Frequently-asked question | Buy XP instead | Warning: WPDOS may not work well under Vista | What to do if you must use Vista with WP | Expanded (EMS) memory | High-resolution VESA graphics | Printing | Batch files under Vista | Generic icon only | Help! My Start Menu does not have a Run... box! | Home page
Q. You asked us not to write to you for further
information, but I really need to know whether WP and Vista will work
together on the Delnovo-Hackard 770PDQ computer that I'm about to order. I'm
sure you know the answer, and I don't understand why you are too selfish to
reveal it.
A. I asked you not to write because I could not
bear to think that you would waste your time (as you just did) asking a
question for which I don't know the answer.
Q. Why don't you recommend the
DOSBOX emulation software as a platform for running WPDOS? I am absolutely
certain that DOSBOX is a far better solution than anything you describe on your
site, even though I've never actually used DOSBOX and I've only read
what other people say about it. Why are you so stubborn and unhelpful?
A. DOSBOX is apparently a superb
platform for running DOS games. Unfortunately, there is no practical way to
print from WPDOS running under DOSBOX, so I haven't wasted my time or yours on
this incomplete solution. And, yes, I already know that some versions
of DOSBOX claim to allow simple text-only printing, but even these versions do
not let you print from WPDOS. If you find a practical method for printing to a
currently-available printer from WPDOS under DOSBOX, and only if you have
actually tested such a method, please
let me know.
As of early 2008, it was still possible to buy a computer with Windows XP installed instead of Windows Vista. For a full commercial product, Lenovo is probably the best choice, and should be available anywhere in the world. In the US, you may want to consider a custom-built computer from JNCS.com, which can be ordered with Windows XP or with no operating system at all (so that you can install your own copy of Windows or anything else); for my own computers, I either build my own from components bought from JNCS.com or buy a minimal system from them and install my own copy of Windows.
(May 2008) My current recommendations for a Windows-based computer for use with WPDOS are these:
Warning: If you want to run WPDOS under a current version of Windows, use Windows XP, not Windows Vista. Windows Vista causes the following problems with WPDOS:
(1) If you use WPDOS 5.1 or 5.1+, it will probably run slowly because Expanded (EMS) Memory is not normally available under Windows Vista. WPDOS 5.1 and 5.1+ use Expanded (EMS) Memory to provide additional working space for working with longer files. (This problem can be worked around, somewhat awkwardly, by installing EMS Magic as described elsewhere on this page.) If you do decide to use WPDOS 5.1 under Vista, use Tame to speed the keyboard and provide other conveniences. On some systems, WP runs far too slowly to be usable unless you install Tame and use Tame's graphics-based mode when switching to full-screen WP.
(2) If you use any version of WPDOS together with abbreviation-expander software, you may not be able to use the abbreviation-expander software at all. Most WP-related abbreviation-expander software requires Expanded (EMS) Memory, and such memory is not normally available under Windows Vista. Smartype, ShortCut, and PRD+ are examples of programs that require Expanded (EMS) Memory and will not work without it. Other programs that may have similar problems include programs that generate fonts while WP is running. This problem can be worked around (somewhat awkwardly) by installing EMS Magic as described elsewhere on this page.
(3) Unless you use Tame (which fixes this problem), WPDOS may run very slowly under Windows Vista. Depending on your video hardware, WP may take up to a minute to load. If you attempt to switch from text mode to Print Preview or other graphics mode, WPDOS may appear to lock up (if you can use graphics mode at all).
(4) Unless you take some steps described elsewhere on this page, you may not be able to open WPDOS in its traditional full-screen text mode (where the screen is entirely filled by WPDOS displaying a 25-line screen).
(5) If you use either Vista Basic or Vista Classic version, or if your computer has older or low-end video hardware, then you may only get 640x480 VGA graphics in WPDOS (which may be what you have now, so this problem may not bother you). However, it is at least possible that you will be able to use high-resolution VESA graphics, depending on your video hardware, if your system is set up to use the "Standard VGA Video Driver" in Vista. (If you use higher-end video graphics, you may also be able to use high-resolution VESA graphics in WPDOS graphic modes by following the instructions below for installing the Windows XP driver for your video hardware; but I do not recommend this procedure, because, if you install the Windows XP driver for your video hardware, Vista may crash and reboot when you try to view any graphics file).
(6) If you use any of the Vista versions that permit advanced graphic effects, and if your computer has the video hardware that makes those effects available, then you may not be able to open WPDOS in traditional full-screen mode unless you either (a) throttle back Vista so that it uses only its least-capable graphics, or (b) follow the instructions below for installing the Windows XP driver for your video hardware (although I do not recommend using the XP driver, because, with the XP driver installed Vista may crash and reboot when you try to view any graphics file).
