The Computer Oracle

Does Windows 8 Support 16-bit Programs?

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Music by Eric Matyas
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Track title: Thinking It Over

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Chapters
00:00 Does Windows 8 Support 16-Bit Programs?
00:36 Accepted Answer Score 14
00:56 Answer 2 Score 0
01:44 Answer 3 Score 0
02:16 Thank you

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Full question
https://superuser.com/questions/490374/d...

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Content licensed under CC BY-SA
https://meta.stackexchange.com/help/lice...

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Tags
#windows8 #compatibility #16bit

#avk47



ACCEPTED ANSWER

Score 14


While 64-bit copies of Windows 8 do not support 16-bit applications, they are still supported on 32-bit copies[1][2][3]. However, they are not supported by default and must be manually turned on with a Control Panel applet:

16-bit support Control Panel applet




ANSWER 2

Score 0


This is the same as Windows Vista or Windows 7. If you have a 64bit version of Windows, you cannot run 16bit applications. If you have a 32bit version of Windows, you can run 16bit applications.

Workaround for 64bit systems: In Windows 7 64bit you could just download the Virtual PC XP Mode and run your 16bit application there. I'm not sure if Windows 8 also provides an XP Mode (I don't think so) but (some versions?) of Windows 8 come with Hyper-V support. So you could easily run e.g. Windows XP in your Hyper-v to have 16bit support.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx Link




ANSWER 3

Score 0


As per Windows 7, 16-bit applications simply cannot run on a 64-bit Windows 8 installation.

However, the NTVDM required to run 16-bit applications is still available on 32-bit Windows 8 systems:

The NTVDM is present in all 32-bit NT-based Windows versions including Vista, 7 and 8, except for in 64-bit versions.

As Synetech noted, this feature is disable by default and must be manually enabled.