Installing Win32s in Windows and Windows for Workgroups

ID: Q120901

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows operating system versions 3.1, 3.11
Microsoft Windows for Workgroups versions 3.1, 3.11
Microsoft Win32s, versions 1.0, 1.1, 1.15, 1.2, 125a

SUMMARY

Win32s is a set of DLLs and a virtual device driver (VxD) that allows Win32-based applications to run on top of Windows or Windows for Workgroups. If you receive the following error message when you run or install a Win32-based application

   This program cannot be run in DOS mode

Win32s is either not installed or not installed properly.

You can use Freecell to test your installation of Win32s.

MORE INFORMATION

Win32s Version 1.2 Availability and Support

Win32s is available from many sources. Microsoft Personal Operating System Support Engineers support the installation of Win32s when it is obtained from the following source:

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Software Library:

 ~ Pw1118.exe (size: 2530739 bytes)

For more information about downloading files from the Microsoft Software Library, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q119591
   TITLE     : How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services

Microsoft Windows and Windows for Workgroups support engineers may not be able to assist you with individual application or Win32s development questions. Contact your software manufacturer or Microsoft Developer Support for assistance in these areas.

Win32s Problems

Freecell is an application available with Win32s in the above locations. To test your installation of Win32s, run Freecell. If you are experiencing problems but Freecell runs properly, contact the manufacturer of the product you are attempting to run or install for further information. If Freecell generates an error, continue reading the following information.

One of the following error messages occurs when you run Freecell and Win32s is not installed properly:

File Error: Cannot find OLECLI.DLL
-or-
Win32s - Error: Improper installation. Win32s requires WIN32S.EXE and WIN32S16.DLL to run. Reinstall Win32s.
-or-
Win32s - Error: Improper installation. Windows requires w32s.386 in order to run. Reinstall Win32s.
-or-
Error: Cannot find file freecell.exe (or one of its components)...

Also, if Win32s is not installed properly, the display may be corrupted as soon as you run Freecell.

Resolutions

If Win32s is not installed correctly, check the following:

If you are having video problems, check to see if you have an S3 video card. Certain S3 drivers do not work with Win32s. Either use the generic drivers shipped with Windows, or contact your video card manufacturer for an updated driver.
Make sure that the following line is in your SYSTEM.INI file:
```
      device=*vmcpd
```
If you have a printer driver by LaserMaster, remove it or comment it out. (It interferes with installing Win32s.) Reboot the computer so that the changes you made take effect. After you successfully reinstall Win32s, reinstall the driver or remove the comment characters.
The driver interferes with installing Win32s because the LaserMaster drivers create a WINSPOOL device. The extension is ignored when the filename portion of a path matches a device name. As a result, when Setup tries to write to WINSPOOL.DRV, it fails because it attempts to write to WINSPOOL. In fact, any Win32-based application that tries to link to WINSPOOL.DRV also fails; however, most Win32-based applications that print under Win32s do not use the WINSPOOL application programming interfaces (APIs) because they are not supported in Win32s. As a result, you can usually disable this driver while installing Win32s and then re-enable it afterwards.
Delete the WIN32S directory, the WIN32APP directory, and the W32SYS.DLL, WIN32S16.DLL, and WIN32S.EXE files from your hard disk.
Edit the WIN32S.INI file on your hard disk. Change the line(s) SETUP=1 to read SETUP=0. Reboot your computer and reinstall Win32s.
NOTE: You can also delete the WIN32S.INI file altogether for a clean installation.
Although it is possible to install Win32s over an old installation of Win32s, it is recommended that you remove the old files before installing the new ones.
Make sure that paging is enabled. From the Control Panel, choose the 386 Enhanced icon, choose Virtual Memory, then choose Change. Verify that the drive type is not set to None.
Make sure that SHARE is enabled. Edit the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and add the following line if it is not already there:
```
      C:\DOS\SHARE.EXE
```
-or-
If you are running Windows for Workgroups or you have a file by the name VSHARE.386 on your system, you do not need to load SHARE in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If you have this file, edit the SYSTEM.INI file and add the following line to the [386Enh] section:
```
      Device=VSHARE.386
```
If you use Windows for Workgroups and Win32s with After Dark or Power.drv, you may lose the Network icon in Control Panel and all networking features. To resolve this problem, you must remove the After Dark statements and the Power.drv statement in the System.ini file.

Network Installation of Win32s

The following information describes how to install Win32s on a network setup of Windows on a Novell NetWare server (SETUP /A and /N).

NOTE: Microsoft does not support this method; therefore, Microsoft Technical Support does not support the procedure in this article. Although we have tested the following procedure and it appears to function as described, if this method does not work you should use a supported configuration instead.

To set up Win32s to a shared Windows directory on a Novell NetWare server, you must have full read/write access to that directory. Win32s does set up correctly the first time. The Setup program detects the shared directory (SETUP /A) as the Windows directory and copies the files to it. Setup also modifies the .INI files for the copy of Windows from which you are performing Setup. For all other installations, the SYSTEM.INI files must be modified manually; otherwise, the full setup program tries to run again and attempts to write the files to the server directory again. Add the following lines to each SYSTEM.INI file:

   [Boot]
   drivers=F:\<shared Windows directory>\winmm16.dll

      NOTE: The drivers= line may contain additional drivers.

   [386Enh]
   device=F:\<shared Windows directory>\win32s\w32s.386.

Both lines should contain the full network path to the files in the shared Windows directory. The Win32s Setup program installs the Win32s directory, which is ordinarily created in the Windows SYSTEM subdirectory, into the shared Windows directory.

KBCategory: kbpolicy kbdisplay kbinterop kberrmsg kbfile KBSubcategory: win31 wfw wfwg Additional reference words: 3.10 3.11 win32 afterdark

Keywords          : win31 wfwg 
Version           : WINDOWS:1.0,1.1,1.15,1.2,125a
Platform          : WINDOWS

Last Reviewed: April 11, 1999