(For more resources on Microsoft products, see here.)
In small enterprise environments or on home computers, compatibility fixes can be applied without using the Application Compatibility Toolkit through the user interface. If you want to know how the Windows Application Compatibility Infrastructure works in detail or if you want to deploy fixes to multiple devices, skip straight to the second part of this article: Achieving application compatibility in enterprise environments.
Compatibility fixes can be grouped together to form compatibility modes. Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 all come with a default set of compatibility modes out of the box. System administrators can also use Compatibility Administrator to create their own compatibility modes.
Compatibility modes can be applied directly from the user interface either by using the Program Compatibility Wizard in Windows XP, or by right-clicking on an executable file, or a shortcut to an executable file, and selecting Properties from the menu.
Windows XP contains the following compatibility modes:
As shown in the following screenshot, the Compatibility tab in Vista and Windows 7(left) looks a little different from Windows XP (right).
Privilege level in Vista and Windows 7
Note that the Run this program as an administrator option will be grayed out if an application manifest is included with the program.
Included in Windows Vista and later, the Program Compatibility Wizard allows users or system administrators to test legacy applications running against different compatibility modes.
To launch the Program Compatibility Wizard in Windows Vista, type the following command into the Search box on the Start menu:
%systemroot%System32mshta.exe res://acprgwiz.dll/compatmode.hta
To launch the Program Compatibility Wizard in Windows 7, search for program compatibility troubleshooter in Start | Help and Support.
Compatibility modes set using the Program Compatibility Wizard only apply to the currently logged in user. Compatibility settings in Vista and Windows 7 can be applied to the logged in user or to all users.Administrative privileges are required to apply compatibility settings for a given application to all users of a system.
The application will launch and you can test it to see if the selected compatibility mode resolves the identified problems. Once you’ve finished testing, close the application. Back in the Help and Support Center, choose to either apply the compatibility settings or try different settings.
Browsing compatibility settings for each user
If compatibility modes are set on programs for specific users, you can use Compatibility Administrator to browse the settings for each user under the Per User Compatibility Settings node. This node only appears if per user settings are found on the system.
Introduced in Windows Vista, the Program Compatibility Assistant helps to automate the process of applying compatibility fixes to legacy applications by monitoring for known problems when programs are running. This feature runs as a service, and prompts users to apply suggested fixes for applications, either during the setup phase or when running an installed application. The Program Compatibility Assistant can detect the following problems automatically:
The Program Compatibility Assistant intercepts an installation routine, prompting the user to try again using recommended settings.
The Program Compatibility Assistant is intended to help home users resolve problems with legacy applications. In an enterprise environment, to avoid potential problems with messages generated by the Program Compatibility Assistant, you should consider disabling the service in Group Policy. The Turn off Program Compatibility Assistant setting can be found in the Group Policy Management Editor under Computer or User Configuration | Policies | Administrative Templates | Windows Components | Application Compatibility.
The Program Compatibility Assistant doesn’t monitor programs that have an application manifest that marks them as compatible with Vista or Windows 7. However, if you want to exclude a program but don’t want to disable the Program Compatibility Assistant completely, you can create a REG_MULTI_SZ registry value named ExecutablesToExclude under the following key:
HKLM SoftwareMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionCompatibility Assistant
I remember deciding to pursue my first IT certification, the CompTIA A+. I had signed…
Key takeaways The transformer architecture has proved to be revolutionary in outperforming the classical RNN…
Once we learn how to deploy an Ubuntu server, how to manage users, and how…
Key-takeaways: Clean code isn’t just a nice thing to have or a luxury in software projects; it's a necessity. If we…
While developing a web application, or setting dynamic pages and meta tags we need to deal with…
Software architecture is one of the most discussed topics in the software industry today, and…