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DaveAuld wrote:

Have you tried running the application as administrator, or adjusted the compatibility settings for it?

DaveAuld wrote:

You could search for files created by date and see where all the new ones are hiding.

DaveAuld wrote:

Is defender (or other AV) potentially quarantining them, maybe disable for a test.

OriginalGriff wrote:

If she can run the old version - i.e. she still has the Win7 machine handy - then get her to run it, and use "right click ... properties" to find the full path to the files.
You should be able to use that to help locate them on the Win10 machine - or at least get the file names?

OriginalGriff wrote:

Alternatively, install a Win7 VM and leave her with that?

Lopatir wrote:

I had a very similar situation with a barcode printer/software, (Argox brand) - older model, no drivers for the model beyond Vista and even that was considere3d experimental.

1. It sort of worked on 7, but would quit after 4 labels (and they were printing hundreds.)
2. It sort of worked a bit better on an XP VM (windows XP mode), 20 labels then quit.
3. Other VM's no luck, nothing, nada.
(the worst was the "sort of work" result would always need a power off/on reboot to try again.)

Anyway, the only solution that worked was to run XP, native on metal.

How did I manage that?
Went down to their PC graveyard, found a slightly less old machine that worked:
1MB RAM, Pentium 3 I think), an intel 80G SSD from an old vista all-in-1
(Note: every single HDD I tried was dead - even some quite recent ones half the age of the SSD - while every single SSD I found worked, 60G, 120G. woah!)
Installed XP SP3 (from an ISO on a stick). Luckily they had Dells - XP license printed on the sticker so no cheatin either.
The bios battery's is out, showed them how to get past that, (and suggested they just leave it on)

2 years on it's still flawless - SSD included. Although it's only got 1 job: bar codes

Eddy Vluggen wrote:

A Windows program? If not, you may want to try DOSBOX.

Eddy Vluggen wrote:

If all else fails, they'd best buy a compatible 2nd hand computer that is still capable of running their old system, and then transferring it to something more modern.

Michael Martin wrote:

Got an old customer who is running her business using a custom program that was written years ago.

Michael Martin wrote:

Been recently reinstalled on a Windows 10 computer as the other one died (not sure what was wrong with it) and obviously doesn't run as expected which could be sue to configuration not done on the new computer or just Windows 10 doing things differently.

Michael Martin wrote:

Got the barcode printing software installed but from what I'm told, part way through using it it would dump 2 files to the Desktop that she would double-click to load in the label software and she could print away.

Michael Martin wrote:

Anyone have any idea where they might hide? No, I don't know what the files were called,

thatraja wrote:

DOS or Windows program?

thatraja wrote:

Backup(if it's there) from old machine could be useful. Was there any automatic backups in old machines(any saved data in CD/DVDs)? Possibly data backups.

thatraja wrote:

Couldn't expect help docs from that much very old programs. Better check

thatraja wrote:

Possibly Registry.

F-ES Sitecore wrote:

Decompile it to work out what the code is doing.

Slacker007 wrote:

check the windows event logs, all of them.

there could be a number of issues going on here, my initial reaction is that there is a .dll or two, or three that are needed and no longer can be found. If they are swallowing errors in the app, then you will only see this in the event logs...hopefully.

Slacker007 wrote:

Might want to see if you can track down the "creator" of this mysterious and magical custom program, and see what they have to say.

Michael Martin wrote:

it would dump 2 files to the Desktop

Richard Deeming wrote:

Which desktop? There are two "desktop" folders - the one in the user profile, and the shared one that's usually in C:\Users\Public\Desktop.

Richard Deeming wrote:

Of course, if the application is old enough, it might just assume the desktop folder is in a fixed location, and write the files somewhere completely different.

Richard Deeming wrote:

If you can get access to the machine, maybe Process Monitor[^] might help to identify the problem.

Michael Martin wrote:

That's what I believe C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore is for.

Security: Inside Windows Vista User Account Control[^]:

For the purposes of this virtualization, Windows Vista treats a process as legacy if it’s 32-bit (versus 64-bit), is not running with administrative rights, and does not have a manifest file indicating that it was written for Windows Vista.

Dan Neely wrote:

Use Process Monitor to find out where the application is (presumably) trying (and failing) to write to.

If you've never used it before it's got a really steep learning curve, and depending on how active the software is you might benefit from creating a HelloFileSystem test app to help figure out how to set your filters, but it's a really useful tool for snooping on what an application is trying to do behind the scenes.

Ron Nicholson wrote:

Sorry if this has been answered below, I didn't read them all, but get the search program 'Everything'. Run the program to produce the files, then search using Everything but just sort by date and find the newest files. If they exist anywhere, everything should find.

HTH.