Windows 7 Running an old 16-bit program under Windows 7

[Fran]

Hi all, I have an ancient copy of Foxpro for Windows 2.6 from the early 1990s that I've moved from PC to PC over the years. I don't reinstall from original disks; I just copy the program's directory into \program files\ and it's worked fine on systems up to and including XP3. I did need to install a patch file at one point a few years ago which I think was designed to allow it as a 16-bit program to run on 32-bit systems.

Having just bought a Windows 7 laptop, I copied the Foxpro directory into \Program Files (x86)\. When I try to run it, though, I get an error that says the version of the program is not compatible with the version of Windows I'm running, and to check and see if I need a 32-bit or 64-bit version of it.

Any suggestions on what would be the least painful way to be able to keep using this program? I went into the properties dialog for the executable and tried checking the box for compatibility with earlier versions of Windows, but that didn't help. I wouldn't mind upgrading to a newer program, but I'm not sure what out there might provide the functionality that I've used with this version of Foxpro, and was hoping to avoid a lot of searching around or possible expense to find a newer, similar program. Thanks for any ideas.

 

[patcooke]

Two possibilities come to mind:

1. If you have Professional, Enterprise or Ultimate you could try running Windows XP mode.

2. Try installing DosBox ( http://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1 ) and maybe running Windows 3.11 in it? (I know! but think it should work in theory).

 

[Fran]

Thanks, interesting ideas. Unfortunately the Windows 7 version of the new laptop is Home Premium.

I did download and install DosBox. Does it have built-in capability to emulate Windows 3.11, or would I have to hunt up a disk and install that too? I didn't see anything about such emulation in its readme file. It wouldn't run the Foxpro executable (which was written for Windows) under DOS.

 

[patcooke]

You'd need to track down a copy. The one I have is about a 5mb exe.

 

[Fran]

Thanks. After checking out various alternatives I decided to bite the bullet and buy the online upgrade to Win 7 Professional so I could download Windows XP Mode. My old Foxpro now works fine running XP virtually.

 

[patcooke]

Sounds sensible - but your days on FoxPro are still numbered - you need to be looking for a replace soon I think