Fortress Forever - View Single Post - Super Nerdy Computer Issue. In Search of Super Smart Suggestions and Enlightenment

puppychow · 02-02-2010, 10:10 PM

Hello All,

Long time.

So, my GF has this CAD program for work that she uses, and her company purchaced licenses some time ago. Whoever they were, they are no more, so asking them for support is not an option, and no one at my gf's company has a remote clue.

Anyways, this program is calculation and database heavy. When you install it it installs the GUI layer, microsoft jet engines, SQL servers, MDAC stuff etc. It's a beast.

Long story short, we have been told that it's XP only compatable. This was before W7 was even on the horizon. No vista, no sweat. But now with W7 here, and being a much better OS, we are dying to get off of XP and on top W7. She wants a new laptop and it sucks to have to stay with xp.

My whole mind started going down this path when I heard of the W7 "run in xp" compatability mode, so I was excited to try.

Well, i haven't even been able to try and see if it will run b/c I can't get it to install yet. Here comes the nerdy stuff. This program uses microsoft data access control (MDAC) 2.8, which is the last version ever released for XP. Windows 7 uses something like V.6 and it's actually part of the architechture. When I try to install MDAC 2.8 on windows 7, it's not happy and it yells at me. Don't think I can.

**Solution 1 - possible to fuck with MDAC and hand jam something to get this to work? Doubting so but thought I'd ask.

I know I can go back to XP but I got a new laptop for her and windows 7 is bright and shiny n stuff....not even sure if my hardware will work with XP, but there's usually work arounds for that.

**Solution 2 - admit defeat, be lame, and install xp on new laptop. Ugh.

As mentioned, this program is tied to all sorts of databases, SQL etc..if I installed XP on a different partition or drive (think I might be mixing up words here) could I have a shortcut on the windows 7 desktop that would point to the program and have it reference the databases and sql setup on it's hope xp drive?

**Soultion 3 - some sort of virtual drive/partition etc (i only have 1 HDD on this new lappy and have 136 gb free of 220 total), a small external drive, or something else..I'm not sure.

I guess that's it. Hope you get the general idea and what I'm looking for..

Thanks!!

02-02-2010, 10:10 PM	#1
puppychow Arf! D&A Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts Rated Helpful 1 Times	Super Nerdy Computer Issue. In Search of Super Smart Suggestions and Enlightenment Hello All, Long time. So, my GF has this CAD program for work that she uses, and her company purchaced licenses some time ago. Whoever they were, they are no more, so asking them for support is not an option, and no one at my gf's company has a remote clue. Anyways, this program is calculation and database heavy. When you install it it installs the GUI layer, microsoft jet engines, SQL servers, MDAC stuff etc. It's a beast. Long story short, we have been told that it's XP only compatable. This was before W7 was even on the horizon. No vista, no sweat. But now with W7 here, and being a much better OS, we are dying to get off of XP and on top W7. She wants a new laptop and it sucks to have to stay with xp. My whole mind started going down this path when I heard of the W7 "run in xp" compatability mode, so I was excited to try. Well, i haven't even been able to try and see if it will run b/c I can't get it to install yet. Here comes the nerdy stuff. This program uses microsoft data access control (MDAC) 2.8, which is the last version ever released for XP. Windows 7 uses something like V.6 and it's actually part of the architechture. When I try to install MDAC 2.8 on windows 7, it's not happy and it yells at me. Don't think I can. Solution 1 - possible to fuck with MDAC and hand jam something to get this to work? Doubting so but thought I'd ask. I know I can go back to XP but I got a new laptop for her and windows 7 is bright and shiny n stuff....not even sure if my hardware will work with XP, but there's usually work arounds for that. Solution 2 - admit defeat, be lame, and install xp on new laptop. Ugh. As mentioned, this program is tied to all sorts of databases, SQL etc..if I installed XP on a different partition or drive (think I might be mixing up words here) could I have a shortcut on the windows 7 desktop that would point to the program and have it reference the databases and sql setup on it's hope xp drive? **Soultion 3 - some sort of virtual drive/partition etc (i only have 1 HDD on this new lappy and have 136 gb free of 220 total), a small external drive, or something else..I'm not sure. I guess that's it. Hope you get the general idea and what I'm looking for.. Thanks!!