(7) A minor but annoying detail: If you create or reuse a desktop shortcut for WPDOS, it can only appear on the Windows desktop as a plain white rectangle with an arrow in the lower-left corner. Desktop shortcuts for DOS-based applications running under Vista cannot display any other icon that you might wish to use. (See the workaround described elsewhere on this page.)
(6) Some of the procedures available on this site for printing to printers that are connected by a USB cable, or over a network, or to any Windows-only printer, will not work under Windows Vista.
Note: Before performing the steps described here, you may need to disable Vista's User Access Control (UAC) security feature until you have completed making the changes. If Windows will not let you open the relevant files, or bothers you with prompts, download and run TweakUAC and turn off UAC or switch it to "quiet mode"; when you are finished making and testing the changes suggested here, run the utility again to restore UAC.
Follow these steps very carefully before attempting to run WPDOS with Windows Vista:
(1) On your Windows Vista computer, click on the Vista "pearl" where the Start Menu was in earlier versions, and enter the word "COMMAND" (no quotation marks); a DOS prompt should open. Press Alt-Enter, which normally switches between windowed and full-screen mode. If you get an error message saying "This system does not support fullscreen mode", then proceed to step (2), after entering "exit" to close the window. Otherwise, enter "exit" to close the command prompt, and proceed to step (3).
(2) If you want to be able to use WPDOS in its traditional 25-line full-screen mode, and you got an error message when you tried the experiment in step (1), then you must use Vista's "Standard VGA Graphics Adapter" video driver (as described in the next paragraph) instead of whatever driver you or Windows installed for use with your video hardware. (Alternatively, if your hardware makes this possible you may want to install the Windows XP driver for your video hardware as described below).
How to install the Standard VGA Graphics Adapter in Vista: Right-click on the Windows desktop; choose Personalize from the pop-up menu; choose Display Settings from the Personalize dialog; on the Monitor tab, click Advanced Settings...; on the Adapter tab, click Properties; on the Driver tab, click Update Driver...; click on "Browse My Computer for Driver Software"; click on "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer"; in the "Select a device driver" list, scroll down to Standard VGA Graphics Adapter and highlight (select) it; click Next. If your monitor goes blank, wait five minutes, then power down your computer and restart it normally. If your monitor does not go blank, wait while the driver is installed; click Close; then continue to press Close or OK or otherwise close dialog boxes until you are back to the desktop. If you are prompted to restart your computer, do so. You probably should do so anyway. (If you want to reverse this procedure, follow the same instructions, but let Windows automatically install the appropriate software for your system instead of browsing your computer for driver software.)
(3) If, and only if, you do not use a US-English keyboard layout in WP, you must modify the Autoexec.nt file on your Vista system to that DOS applications such as WPDOS use the keyboard that you need. Download this desktop shortcut EditAutoexec.nt to your Vista desktop or some other convenient location (you may need to right-click on the links and select Save link as...). Double-click on either shortcut to edit the associated file in Windows Notepad; go the foot of the file and add this line (replacing xx with the two-letter abbreviation of your keyboard layout, for example, uk or nl):
kb16 xxClose and save the file. The change that you made will apply to the next DOS application you launch; you do not need to reboot your computer. Important: If you use any program that uses a special Autoexec.nt file, you must make this change in all such files (as in the examples noted elsewhere on this page under Expanded (EMS) memory under Vista.
(4) Install WPDOS to your Vista computer. Install a desktop shortcut for WPDOS following the advice elsewhere on this site. Note that the shortcut will appear on the desktop as a plain white rectangle, no matter which icon you may select in the shortcut properties sheet. Specify on the Window tab that the program should open in either a window or full-screen, depending on which you prefer.
(5) Run WP. If it seems impossibly slow, install Tame now; otherwise, you may install Tame later. After selecting a printer, use Shift-F1/Display and choose Auto-Select so that WP will chose its IBM VGA 640x480 graphics driver. Now use Shift-F7, 6 (in WPDOS 5.1) or Shift-F7, 7 (in WPDOS 6.x) to switch to print preview; you may have to wait as long as a minute before the preview appears. When it appears, press F7 to return to text mode; you may have to wait as long as a minute. If the wait is intolerable, and you want to avoid it in the future, close WPDOS and rename all the .VRS files in the WPDOS directory (rename them to something like .VR9 so that you can restore them in the future if you need to); if the .VRS files are renamed, WPDOS cannot try to switch to graphics mode, and will display only a brief error message if you attempt to do so.
