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DecodePointer - Intentional sabotage of obsolete OS?


j7n

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More and more recent software doesn't run under vanilla Windows XP and SP1 because of unimplemented functions DecodePointer and EncodePointer in KERNEL32.dll. I have found this 64 kB patch (mirror), which enables most applications to work again. They still don't work under Windows 2000, because of other dependencies, which makes this question unsuitable for the Win2k forum.

DecodePointer-exe.png

I trust XP SP1 because I've ran it stable with great uptimes, and have also encountered software which doesn't work correctly under SP3 and reportedly also under SP2. Overall, my experience with this OS has been better than with Win2k even, which is why I want to continue running it on machines that are capable of that.

This function appears to be security related. According to Microsoft, encoded pointers can be used to provide another layer of protection for pointer values.

But is the real reason why it exists to sabotage older OS, and force an upgrade?

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I trust XP SP1 because I've ran it stable with great uptimes, and have also encountered software which doesn't work correctly under SP3 and reportedly also under SP2.

I'm not trying to dispute your experience or get into a flame war, but I am curious about this since I have not understood why anyone would choose not to upgrade to the latest SP. Could you please give me some examples of the software you have found where the above statement is true, and tell me if you have discovered the exact mechanism that causes the failure in the later SP's? Thanks in advance.

Cheers and Regards

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Thank you for the good reference, Tripredacus, which cleared my doubts. MSFN is a trusted source, and usually critical of Microsoft if there is a reason. I feel that the question's been answered.

These are two video games, which I am not proud to admit. One of them didn't run (Sports Car GT), and another one kept losing keyboard input (Half-Life), which may or may not have to do with how keyboard layouts are switched. They worked fine under SP1 on the same computer, set up similarly by myself. Discovering the underlying mechanism is beyond my skill level. I've used SP3 for only a month now, and have not too much experience with it.

I guess the same question could be asked in the Win2000 forum, since XP is a subversion of the same OS line...

My main XP SP1 system is still holding up well, even after upgrading the video adapter. I've successfully installed the nVidia driver, which initially failed due to DecodePointer. With the above patch, the most recent Opera browser, and Media Player Classic are working, to give a couple popular examples.

Edited by j7n
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another one kept losing keyboard input (Half-Life),

In my experience, I never got Half Life to work in XP at all! Although, I expect there are other versions available, since you can run Half Life on XP and Windows 7 at least. I think it depends on the version you have. You may have one of the optimized/newer (Steam, Gog, retail) version, as opposed to the original CD when it was released. Because I would expect the original one (written for Win9x) wouldn't have any special pointers in it. :unsure:

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