Failed to create hardware surface \ VOGONS

Failed to create hardware surface

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First post, by airmac

Posted on 2007-08-13, 19:26

airmac Offline

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Posts: 1
Joined: 2007-08-13, 19:04

I am using DOSBOX version 0.71 on Windows Vista to run some older DOS based programs called Teletutors. Teletutor software is used to teach students about computer concepts, there basically little mini lessons. I have the Teletutor files copied to a folder in Program Files and use a batch file from the desktop to start the application. My batch file contains:

C:
Cd C:\Program Files\DOSBOX-0.71\
Dosbox “C:\ProgramFiles\Teletutor\ISDN\Student.exe” –exit –fullscreen
Exit

The batch file executes and DOSBOX starts up in full screen mode but my application does not start. When this occurs the DOSBOX status window shows:

MIDI: Opened device:win32
Failed to create hardware surface.
Restarting video subsystem with windib enabled.

What steps are necessary to fix this error? I have not made any changes to the dosbox.conf in any way.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Reply 1 of 2, by MiniMax

Posted on 2007-08-13, 19:35

MiniMax Offline

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Joined: 2004-01-18, 04:15
Location: Stockholm, Sweden, Europe, Earth Interests: Old games & young women

Some things to try:

Does it work if you start Student.exe manually?

Start DOSBox (without -fullscreen), do a

mount C "C:\ProgramFiles\Teletutor\ISDN"
C:
Student.exe
Try it again, this time with -fullscreen.
To get rid of the "Restarting video...." message, try setting a variable named SDL_VIDEODRIVER=windib in the Windows environment before starting DOSBox.