By following these procedures, WPDOS will be fully usable, but you may prefer to run WPDOS under Windows XP.
Note: Before performing the steps described here, you may need to disable Vista's User Access Control (UAC) security feature until you have completed making the changes. If Windows will not let you open the relevant files, or bothers you with prompts, download and run TweakUAC and turn off UAC or switch it to "quiet mode"; when you are finished making and testing the changes suggested here, run the utility again to restore UAC.
WPDOS 5.1 and almost all abbreviation-expander and other add-on software for WPDOS requires the use of expanded (EMS) memory in order to run properly or to run at all. EMS memory is not normally available to DOS applications under Vista unless you use an ingenious program named EMS Magic.
Begin by visiting the EMS Magic web page to read about the program. Download the Windows Installer version from the download link on the program's web page, and run the installer. From the Start Menu, go to Programs (or All Programs) and find EMS Magic; choose the menu item named "Command Prompt with XMS + EMS" (or, preferably, right-click it and drag a shortcut to your desktop). Run this menu item (or shortcut) to open a command prompt that supplies expanded memory. Within this prompt, navigate to your WPDOS directory and run WPDOS.
If you have installed Tame, it will not be available in this EMS-enabled command prompt until you perform some further steps. First, open a command prompt and enter the following line exactly as it appears here (with the quotation marks and spaces):
Notepad "%ProgramFiles%\EMS Magic\shortcuts\autoexec.nt"When the file opens in Notepad, move the cursor to the foot of the file and press Enter to create a new line. Leave the file open in Notepad.
Next, download this EditAutoexec.nt shortcut file (right-click the link and choose Save Target As... or Save Link As...) and save the file to your desktop. Double-click the file to run it; when the Autoexec.nt file opens in another copy of Notepad, find the line that runs tame-nt.com (probably the last line), and copy the entire line to the Windows clipboard by highlighting the whole line and pressing Ctrl-C. Close this copy of Notepad without making any change to the file. Now switch to the other copy of Notepad that you opened earlier and left open; be certain that the cursor is at the foot of the file, and press Ctrl-V to paste in the the line that runs Tame. Close the file, and respond Yes when prompted to save the changed contents. Tame will now operate in the EMS Magic command prompt named "Command Prompt with XMS + EMS".
WordPerfect for DOS 5.1 and 6.x, when used with certain video hardware, can display print previews and other graphics screens in a higher resolution than the standard 640x480 VGA graphics mode. (See the full discussion of this feature on this site's graphics mode survival guide, which may help you determine whether or not your video hardware supports it.)
Most Windows Vista installations do not let you use these VESA drivers, even if your video hardware supports VESA graphics. However, if, and only if, your graphics hardware supports VESA graphics, you may be able to use these graphics in one of two ways: either (1) install the Standard VGA Graphics Adapter driver as described elsewhere on this page; or (2) if, and only if, the Windows XP video driver for your graphics hardware also supports VESA graphics, then you may be able to use that driver under Vista to display VESA graphics. To accomplish this, download the Windows XP driver for your video hardware and install it under Vista. Warning: On my system, the XP driver for my video hardware causes Vista to crash whenever I try to view a graphics file, so I do not recommend this procedure!
To install a Windows XP video driver under Vista, use the following procedure. The example describes the procedure for Nvidia-based hardware; presumably something broadly similar applies to ATI hardware.
Example based on Nvidia-based hardware only: Download the Windows XP installer for your video hardware from Nvidia.com. Run the installation program and take careful note of where the installation program installs itself. For example, the installer program may install itself a directory with a name that resembles C:\NVIDIA\Win2KXP\93.71 or some similar number. When you run the installer the first time, it will present an error message saying that you are not using the correct version of Windows. Cancel the installation, then, using Windows Explorer, navigate to the directory that contains the installer. Right-click on Setup.exe; choose Properties; then Compatibility Mode. Add a checkbox next to "Run this program in compatibility mode" and choose Windows XP Service Pack 2 from the dropdown menu; click OK. Now double-click on Setup.exe to run the installer. After you reboot the system, WPDOS will be able to enter full-screen mode and use VESA graphics. (Presumably, a similar procedure will work with ATI video hardware, but I do not know whether Compatibility Mode will be required or the names of the files that may be involved.)
With WPDOS 6.x, VESA graphics can be used by selecting the "VESA VBE" driver in Shift-F1, 2, 1, 1 (you may need to use the WP installer to install this driver, which uses the file VESA.VRS). With WPDOS 5.1, you must download and install a new VESA driver available elsewhere on this site.
