Andrew Diamond's Note on SWSVPKT

Hello.

I have recently found out that it is possible, indeed, to run old MS-DOS networking programs on the 32-bit versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7. I wrote down some instructions on how to do that. Here they are:

It certainly is possible to run DOS programs on Win 7, as long as they don't demand a full-screen interface. DOSLynx can run in a window on Win 7. Now, in order to make the thing work, it's necessary to tweak the settings a bit. As I'm sure you know, swsvpkt has worked quite well on XP, but Vista and 7 have been problematic for this utility. Now, according to the readme file, one would install swsvpkt as a network protocol. My procedure is similar to the XP instructions, but there are differences:

      1.  Go to Control Panel from the Start Menu.
      2.  Click on Network and Internet.
      3.  Click on Network and Sharing Center.
      4.  On the left menu, click on Change Adapter Settings.
      5.  RIGHT-CLICK on the adapter that you're using, then go down the menu
          to Properties.  Click on that.
      6.  You'll see the Networking tab first. In the main window, you'll see
          a list of network cards and protocols.  DO NOT CHANGE ANY OF THESE,
          at the risk of disabling your network hardware/software.
          Below that window, you'll see two buttons, Install and Uninstall.
          Click on Install.
      7.  A window will come up that says "Select Network Feature Type".
          Click on "Protocol" so that it's highlighted. Then, press the "Add"
          button.
      8.  Another window will pop up saying Select Network Protocol.
          You'll see "Microsoft" under the Manufacturer tab, and
          "Reliable Multicast Protocol" under the "Network Protocol" tab.
          Don't bother with those.
      9.  Click on the "Have Disk" button, and when the "Install from Disk"
          window comes up, press the "Have Disk" button and browse around
          for wherever you unzipped swsvpkt1005.zip . In many cases, it would
          be a folder like:  c:\Users\JoeBob\Downloads\swsvpkt1005\ .
          The system will look for an .inf file, so it'll open up to
          C:\Windows\System32\ first. When you see "netvpkt.inf", choose that
          file, and let the installer run.
     10.  You now have the swsvpkt protocol, which enables DOS networking
          from XP computers.
     11.  Wait, you're not finished!  If you run swsvpkt from the command
          line, it won't work, even if you run it as administrator!
          Here's what to do:  Go to where it's been installed, specifically
          C:\Windows\System32\ , find the executable, which should be
          swsVpkt, then right-click on that.  Go down to the Properties item,
          then click on that.  You'll see a bunch of choices.  You'll want to
          click on the "Compatibility" tab.  Check the box that says:
          "Run this program in Compatibility Mode".  Then, choose:
          "Windows XP Service Pack 2" in the drop-down menu.  Also, check the
          box that says "Run this program as an administrator".  Press the
          "Apply", then the "OK" button at the bottom of the window.
     12.  Now, you're ready to go!

Hopefully, this should be of some help to someone. As you know, full screen CLI is not possible on Vista/7 . The best workaround I've found is to maximize the window as much as possible through "Properties", accessible through right-clicking on the grey border around the black box.

14 December 2011