Vista 16-bit MS-DOS Subsystem error

V

vista_rookie

New Member
I'm getting and 16 bit MS-DOS Subsystem error.

C:\Windows\System32\command.com config.nt
the system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows Applications
Choose 'Close' to teminate the application.

I've seen this error on XP before but never on Vista until now.
The solutions for XP don't work because those files are already in the System 32 folder.
I've attached an image of the error.

I'm running Vista Enterprise edition. It is a 32 bit machine so it should be able to run 16 bit apps
I just want to use COMMAND.COM instead of cmd.exe

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

moz-screenshot.jpg
moz-screenshot-1.jpg
index.php
 

My Computer

System One

vista_rookie said:
I'm getting and 16 bit MS-DOS Subsystem error.

C:\Windows\System32\command.com config.nt
the system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows Applications
Choose 'Close' to teminate the application.

I've seen this error on XP before but never on Vista until now.
The solutions for XP don't work because those files are already in the System 32 folder.
I've attached an image of the error.

I'm running Vista Enterprise edition. It is a 32 bit machine so it should be able to run 16 bit apps
I just want to use COMMAND.COM instead of cmd.exe

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

moz-screenshot.jpg
moz-screenshot-1.jpg
index.php
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forums!

What 16 bit program are you trying to run? Does it use the CD Rom drive?

There may be a solution available, just need to know more about your situation.
 

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  • CPU
    Intel Q6600 Quad Core 2.4 Ghz
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    Dell 0TP406
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Thanks for the welcome and your reply.

The program I'm trying to run I installed on my CPU, its not on a cd-rom. I'm trying to run the app without using things like DOSbox. I know 16 bit apps should work. But when I try to run command.com it won't execute. So right now my machine won't run any 16 bit apps. I did a test with Visicalc and that didn't work either.
 

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System One

vista_rookie said:
Thanks for the welcome and your reply.

The program I'm trying to run I installed on my CPU, its not on a cd-rom. I'm trying to run the app without using things like DOSbox. I know 16 bit apps should work. But when I try to run command.com it won't execute. So right now my machine won't run any 16 bit apps. I did a test with Visicalc and that didn't work either.
Click to expand...

I've been doing some more reading about this issue. The advisors say that 16 bit programs won't run in Vista. The recommendation is that you download and install Virtual PC, which runs other OS's and they say you can run Dos 3.3 in the VPC, then run your 16 bit program. Or as you mentioned DOSbox is an option.

I'll also open this up for input from our admins and mods to see if they have any suggestions to assist you.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Intel Q6600 Quad Core 2.4 Ghz
    Motherboard
    Dell 0TP406
    Memory
    4 X 1 GB DDR2 Kingston 800 Mhz
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia 8800 GT 512 MB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual Dell 22" Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    3360x1050
    Hard Drives
    320 GB Internal Main 500 GB USB External 160 GB USB External 2TB USB External
    Internet Speed
    DSL 3MB
Thanks for the suggestions. Some of my friends have Vista Home edition. They are able to open up the command.com window. The process I'm using is open the run command window and type command.com. It works for them, I was just wondering why mine doesn't work. I can't even get the window to open up. Does it work on your machine?
 

My Computer

System One

Hi,

I have the same problem when launching any 16 bit installs on very machine in my environment. Did you find a solution? I know this works on a vista build straight out of the box but can't workout what has changed in my environment to cause this. Any ideas?
 

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System One

Hi mjustin and welcome to vista forums :)

Make sure these files are in system32 folder and come back..
config.nt
autoexec.nt
command.com
 

My Computer

System One

Hi & Thanks,

All these files exist and i've also replaced them in case of corruption. Also this issue occurs weather logged in as an administrator or standard user.

I believe it may be a similar issue to this article as changing the TMP location to c:\windows\temp partailly reolves the issue but i don't believe it be a practical resolution. "Config.nt The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications" error message when you try to run a program in Windows 2000

Hope this helps
 

My Computer

System One

Can you attach your config and autoexec files?

EDIT:
Have a look in your command.com properties.
Make sure that in program tab/advanced, the path to autoexec and config are rights.
Make sure in security that users have the execute and read rights
Make sure screen is not set to full screen
Memory should be set to auto
 
Last edited:

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I assume these files are not available in x64 bit versions?
 

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System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro X64 Insider Preview (Skip Ahead) latest build
    Manufacturer/Model
    The Beast Model V (homebrew)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 965 EE @ 3.6 GHz
    Motherboard
    eVGA X58 Classified 3 (141-GT-E770-A1)
    Memory
    3 * Mushkin 998981 Redline Enhanced triple channel DDR3 4 GB CL7 DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3-12800)
    Graphics card(s)
    eVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 (04G-P4-3979-KB)
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 * Lenovo LT2323pwA Widescreeen
    Screen Resolution
    2 * 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    SanDisk Ultra SDSSDHII-960G-G25 960 GB SATA III SSD (System) Crucial MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SATA III SSD (User Tree) 2 * Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA II Mech. HD Seagate ST1500DL001-9VT15L Barracuda 7200.12 1.5 TB S
    PSU
    Thermaltake Black Widow TX TR2 850W 80+ Bronze Semi-Mod ATX
    Case
    ThermalTake Level 10 GT (Black)
    Cooling
    Corsair H100 (CPU, dual 140 mm fans on radiator) + Air (2 *
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared)
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15 (gen 2)
    Internet Speed
    AT&T Lightspeed Gigabit duplex
  • Operating System
    Sabayon Linux (current, weekly updates, 5.1.x kernel)
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad E545
    CPU
    AMD A6-5350M APU
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    8 GB
    Sound Card
    Conextant 20671 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Lenovo 15" Matte
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    1680 * 1050
    Hard Drives
    INTEL Cherryvill 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SSD
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    Lenovo
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    Lenovo
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    Logitech MX Master (shared) | Synaptics TouchPad
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    Lenovo
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    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex
johngalt said:
I assume these files are not available in x64 bit versions?
Click to expand...