Note: Before performing the steps described here, you may need to disable Vista's User Access Control (UAC) security feature until you have completed making the changes. If Windows will not let you open the relevant files, or bothers you with prompts, download and run TweakUAC and turn off UAC or switch it to "quiet mode"; when you are finished making and testing the changes suggested here, run the utility again to restore UAC.
If your printer is a standard laser printer that is connected to your computer by a parallel port, then WP will print normally under Vista. If your printer is connected by a USB cable or across a network, but uses a WP printer driver (not one of the methods found on this site for printing to any Windows printer), then you can use one of this site's methods for printing to USB or networked printers; follow this link to the Windows printing page of this site, and use Method B only (Method A does not work under Windows Vista).
If you have a Windows-only printer and require one of this site's methods of printing to any Windows printer, then you may want to experiment with the methods on the linked page. Most, possibly all, of the methods described on that page should work with Windows Vista.
Most batch files written for use in earlier versions of Windows (or DOS) will run under Vista. For security reasons, however, Vista will not allow traditional batch files to perform certain actions, such as copying files. If you run WPDOS from a batch file that also performs such actions as copying a file, you must edit the batch file so that a command that now reads something like this:
copy thisfile.ext thatfile.extis changed by adding the command "cmd /c" (without quotation marks) at the start of the line so that it reads instead something like this:
cmd /c copy thisfile.ext thatfile.extThe same procedure may be required for other commands; feel free to experiment.
Note: Before performing the steps described here, you may need to disable Vista's User Access Control (UAC) security feature until you have completed making the changes. If Windows will not let you open the relevant files, or bothers you with prompts, download and run TweakUAC and turn off UAC or switch it to "quiet mode"; when you are finished making and testing the changes suggested here, run the utility again to restore UAC.
Desktop shortcuts for DOS-based
programs running under Windows Vista display only a blank generic icon, as in
the example shown here. When editing the properties sheet of a desktop shortcut,
you can select any icon you like, and the icon that you select will
appear in
the General tab of the properties sheet, but it will not appear on the Vista
desktop. Only the generic icon will actually appear on the desktop.
This problem can be worked around in either of two ways:
Either (a) Create a batch file that runs the DOS-based program, create a shortcut to the batch file, and assign a custom icon to the shortcut. (For detailed information on creating and changing shortcuts, see another page on this site.) This workaround may cause minor problems in memory management, etc.; further information will be posted here when it becomes available. (But see the note elsewhere on this page about batch files under Vista.)
Or (b) Right-click on the Windows desktop; select New from the pop-up menu, then Shortcut; enter cmd.exe when prompted to enter the location of the item; type a name such as "WPDOS" when prompted to type a name for the shortcut; click Finish; right-click on the resulting shortcut and choose Properties; on the Shortcut tab, in the Target field, do not change what you see there, but carefully move the cursor to the right of cmd.exe, type a space, then the following text (replacing c:\wp51 with the actual location of WPDOS on your system): /c c:\wp51\wp.com (note very carefully that this begins with a forward slash, then the letter "c", then a space, then a directory location), then click on Change Icon and change the icon as described below.
If
you use either of these workarounds, you may want to use one of the two Vista-ready WP icons
included in this archive file; the two images are
based on the Novell and Corel logos used for Windows versions of WordPerfect.
Download the archive file to your Windows desktop; double-click on the archive
to open it; and copy one or both icons to your WP directory. (You may
need to disable User Access Control temporarily in order to do so.) Right-click on the
shortcut to your batch file; in the Program tab, use the "Change Icon" button,
and select one of these two icons. The two icons look like this, WPNovell.ico
on the left, WPCorel.ico on the right.
You may also use the more familiar WP icons available with earlier versions of Windows. For WPDOS 5.1, after pressing the "Change Icon" button in your batch file shortcut, type MORICONS.DLL in the filename field, and choose the familiar gray icon. For WPDOS 6.x, download this icon library file; copy it to your WPDOS directory; and, after pressing the "Change Icon" button in your batch file shortcut, navigate to your WPDOS directory, choose the file named WPICON60.ICL, and select the first icon in the library.
By default, the Vista Start Menu does not include the familiar Run... box. To enable it, do one of two things:
If you prefer the "classic" Windows Start Menu, right-click on the Vista "Pearl" in the lower-left corner of your screen, choose Properties, go to the Start Menu tab if it is not already open, and select Classic Start Menu. The Start Menu will not include the familiar Run... box.
Or, if you prefer the Vista-style Start Menu, right-click on the Vista "Pearl" in the lower-left corner of your screen, choose Properties, Start Menu, and click on Customize... In the list of options, scroll down until you find "Run Command". Check the box next to it, then click OK. The next time you open the Start Menu you will see a Run... command in the lower right of the menu.