Thought I was getting a deal on this CD for $3. Oh well...

Haven't been getting anywhere getting this to run on Win8. Here's what I've got so far:
Opening the CD and running Autorun.exe or any of the Setup executables gives the hourglass icon for a moment, then nothing. Task Manager shows whichever I run is still active - and it's a 32bit program. So it's compatible on some level, but for some reason it's not working. At least if it were 16bit, I could say 'not compatible with my 64bit system'.
I tired copying the CD contents to a temp setup folder and started poking around to see what I could come up with. Curiously, Running Autorun.exe from there brings up what I guess is the installation screen, but the only options that respond are Install and Exit - they light up when I bring the pointer over them. I also hear an sound effect like a sword swipe, and clicking on them plays a clicking sound. Install doesn't work, but Exit does.
The three CAB files in the _Setup folder are problematic too. 7zip usually works for cab files (like installing The Bard's Tale '05), but not for these. Among the suggestions I've tried are the Windows Package Manager, Dism.exe and Expand.exe (in System32), and a waste of time called ZipScan.
Compatibility Mode can be a joke - I've lost count of how many time the 'Wizard' returned 'XP Service pack 3' - even for 16bit code that was written for Win95 or earlier.

So if anyone knows something I'mm missing here, please let me know.

Two things you could try are InstallShield Wrapper and Universal Extractor.

InstallShield Wrapper
http://legroom.net/software/uniextract

Thank you for the info. I'll let you know how it works out.

Just more time wasted. The wrapper only supports versions 3/5 of the program for some reason - but doesn't tell me what version the game is trying to run. Uniextract seems intent on treating the target (I've tried the Autorun and both Setup executables) as archives instead of trying to run them normally. It lists multiple efforts to 'extract' them, then generates useless text files when it fails. I have Interplay's Soulbringer too, and it has virtually the same files and the same results. The same 32bit EXEs that do nothing yet appear in Task Manager as being active, and the same three cab files with the same names that nothing can open. Thanks for trying.

Have you tried compatibility mode? It came out in 1999.

Did you try Uniextract on the cab files?

The game is available on GOG, probably without installer issues. It was even on sale a few days before you made your first post.

BTW what operating system are you on?

Are you able to install the demo? http://www.fileplanet.com/34897/download/Crus … -and-Magic-Demo

Hi smeg
I bought this game from GOG months ago and it runs well without problems
So if you want to buy it, you will solve your problem
I'm playing it on XP SP2 Pentium 4 Northwood 2.66ghz ( without HT 533Mhz bus speed) 512 MB PC3200 ADATA Samsung UCCC Gigabyte 8sr533-p and gainward GeForce 4 TI 4200