Installing older Lexware programs in Win10

[Anbima]

Hello,

I want to install older Lexware Business programs in Windows 10, but it does't work.

Probably it is because of .net framework (v1.1 and 2)
Errors show up that DLL files can not be registered.

Is there any chance to install programs which are not made for Windows 10?

If someone could help me, I would try again and upload screenshot.

In that case, please reply and I'll get started.

[mina7601]

Try installing them in Windows XP SP3 compatibility mode.

Edited April 7, 2023 by mina7601

[Anbima]

I have already done this.
But it still doesn't work.
Is there possibility to get it to run anyway or does this not work for programs that are not made for Win10?
It does not work with Windows 7 either.

[NotHereToPlayGames]

You could install VirtualBox and then install an XP guest.

I have to do this with several CAD programs that I still use from the XP Era that do not install in Win10.

I personally use a very old version of VirtualBox and dislike all newer versions.  Though I'm sure there will come a day where this old version won't fit my needs.

The version I run is 4.3.28.

[Anbima]

I often have to copy and paste text.
This would be from programs in Windows 10 and Windows XP.
Does this work quickly and easily?

Also, I would need to access files that are stored in Windows 10 on Windows XP.

If I do Windows XP in a VirtualBox then there are probably problems with the graphics card, since there are no longer XP drivers for newer graphic cards.

[UCyborg]

14 hours ago, Anbima said:

Is there possibility to get it to run anyway or does this not work for programs that are not made for Win10?

Impossible to tell without actual setup file(s) at hand. .NET 1.1 may be installed following the procedure described here. If you don't have linked setups, put those links in Wayback Machine, it's where downloads remain archived.

There are number of reasons why something may not work, from relying to 16-bit components to convoluted copy-protection either relying on 32-bit kernel drivers or some specific undocumented APIs, old CrypKey is one example of such protections. The copy-protections are big compatibility killers.

Sometimes things can be fixed by DIY methods, eg. debugging, but we're talking about old (obscure?) business app (booooooring), so chances of someone helping you with the problem is very low, especially since there's not much information to go from, so unless some random person shows up and guesses what you're dealing with, it's all just a pointless guessing game.

Generally, well-written programs from over 20 years ago may work fine, others relying on obscure specifics from the operating systems of the era may not. And compatibility modes activatable from .exe's properties' compatibility tab are just collections of specific compatibility shims dealing with specific issues, that's why they're not the magic cure for everything. Worse, it seems most people don't even know they can be deployed in controlled-manner with Compatibility Administrator, part of Windows ADK (Assesment and Deployment Kit). Plus, some shims aren't documented or may support undocumented command-line parameters, which may or may not help.

In the world of old games, one such compatibility shim is DXPrimaryEmulation and a popular command-line parameters that goes with it is -DisableMaxWindowedMode. You will likely only find out about it on community forums. Again, we have games doing strange things or things that don't work like they did on old graphics drivers, so may not work properly or have visual glitches, but for those, we have for instance whole old DirectDraw/Direct3D APIs up to version 9 re-implemented on top of Direct3D 11/12 and game-specific patches, all community work.

Business apps on the other hand...yeah, good luck with that, they're not Mozart's symphonies or DOOM. There was a time I used one such app, Perftech ERGO, version 1.39, updated in 2003-2004 era, uses InterBase 6.0 SQL server and a licensing system by CrypKey. From what I remember, there were some delays when ran on Windows XP, I clearly remember startup delay, but it's possible there were also delays when opening forms. But it worked fine on Windows 2000 and Windows 98 SE.

Edited April 8, 2023 by UCyborg

[Anbima]

I got the program to run.

But there is a problem.
When converting the data, the program wants to make a backup.
But this aborts, because the program wants to stop the service for the database and this doesn't work.

The service is called "Adaptive Server Anywhere - LXDBSRV" and has the following path\name:
\Sybase\SQL Anywhere 9\Win32\dbsrv9.exe

Does anyone have a solution for me or what could I try?

[jaclaz]

Sybase is SAP since a lot of years:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sybase

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL_Anywhere

Version 9 should be 2003, long before signed/verified drivers (and services) became common, it is strange that Windows 10 even allowed you to install (and run) the service.

Maybe it cannot be stopped because it doesn't run? (but if it doesn't run I don't think you can fix it, and newer releases - which are Commercial AFAIK - are likely not exchangeable).

jaclaz

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by jaclaz

[Anbima]

The service is running and data is also retrieved from it.

[jaclaz]

2 hours ago, Anbima said:

The service is running and data is also retrieved from it.

So the issue is that it cannot be stopped?

But can it be stopped manually?

Do you have the dbsvc tool on that install?

http://dev.cs.ovgu.de/db/sybase9/help/dbdaen9/00000604.htm

Maybe you need (on Windows 10) end the task?

https://support.industry.siemens.com/cs/document/34532735/why-is-the-archiving-process-aborted-with-the-message-that-opened-projects-cannot-be-archived-although-all-the-files-in-project-are-closed-?dti=0&lc=en-IT

jaclaz

Edited April 24, 2023 by jaclaz

[Anbima]

The problem is that the service is stopped by the program and then restarted after the backup. But here the error occurs at the progress "Stop database".

I can stop the service manually and also restart it.

The dbsvc tool is present in the \SQL Anywhere 9\win32\dbsvc.exe folder.

I have disabled the Windows firewall as a test, but the error is still present.

When the database is to be stopped, I see in the taskbar very briefly that programs are started. But this happens so fast that I can't see what is happening.

What else can I do?

[jaclaz]

I mean, can you stop the service through the dbsvc tool?

The tool should be able to list and detail the running instances and allow to stop them manually, presumably the mechanism is the same that the program uses internally.

Depending on whether that mechanism works or not it is possible that the issue lies in the permissions/credentials under which the dbsvc or the program runs.

jaclaz

[Anbima]

I first had to determine the appropriate service name:
dbsvc -l
Here "LXDBSRV" was output.

With this service name I can stop and start the service with dvsvc -x and -u.

But only if I start the command as administrator.
If I start this normally, then an error comes that the service was not found.

Then I set the checkmark "Run this program as administrator" in the properties of dbsvc.exe and the program, but with this it does not work either.

What else can I try?

Edited April 25, 2023 by Anbima

[jaclaz]

1 hour ago, Anbima said:

But only if I start the command as administrator.

So it is probably an issue with permissions/credentials.

1 hour ago, Anbima said:

IWhat else can I try?

Runas or powershell probably will work, but cannot really say.

Windows 10 has seemingly some additional (when compared to Vista/7) limitations on account control or permissions:

https://www.digitalcitizen.life/run-as-admin/

or maybe elevate:

https://code.kliu.org/misc/elevate/

or some similar third party command, the most "powerful" being RunAsTI:

https://github.com/jschicht/RunAsTI

But really no idea if they work on 10 and specifically on your executables.

Also, check with which credentials is the service run in services.msc, maybe you can change them there, or use subinacl or this thingy here:

https://www.coretechnologies.com/products/ServiceSecurityEditor/

jaclaz

 

Edited April 25, 2023 by jaclaz

[Anbima]

In the taskbar I see that programs are opened very briefly.
Is there any way I can log which programs or accesses these are?
Then I could possibly redirect them.