Windows 7 applications

[tophatghost]

Hi, I've seen this problem dotted around a few forums and still haven't found a proper solution.

My Win7 won't let me run certain applications or .exe files, mainly games. Some it does and some it doesn't for no apparent reason. I've got 3 HDDs (2 int, 1 ext) and I've tried running it from all three and still nothing. The same thing happens everytime, I try to run it, the loading icon appears and then nothing. No error message and no apparent cause. My hardware can take it, I've got the correct DX and nothing.

I've tried running it as an admin to no avail and I've tried running it in safe mode. When this happened the application loaded but said I needed to get DX 9.0 (Which I have) and enable hardware acceleration (which it is).

It's getting irritating now as I can find no solution and it's limiting the number of games I can play on my computer. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks : )

 

[noise]

The reason it said in safe mode it needed DX9/ HWaccel is because those items and many other drivers are disabled in safemode.

That being said if the apps are attempting to load in safemode and not normal mode I'd say something like AV or UAC is interfering with the launch. Is your user account an admin? Try uninstalling all AV instances and reinstall just one ... maybe MS security essentials.

 

[tophatghost]

I haven't got any AV gear, just the windows security essentials. It doesn't make sense because some apps run but others don't with no discernible differences. Same HDDs, same settings, same everything.

Some run, others just don't and it's starting to get very irritating

 

[noise]

Can you verify the account you are using is an administrator account?

 

[mactronix]

What sort of games ?
If you mean actual main title games then you can try what I do.
In My Documents make a folder called My Games. Install games here instead of the default directory, which I think is in the X86 program files somewhere which as you say are a pain in the butt, requiring admin privileges. in fact I think its a little more involved than that I had to change the permissions on my drive to get it to work for me, then someone told me to do what I am now telling you. I have had no issues ever since I did so.

Mactronix

 

[tophatghost]

Yeah they're retail title games. Just tried installing it into that folder but it still won't run. I've got an admin account and yet it still won't play some apps. It plays some but not others which is the confusing part.

 

[sailer]

I've run into this a couple times when I let the game install on its own parameters. The only cure that has been somewhat successful for me is to uninstall the game and then reinstall it into a specific folder that I made for games. This has annoyed me to the extent that I keep one computer that uses Vista 64 just for the games.

I didn't see the specific version on Win7 that you are using. Win7 Home edition has caused trouble for a couple people I know, including my daughter in law. In her case, upgrading to Premium solved the problems she was having.

 

[RetiredChief]

If store bought some "older" games may not run properly.
Which version of windows are you running, 32 bit, or 64 bit.
What does the game "box" say for applicable OS.
If 64 bit and the game has ANY 16 bit code, it may not run under 64 bit, but would run using 32 Bit.

Another thing you can try is changing the game to run in compsatability mode. ie set compatability mode to XP and retry running the game.

Go to the EXE file, Rt click and select under properties/compatability should be a pul down menu with XP lisited

 

[tophatghost]

Nope, nothing. It just doesn't run at all, compatibility, admin, reinstall, nothing! I've got the student version of Windows 7.

 

[sailer]

Can't say for sure but you may have to upgrade to a "Premium" version to get things to work normally. As Retired Chief wrote, if the games are older and have some 16 bit code mixed in, that could play havoc with Win7. Vista wasn't quite so bad on that end of things, being that it was more transitional. But Vista had its own problems anyway.

Beyond all this, I'm running out of answers.