There is no problem running win32 console apps as long as they truly are win32 apps and not using any 16-bit stubs.

Not really an answer 😁 personally I've been on 64bits some years now... if you have an older pc around it will be handy if you mess with ancient stuff, else vmware is great, a simple win2000pro VM has been useful to me several times... but it depends what kind of interoperability your programs require...

Thanks. The app. I am talking about is Image Alchemy (alchlong.exe). I think it's a 32bits PE executable. Don't know about 16bits stubs though.

is there a demo somewhere to test? I can report immediately

edit: it runs fine, win7/pro x64:

That's weird. Last time I tried it failed.

Thank you very much.

Maybe I ran alchemy.exe instead by mistake.

Good to know.

If you get Pro or higher you can get XP Mode for free. I use it to run any 16-bit Windows apps. It is also really handy for manually installing 32-bit apps that have 16-bit installers.

How do you invoke it?

You start it like you would VPC, but once you install an application in it, you will find a shortcut to it in your Win7 Start Menu that you can use to start it as if it was an application running natively in your Win7, but with an XP style window. I also also able to use it for my old scanner that had no 64-bit drivers by installing the drivers in the XP VM.

Great! Thanks.