Is there anyway to run 16-bit apps on Vista 64 bit?

We have a few legacy applications which are 16-bit. Anyone know of a
way or a utility which will allow 16-bit apps to run on Vista 64?

 

If they are DOS apps, DOSBox might work. http://www.dosbox.com/

If they need Windows, Microsoft VirtualPC
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx
will work if they do not need to access hardware other than serial and
parallel ports.

If they need access to USB, VirtualBox http://www.virtualbox.org/ or VMware
Player http://www.vmware.com/products/player/ with VMX builder
http://petruska.stardock.net/Software/Vmware.html#VMXBuilder are free.

You will need a licensed copy of 16-bit capable Windows to run in the
virtual machines, i.e. anything from Windows 95 up to XP.

 

No direct way - the support simply isn't there. That being said, using a
virtualization solution (VirtualPC, VMWare, whatever) on your Vista host and
running a legacy operatng system in the child VM is a viable solution. There
are even workarounds for USB here (See my blog post on FabulaTech.)

I've covered this in a couple of blog posts as a reasonable solution to any
compatibility issue. Your 16 bit applications will have access to normal
networking communications with the host machine, but in most solutions not
drag and drop between them.

 

So it seems the only way to do this is to run a separate OS (XP, 98,
etc) under a virtual machine (ie. install the virtual machine on Vista
64, then install XP or whatever under the virtual machine). Am I
understanding this correctly?

 

So it seems the only way to do this is to run a separate OS (XP, 98,

Have you tried DosBox? http://www.dosbox.com/

 

Yes. There is no known way to emulate 32 or 16 bit Windows.

 

Correct. You must run a virtualization application such as Virtual PC and
create a virtual machine. Install your choice of legacy OS in that VM. There
is NO support for 16 bit applications in any 64-bit version of Windows.

 

and loses you access to the 64bit Windows when you're in the second boot.
Overall, a much less satisfactory solution for most situations, IME.