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  1. #1
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    16 bit software on XP/7?

    One of my local clients is in the investment/market field. His system is currently running XP, which he upgraded from Windows 98 several years back. He's used the same CRM on his local machine for at least a decade. The database (*.mdb) is approximately 1.5gb and contains a goodly amount of personal information.

    I visited the client last week for the usual preventive maintenance, which includes a backup of his CRM, the files required to run it, and the DB, to an external HDD.

    To verify functionality in a worst-case scenario, I took the external drive back to my office and attempted to run the program and load the DB. The CRM software threw an error relating to running a 16 bit program on my environment, then errored "missing vbrun300.dll', so I know that it's an old VB program. I believe the company has switched hands and I cannot find a new version of this CRM to upgrade to.

    Would installing VB2010 likely rectify this problem (and his, if something went wrong on his PC)? My goal, at the very least, is the ability for my client to have access to the DB and a program that will populate its contents.

    Thanks for reading-

  2. #2
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    Have you tried running it on a VM? Surely that's what I'd start to look at before going through a lot of trouble.

  3. #3
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    Hmmm. That's a smart thought. I'll give that a try when I'm back in the office. Thanks!

  4. #4
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    Rightclick and run in compatibility mode?

    VB3 is ancient.

    Id personally look into whether its worth investing in a new platform and migrate the data?

    Hell, Migrate it to MYsql and they could use anything with the data then
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  5. #5
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    There's still plenty of options remaining after that, but a VM would be the easiest. If you are going for Hyper-V, I'm quite sure it will implode with Windows 98, XP should work though. Windows 98 works on Virtual PC (from Microsoft). VirtualBox (Oracle) should run 98 SE at the very least. I don't know about others I'm afraid.

    Make sure to post back on the results if you don't mind. I'm quite interested.

  6. #6
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    I'll post my results as soon as I can. Thanks!

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by nwtg View Post
    I'll post my results as soon as I can. Thanks!
    Where you able to get this to work? On the missing .dll file error, did you try dropping the needed file into the needed directory? I have a few clients stuck in the dark ages of computing, generally smaller shops who don't want to fork out the money for the newer hardware, software or even learn how to use it. For one, I was able to drop the missing DLL files into the directory to get it to work on Win7, 32bit.
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  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by ChrisTech View Post
    Where you able to get this to work? On the missing .dll file error, did you try dropping the needed file into the needed directory? I have a few clients stuck in the dark ages of computing, generally smaller shops who don't want to fork out the money for the newer hardware, software or even learn how to use it. For one, I was able to drop the missing DLL files into the directory to get it to work on Win7, 32bit.
    That might be the best option. Search the whole system for the dll too and then drop it in the folder. I have a similar issue with some older software setups that are backed up. Usually finding the file online or on the clients computer and putting it in the programs directory works fine.

    This microsoft link may be of some help too http://support.microsoft.com/kb/196285

    Or if I remember my commands correctly after finding the file and adding it to the new system
    Code:
    regsvr32/filepath/vbrun300.dll
    I would create a restore point on whatever system you do this on too when dealing with this.

    I'd also then have a Microsoft visual basic 3.0 installer somewhere too ready to go as that file should be installed with vb3.0 This file as far as I'm aware isn't included in the latest VB.

  9. #9
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    Why not look at having a new program developed? Suitable replacements can be coded in .NET fairly quickly and guarantee your client a problem-free future for years to come.
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  10. #10
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    Originally, every time I would drop the file into the correct location, it would throw an error requiring a different file, but I started with vbrun300.dll while working on the issue originally.

    This client is out of town until next Tuesday, so I'll have an opportunity to revisit the issue next week and will let you know what ends up working.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by hostingxchange View Post
    Why not look at having a new program developed? Suitable replacements can be coded in .NET fairly quickly and guarantee your client a problem-free future for years to come.
    It may come to that. I'm close friends with a .NET developer, so if the situation dictates a new program, I'll be talking with him.

  12. #12
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    yup that is very good u can run 16 bit software on both xp & windows 7.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by nwtg View Post
    It may come to that. I'm close friends with a .NET developer, so if the situation dictates a new program, I'll be talking with him.
    It might just at that. Many older, file-based databases and other programs are having issues running on the newer server platforms. We've started migrating most of our FoxPro based applications to .NET for example.
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  14. #14
    I believe the rule is that 64-bit versions of Windows don't support 16-bit programs natively. If you're running Windows 7 32-bit I think there's a chance of making it work without virtualization. Here's a link to MS for more info:
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896458
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