Application Compatibility -- Migrating from Windows Me or Windows 98

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Application Compatibility — Migrating from Windows Me or Windows 98

System tools in Windows 98, such as ScanDisk and DriveSpace, cannot be upgraded to Windows Vista. Also, client software for other networks cannot be upgraded to Windows Vista, so you must acquire new versions of these clients to complete the upgrade.

Some applications written for Windows 98 or Windows Me might not run properly on Windows Vista without modification. For example, applications might do any of the following:

  • Maintain registry data in different locations. Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Me store this data in different locations than Windows Vista, or Windows XP Professional and earlier.
  • Make calls to Windows 95–, Windows 98–, or Windows Me–specific application programming interfaces.
  • Install different files when installed on Windows Vista than when installed on Windows 98 or Windows Me.

There are four ways to address problems with applications that do not run properly on Windows Vista:

  • Reinstall the applications after the upgrade if the applications are compatible with Windows Vista.
  • Create a new Windows Vista–based standard configuration with compatible versions of the applications.
  • Use migration dynamic-link libraries (DLLs) for each application that is not migrated during the upgrade.
  • Run the application in Compatibility Mode by right-clicking the application, selecting Properties, and then clicking the Compatibility tab.

Software vendors and corporate developers can use migration DLLs that move registry subkeys and entries, install new versions of files, or move files within the file system. These migration DLLs are used by Windows Vista Setup to resolve incompatibilities. Setup calls these DLLs to update the application installation. For more information about migration DLLs, see the Software Development Kit (SDK) information in the MSDN library link on the Web Resources page at: https://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources.