Best Way to Install Legacy Applications in Win10/Pro x64?

I am running Win10/Pro x64 version 19042.804 or 20H2

At 81 I'm no longer interested in spending my limited remaining hours learning new razzle-dazzle software.
I've finally given in and am moving to Win10 from Win7. I'd like to install legacy software for which I still have official CDs, e.g., Office 2000, Acrobat 9, PSE-6, Autosketch 9, and software of that generation. It has run fine for me on Win7. I'm certainly not interested in a monthly subscription arrangement.

Do I need to take special steps to install it and use it effectively under Win10?

Stay safe!

Hi, I can understand your viewpoint.

a. Search for reports of using particular software on Windows 10 e.g.
Office 2000:
Run Office 2000, Office 2003 on Windows 10: Possible?

This gives a useful review and suggestions.

b. In some cases, in general, installing in an appropriate compatibility mode might help as mentioned in that article.

c. Where software is not supported for and not recommended for use with Windows 10, there is no guarantee whatsoever that you won't run into snags even if you manage to get it to install.

Where you absolutely need to use old versions, you can run them in a virtual machine, whether that be Hypervisor (included in Win 10 Pro) or the free VirtualBox for example.

This means you run that program, and create a virtual machine by installing, say, Windows 7.

You will then run Windows 7 in a window under Win 10.

Anything you have that is compatible with Win 7 can then be installed under Win 7 on your Win 10 machine.

I have a Notebook with Office 2000 installed but I did a custom install leaving off Outlook. It's been awhile so I don't know if it will still activate, also have Office 2003 and Office2007 available.

I haven't tried installing Adobe Acrobat 9 on a replacement computer yet as it usually had to be deactivated with Adobe before doing so, not sure how big a hassle it will entail.

P.S. I've been your age for a couple months now.

Some old software can be tricky to install in Windows 10. I always install such software from an administrator account and run the installer file as an administrator with the compatibility set to the mode the software was designed for e.g. Windows 7 or earlier. If this fails, you cab always run the software from a virtual machine - you already have Hyper V with Windows 10.

baumgrenze said:

I am running Win10/Pro x64 version 19042.804 or 20H2

At 81 I'm no longer interested in spending my limited remaining hours learning new razzle-dazzle software.
I've finally given in and am moving to Win10 from Win7. I'd like to install legacy software for which I still have official CDs, e.g., Office 2000, Acrobat 9, PSE-6, Autosketch 9, and software of that generation. It has run fine for me on Win7. I'm certainly not interested in a monthly subscription arrangement.

Do I need to take special steps to install it and use it effectively under Win10?

Stay safe!

@baumgrenze

Hi there

(germanic -- Baume grenzeTree Border/frontier !!!!! )

As you have all the CD's etc why not run these in the way you always used to but on a Virtual Machine -- these days Virtual machines run very efficiently especially on modern hardware and you can run the legacy apps "Until the Cows come Home".

You simply say create a Virtual Machine of Windows 7 / XP or whatever and you can run it concurrently with your existing W10 system.

The only learning involved is to get to grips with understanding a bit about Virtual machines --it's quite fun and you don't have to get into anything "Geekish" unless you want to.

I've for example got a Windows XP system running a professional (old Studio quality) Minidisc recorder -- recording some old CD's to Minidiscs -- I'll bet a lot of people on this board probably have never even heard of Minidiscs !!!!



(OK this is on a Linux Host system - but its identical on Windows Host systems).

HYPER-V is a bit of a nightmare for "First time users of VM's" so I'd go for the free version of VMWare player or Oracle's Virtual Box - both are fairly easy to use --I'd go for VMWare but you can try both - the same "Virtual Machine" should run on either of them.

Simply install the software (just download vmware player or virtual box) then use the virtual Machine wizard to create the virtual machine --it will ask for your windows install disc then just follow the steps and you are done.

To get the best graphics etc after installing the Virtual machine -- after the first boot of the VM (you don't need to re-boot your host Windows system) simply run vmware tools if using the vmware product or vbox guest additions if using vbox) -- this only needs to be done once at the very first boot (it's called power on in VM terminology) of your "Guest" system.

If you get stuck there's always help in the Virtualisation section of the Forum.

Note : Also on Windows 10 systems CD's can be mounted as iso files so you don't need to use physical CD's if you can create iso images of them. Then for the Virtual machine in the setup use say a Windows 7 install disk (but the iso image) and the Virtual machine will boot from the iso image. Same when installing software .

Another possibility is take a Macrium image of your existing W7 system, create a bootable iso, and then in your virtual machine boot from the macrium iso and restore your W7 system. Then go into "fix boot problems" before exiting the macrium system and after that's done boot the VM and you should have all your software ready for use.

Note though If you can shrink the W7 partition size to something you really need otherwise the Virtual hard disk you need to use will have to be as large as your current W7 size. Usually 40 - 60 GB should be more than enough for these systems --it's only the OS and applications you need on the system disk --user data you can copy without problems to W10 system. Sharing also works between VM and Host W10 machine too.

Any sensible partition manager can shrink partitions -- I prefer GPARTED but there's a whole slew of other free ones too. Shrink the partition BEFORE creating the image for the Virtual Machine though. I'd also take a proper backup as well before starting any of this.

Have fun !!!

Stay safe - but finally I think we are beginning to see the way out of the COVID-19 madness -- vaccinations seem to be doing the job - at least here !!!!

@Steve C

I know you always like doing things to Windows -- however the risk in getting legacy software to run on W10 is that updates might render the software unuseable again -- OK if you like the challenge but I think the OP would prefer the stability -- a Virtual machine won't change no matter how much Windows 10 itself is updated - unless the Vm software itself breaks --fortunately that's very rare and big companies like Vmware and Oracle fix it pretty quickly.

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

I've for example got a Windows XP system running a professional (old Studio quality) Minidisc recorder -- recording some old CD's to Minidiscs -- I'll bet a lot of people on this board probably have never even heard of Minidiscs !!!

@jimbo45
You do mean the small ones that fit in the depression in the drive tray, don't you? I still have some left over from when my camcorder died. The only issue I ever had with them is getting them to eject from the slot type ODD/Optical Disc Drive.

jimbo45 said:

Hi no - those are just regular DVD's but smaller.

Minidiscs were an audio medium capable of very high quality sound and were initially expected to replace audio CD's -- they had the advantage as well of being re-recordable. What killed them off was sony's proprietary ATRAC format and the hideous DRM that went with their software on consumer grade stuff (the Pro stuff was fine - WAV/FLAC OK and no DRM).

Cheers
jimbo

Thanks, hadn't experienced those.

I have been remiss in not returning thanks for the insights of those who responded to this post. I offer my most humble apologies.

After some health issues I am starting a good faith effort to begin using my 'new' system.

Vielen danke,
baumgrenze

An update to my post at #3, I got a new Notebook in Oct. '21 and a new Desktop in Apr. '22, both came with Win10 Pro and free license for Win11 which I did install. I installed Office 2000 on the Desktop then later installed Office 2007, no issues. Also am running Adobe Acrobat 9 on the Desktop, no issues yet except for the registration part but I don't need it very often. Main issue that may arise with the older Office suites is Outlook may not work properly.

One thing I always do with my computers is to install the free LibreOffice, can open more file formats such as for the old Microsoft Works and Mac OS X .pages,