How to Troubleshoot Win32s Installation Problems

Last reviewed: May 21, 1998

Article ID: Q106715

1.25a 1.30 1.30a 1.30c WINDOWS

 kbtshoot kbwebcontent

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Win32s versions 1.25a, 1.30, 1.30a, and 1.30c

SUMMARY

The installation guide for Win32s that is included in the Win32 SDK recommends running Freecell to verify that the installation was successful. This article discusses some of the errors that may occur when trying to run Freecell on an unsuccessful installation. The article also contains a list of corrective actions to help you reinstall Win32s.

MORE INFORMATION

Possible Symptoms

One of the following symptoms may occur when running Freecell if the installation is not successful:

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)...

-or-

The display is corrupted as soon as you run FreeCell.

-or-

Win32s Error: One of the System Components is out of date. Please re-install the application.

Possible Step-by-Step Solution

Use the following steps when Win32s does not install correctly:

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. For additional information on the S3 driver and Win32s, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge base:

ARTICLE-ID: Q117153

   TITLE     : PRB: Display Problems with Win32s and the S3 Driver

Make sure the following line is in your System.ini file:

device=*vmcpd

Without this line in the SYSTEM.INI file, Win32s displays the following error when you launch FreeCell or any 32-bit application:

- Win32s - Error:

     Improper installation. Windows requires W32s.386 in order to run.

     Reinstall Win32s.

Windows Setup installs the VMCPD VxD to handle floating point exceptions, but it is possible that another driver was installed replacing the VMCPD VxD. Win32s only needs the VMCPD driver to handle floating point exceptions if a coprocessor is present. But the Win32s setup program checks for this driver unconditionally.

If you have a printer driver by LaserMaster, delete it or change it into a comment; it interferes with installing Win32s. Then reboot the computer so the changes will 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 file name portion of a path matches a device name. As a result, when Setup tries to write to Winspool.drv, it fails. 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 just disable this driver while installing Win32s, and then re-enable it afterwards. To disable the driver, you need to turn the following three lines in the [386ENH] of the System.ini file into comments.

      device = lmharold.386

      device = lmmi

      device = lmcap

Delete the \Win32s directory, the \Win32app directory, W32sys.dll, w32s16.dll, and Win32s.exe from your hard drive before installing. Although it is possible to install Win32s on top of an old installation of Win32s, it is better to remove the old files before installing the new ones.

Edit the Win32s.ini file on your hard drive. Change SETUP = 1 to read SETUP = 0. Reboot your computer and reinstall Win32s.

For more information on how to delete the previous version of Win32s from your computer, please see the following Knowledge Base article:

ARTICLE-ID: Q120486

   TITLE     : How to Remove Win32s

Make sure that paging is enabled. From the Control Panel, select the 386 Enhanced icon, choose Virtual Memory, and choose Change. Verify that the drive type is not set to none. The type can be set to either temporary or permanent.
If you are using SHARE (not Vshare.386, which Windows for Workgroups uses), 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

What to Do If the Previous Steps Don't Solve the Problem

If you still receive errors when running Freecell, compare the binaries on your hard drive with those on the CD-ROM. Use the MS-DOS program Filecomp.exe, Comp.exe, or Fc.exe and do a binary compare. For example, if you have the Win32 SDK CD-ROM, type the following:

   fc /b <system>\win32s\w32s.386 <cd>:\mstools\win32s\nodebug\w32s.386

If you have the 32-bit Visual C++ CD-ROM, type the following:

fc /b <system>\win32s\w32s.386 <cd>:\msvc32s\win32s\retail\w32s.386

The results of the compare will be "FC: no differences encountered" if the binaries were correctly installed. If the binaries are not the same, you might have a bad copy of the files or a bad compact disc.

You can try reinstalling Win32s that shipped in the Visual C++ 32-bit edition. There seems to be a slight difference between the Setup.exe program on the Win32 SDK CD-ROM and the Setup.exe on the Visual C++ CD- ROM. If you try installing from the 32-bit Visual C++ CD-ROM, don't remove the \Win32app or \Freecell directory or any of the Freecell files. The Visual C++ CD-ROM does not contain Freecell.

Using Freecell Help will generate errors, including "Routine Not Found" or "Help Topic Does Not Exist." The generation of these errors has nothing to do with whether or not Win32s is installed correctly.

Freecell.hlp was meant to be used with Winhlp32.exe. Freecell.hlp uses the advanced features of WINHLP32 for full-text searching. Winhelp.exe, which runs under Windows version 3.1, does not support this. As a result, each time Freecell.hlp tries to bind the Find button to the full-text searching APIs, it fails, and Windows Help displays the message box. You can still read the information in the help file, and you can use the Search button to do keyword searches.

If you are getting the Win32s Error "One of the System Components is out of date. Please re-install the application," please refer to the following Knowledge Base article:

ARTICLE ID: Q159263 PRB: "One of your System Components is out of date" Error

KBCategory: kbtshoot kbwebcontent
KBSubcategory: W32s
Additional reference words: 1.25a 1.30 1.30a 1.30c setup install
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Keywords : W32s kbsetup kbtshoot kbwebcontent
Version : 1.25a 1.30 1.30a 1.30c
Platform : WINDOWS
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