This can happen if NTVDM is broken. When NTVDM is "missing", whenever you run a 16bit program Windows will complain that it cannot "find" it. 🙄

I don't have a list of all of the NTVDM files with me at the moment but to confirm that this is the issue. Try running a DOS game in Windows XP and see if Windows reports the same error message about not being able to find a file. Then we can pinpoint it to NTVDM or a specific application problem.

Your not getting a "16-bit subsystem" error messag are you? This is related to the above problem in that some NTVDM files are corrupted, I'm talking about when NTVDM is totally non-functional. (For anyone that wants to simulate the behavior simply rename NTVDM.exe in SYSTEM32 and DLLCACHE and then run a 16bit program).

Hi - thanks for the reply. I'm not getting any "16-bit subsystem" error messages.

Forgive me as I don't know what NTVDM is (should I be shot?). I don't have any DOS games to try either.

NTVDM = NT Virtual DOS Machine = The emulated ms-dos for Windows NT systems.

OK - cheers. But what do I actually have to do to get older games to run?

For MS-DOS games you have the excellent DOSBox emulator -> http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/

You can also use VDMSound (a substitute for sound capabilities in the NTVDM), for giving ms-dos games inside windows a chance to have proper sound.

If you want to learn more, read the forums.

It's not a DOS game and there's no issue with sound as the disc has a preview movie file that I can play fine. Have tried all compatibility modes and searched this forum but still can't find anything to solve it. If anyone has a step by step answer i'd be sooo grateful

Hmmm, go to a command prompt and type "edit".

If your NTVDM.exe is missing then you should get an error message saying that the file could not be found.

If Edit works then NTVDM is working.

I wonder if SFC (system file checker) will repair damaged NTVDM files?

Depends,

NTVDM is a protected file but I'm not sure if SFC just yanks the files out of dllcache or if it requires you to insert the CD and it checks that too (I seem to remember it doing that....).

Considering that XP automagically replaces files that have changed using dllcache...it probably does use the CD if it doesn't have the file locally.

It's an easy quick check tho. Just delete NTVDM from SYSTEM32\DLLCACHE....then run SFC.

Thing is I don't think SFC covers all NTVDM files. For instance Config.NT\Autoexec.NT isn't protected and we all know how important those files are to NTVDM. (Thanks MS for nothing!)

ok...i got to comand prompt...typed "edit" and got "the system cannot find the file c:\windows\system32\edit.com." I was typing edit at the end of the string c:\documents and settings\(my username) ...is this right? You have probably noticed i'm slow with all this!

Yep! That's the error message you should receive if NTVDM is "missing".

See it differes from a normal error message when you run a program that is not in your path:

Normal

'hello' is not recognized as an
operable program or batch file.

Missing NTVDM

the system cannot find the file c:\windows\system32\edit.com.

So if you surf over to c:\windows\system32, you'll see edit.com but you will be unable to run it since EDIT.COM is a 16bit program and without NTVDM (NT Virtual Device Machine - which enables 16bit programs to run on 32bit OS) then you will be unable to run it.

Okay.....now at the command prompt type:

cd \windows\system32
then type
dir NTVDM*

and report what it says.

Also go to cd \windows\system32\dllcache
then type
dir NTVDM*

and report what it says

OK - thanks for your help (and patience)

I did what you suggested and in both cases I got the message...

"NTVDM is not recognised as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file."

Hmmmmm...so what next?????

...and, yes...the error message I get when trying to click on "edit" in system32 is exactly the same as the one I get when trying to click on the setup.exe file on some game discs

😕 Whaa? You mean the cd and dir commands don't even work?

wooops...

ok missed a bit...

here's the screen shot of what I got...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/Babaodo/bcb362d2.jpg

Weird, there's no NTVDM.EXE in your dllcache directory. (This would replace the NTVDM.EXE in your SYSTEM32 directory if it was corrupted).

Also the NTVDM.EXE in your SYSTEM32 directory has been renamed to NTVDM.EXG.

Your NTVDM is also not the same size as mine. Are you using XP with no Service Packs or Service Pack 1?

Hmmm...

Before doing ANYTHING I would make sure you have the latest virus/s[yware definitions and scan your system. If your system turns up clean then I would rename NTVDM.EXG to NTVDM.EXE and also copy it into the DLLCACHE folder.

It also probably wouldn't hurt to run SFC /SCANNOW from the command line (Have your XP CD handy).

Yeah, I also noticed that ntvdm.exe was renamed to ntvdm.exg, which suggests that something purposely broke NTVDM support on that computer.

Also, the size of the XP SP1 version is 296,288 with a date of 6/11/2004.

I would recommend running a fully-updated virus scanner followed by a fully-updated spyware scanner before attempting any automated repairs.

Hi guys. I have SP2 on this machine. My anti virus (AVG Pro) is up to date and a scan today is clear. I also have checked with ewido and adaware that there is no spyware on the machine.

So...let me get this right. Rename NTVDM.EXG to NTVDM.EXE, leave it where it is and then drop a copy into the DLLCACHE folder?

(you're way ahead of me here so speak slowly!)

Thanks again

odorono: you can try that, but I would recommend scanning the NTVDM.EXE after renaming it but before running it in case your scanners skip over non-EXE files.

Also, you might try Spybot instead of Ad-Aware, as I don't think Ad-Aware has been updated for quite some time. I haven't heard of ewido, so I can't vouch for it's quality.

I'm also not sure whether it needs to be copied to DLLCACHE. Hopefully DosFreak will know.