No John, only 32 bit

BTW mjustin, try to write the autoexec.net and replace the one you have..

@echo off
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\mscdexnt.exe
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\redir
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\dosx
 

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I would like to add that the choice of using DOSBox or Virtual PC depends whether ur 16 bit app can handle processor speeds in excess of 1 GHz that all of us have today.

For example, I have managed to get "The Need for Speed SE" 32 bit version runing at full speed in Virtual PC 2007 with Windows 98 SE as the guest OS. It runs great without any hicups which some people have experienced when they tried to run it directly in Windows XP.

On the other hand, the DOS game "One Must Fall 2097" can not cope up with the processor speed and runs way too fast. It seems as though the game is runing at least 200% faster than its supposed to run, so I checked the processor speed from inside Virtual PC 2007 with CPUZ and found out that it showed my real CPU speed, which prevented most of my old DOS games from running causing the infamous "Runtime Error 200" which is caused when the processor speed is too fast for the program.

So, in short: Try your 16 bit app in Dosbox first since it is not much of a hassle to install compared to Virtual PC 2007, and check the performance. If you are satis fied, stick with it. If you aren't, you'll have to go through the painful procedure of installing Windows 98 SE in a Virtual Machine using Virtual PC 2007.

The only con that I see in Virtual PC is that it does not prvide a way to throttle CPU speed according to the guest OS, which causes the above mentioned problem.

Hope this helps!

P.S: Here's a screen shot that I e-mailed a friend of mine who wouldn't believe that I had gotten NFS-SE to run at full speed:

http://img511.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nfsseproofeo4.jpg

ImageShack - Hosting :: nfsseproofeo4.jpg

 

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  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Built Gigabyte-Intel-ATI-Transcend-SONY combo
    CPU
    Intel Core2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz
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    Gigabyte G31M-ES2C [Intel G31]
    Memory
    1.5 GB DDRII 667 MHz [512+1024]
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    Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4770 512 MB GDDR5
    Sound Card
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    Samsung SyncMaster 2033SW+ (20" Wide)
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 900 x 60Hz @ 32bpp
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    1 x 40 GB P-ATA 1 x 160 GB S-ATA [Win7 with Win XP SP3 dual boot] 1 x 1 TB S-ATA
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Yanno, there used to be a nice little app to slow down the processor speed for old 16bit games when I was on XP - Let me look around and see if I can find it - it is ancient, but then again, I have some 10 year old apps on CD still....
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro X64 Insider Preview (Skip Ahead) latest build
    Manufacturer/Model
    The Beast Model V (homebrew)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 965 EE @ 3.6 GHz
    Motherboard
    eVGA X58 Classified 3 (141-GT-E770-A1)
    Memory
    3 * Mushkin 998981 Redline Enhanced triple channel DDR3 4 GB CL7 DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3-12800)
    Graphics card(s)
    eVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 (04G-P4-3979-KB)
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 * Lenovo LT2323pwA Widescreeen
    Screen Resolution
    2 * 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    SanDisk Ultra SDSSDHII-960G-G25 960 GB SATA III SSD (System) Crucial MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SATA III SSD (User Tree) 2 * Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA II Mech. HD Seagate ST1500DL001-9VT15L Barracuda 7200.12 1.5 TB S
    PSU
    Thermaltake Black Widow TX TR2 850W 80+ Bronze Semi-Mod ATX
    Case
    ThermalTake Level 10 GT (Black)
    Cooling
    Corsair H100 (CPU, dual 140 mm fans on radiator) + Air (2 *
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared)
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15 (gen 2)
    Internet Speed
    AT&T Lightspeed Gigabit duplex
  • Operating System
    Sabayon Linux (current, weekly updates, 5.1.x kernel)
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad E545
    CPU
    AMD A6-5350M APU
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    8 GB
    Sound Card
    Conextant 20671 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Lenovo 15" Matte
    Screen Resolution
    1680 * 1050
    Hard Drives
    INTEL Cherryvill 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SSD
    PSU
    Lenovo
    Case
    Lenovo
    Cooling
    Lenovo
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared) | Synaptics TouchPad
    Keyboard
    Lenovo
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex
johngalt said:
Yanno, there used to be a nice little app to slow down the processor speed for old 16bit games when I was on XP - Let me look around and see if I can find it - it is ancient, but then again, I have some 10 year old apps on CD still....
Click to expand...

I might have it as well! Is it CPU Killer?

Its what I use inside The Windows 98 Virtual Machine to slow things down. But I use the old version 2.05 which is shareware. The website has a newer version:
Cpukiller3
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Built Gigabyte-Intel-ATI-Transcend-SONY combo
    CPU
    Intel Core2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte G31M-ES2C [Intel G31]
    Memory
    1.5 GB DDRII 667 MHz [512+1024]
    Graphics card(s)
    Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4770 512 MB GDDR5
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio [ALC882 codec onboard]
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster 2033SW+ (20" Wide)
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 900 x 60Hz @ 32bpp
    Hard Drives
    1 x 40 GB P-ATA 1 x 160 GB S-ATA [Win7 with Win XP SP3 dual boot] 1 x 1 TB S-ATA
    PSU
    VIP 400 W
    Case
    Zebronics Elegance
    Cooling
    All fan [2 on case side and 1 behind]
    Mouse
    Logitech Standard Optical Tilt-Wheel Mouse
    Keyboard
    i-ball i-key Multimedia keyboard
    Internet Speed
    256 kbps Cable
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