.exe dos based program that contains menu won't open

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phyxe
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.exe dos based program that contains menu won't open

#1 Post by phyxe » 17 Jun 2012 21:51

I'm not so sure if this has been resolved already here in some thread but i couldn't find the right solution for this one:
i have this dos base application that contains menus and submenus (the main program) for running specific .exe files and batch files for the program; i'm currently running it a win XP sp1 and its working fine while it is in the d:\ partition im aiming to copy the program (since its more a portable type) and run it on another computer running same os. the problem is when i copied it to the new system the application that contains the menus and submenus would open but it would close immediately, the other applications and bat files work perfectly. I tried doing the settings and properties for the main program but to no avail. even copying the autoexec and other files from the other system did not work. Also i tried doing a full back up of the system originally running the program and restore it to the new one but i still got same result.

are there some things that i'm missing or was not able to do somehow?

thanks in advance :D

Fawers
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Re: .exe dos based program that contains menu won't open

#2 Post by Fawers » 17 Jun 2012 22:40

Do you have any code to share? Maybe it'll be easier for us to help you with some code.

And give some path examples, please! :D

phyxe
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Joined: 17 Jun 2012 20:48

Re: .exe dos based program that contains menu won't open

#3 Post by phyxe » 17 Jun 2012 22:47

sad to say i don't have any codes about the program since im not the one who made it. though i can simply share the program it self since i already bought the copyright of such program.

foxidrive
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Re: .exe dos based program that contains menu won't open

#4 Post by foxidrive » 18 Jun 2012 08:16

If you placed it in the same location on the new PC (as a test) and it still fails then it must depend on a utility somewhere (on the path?) of the first machine.

phyxe
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Joined: 17 Jun 2012 20:48

Re: .exe dos based program that contains menu won't open

#5 Post by phyxe » 18 Jun 2012 18:19

well i tried that one also; i even did same formatting of the new system and placed it in the same directory but still it wont open (its in the d drive) and even some documents on d drive was copied as it is and still it wont open, by the way i even tried doing a bkf back up and recovering it on the new system and still it wont open. so im totally at lost here

Fawers
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Re: .exe dos based program that contains menu won't open

#6 Post by Fawers » 18 Jun 2012 18:26

phyxe, try running this .exe directly from command line. The cmd window should not close at all, and you must be able to see the error message, if there is one.

The problem is more likely what foxi said, it must be a third party application that doesn't exist on the new pc.

phyxe
Posts: 10
Joined: 17 Jun 2012 20:48

Re: .exe dos based program that contains menu won't open

#7 Post by phyxe » 18 Jun 2012 18:49

i tried that... i even made a batch file to open it or even have dosbox run it but really it would just open a window and would close immediately

Fawers
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Re: .exe dos based program that contains menu won't open

#8 Post by Fawers » 18 Jun 2012 22:31

What is the full path to the executable?

foxidrive
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Re: .exe dos based program that contains menu won't open

#9 Post by foxidrive » 19 Jun 2012 06:59

phyxe wrote:i tried that... i even made a batch file to open it or even have dosbox run it but really it would just open a window and would close immediately


Just to confirm: Did you open a cmd prompt and type in the exe name?

phyxe
Posts: 10
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Re: .exe dos based program that contains menu won't open

#10 Post by phyxe » 19 Jun 2012 18:40

sorry for that empty reply line... i'm not sure what happened there.. any way with regards to opening it in a command line i already tried that and there's no error message or whatsoever. even running it in dosbox won't work... what do you mean by the way by third party application that doesn't exist in new system? i don't really get what you mean by that.

phyxe
Posts: 10
Joined: 17 Jun 2012 20:48

Re: .exe dos based program that contains menu won't open

#11 Post by phyxe » 19 Jun 2012 18:43

yeah i tried opening it with exe extension. i even change the directory at first with "cd" command; then running it by entering the directory itself such as "d:\folder\folder\appname.exe"

Squashman
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Re: .exe dos based program that contains menu won't open

#12 Post by Squashman » 19 Jun 2012 19:23

You may be able to figure out what it may be dependent on by running Process Monitor or Process Explorer and then launching your program to see what those two programs can log.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

Dependency Walker might be able to figure some things out as well.
www.dependencywalker.com

Of course it would probably help if you could tell us the name of the program and any associated files it has and the name of the developer.

phyxe
Posts: 10
Joined: 17 Jun 2012 20:48

Re: .exe dos based program that contains menu won't open

#13 Post by phyxe » 19 Jun 2012 19:55

okay i'll try that one out... im not sure if you're all familiar about it the program is called MDP3RPTA it is done by a private developer that came into our office years ago and now i dont have a contact with him so far

foxidrive
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Re: .exe dos based program that contains menu won't open

#14 Post by foxidrive » 19 Jun 2012 20:05

phyxe wrote:what do you mean by the way by third party application that doesn't exist in new system? i don't really get what you mean by that.


Just like a batch file can use external programs, like find.exe and ipconfig.exe which are in the system32 folder (and that folder is on the path), then your executable might be using a utility program that was installed, but it has not been transferred to the new machine also.

Another possibility is that the exe file is designed to run only on the single machine, as a copy protection mechanism.

Squashman
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Re: .exe dos based program that contains menu won't open

#15 Post by Squashman » 19 Jun 2012 20:15

The PATH variable would be good start as well. On the computer that it does work on, open up a cmd prompt and type PATH. Look for any folder paths that may be associated with your program.

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