

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