software help needed

[Dick Adair]

I have been using an old program called Softkey "Easy Forms Maker" for about 10 years. About 3 years ago I updated to XP and everything was fine. Recently I had have the disk reformatted and reloaded. I cannot run this anymore. A prompt says cannot find "CTL3D.DLL cannot run 16 bit program". Do I have any options to run the forms I have used? I cannot find any updates to this software. Thanks in advance for any info.

[Scott Shepherd]

Try installing it again, but before you click on the "Setup" or "Install" file, right click on the setup or install file you'll be clicking and select "Properties". You should see a window with several tabs on it. Click on the "Compatibility" tab, then check the box that says "Compatibility Mode- Run this program in compatibility mode for". Once it's checked, click on the drop down box arrow and select Windows 98 or something else. Click okay, then go back to that file, right click on it, and select "Open".

Also, you may have to reboot and then try and open it.

It might work, it might not, but it's helped me in getting some older programs installed and running.

[Mike Furness]

Sent you a pm

[Dick Adair]

Scott...thanks for the reply but there is no compatability option. general, auto play, hardware, sharing and recording are the 5 tabs.

[David G Baker]

Dick,
Don't give up. I spent a lot of time on the Internet trying to find out if my Adobe Photoshop version 5.5 would work with Vista and did not get any positive answers on the compatibility sites. I tried it and it works fine. Did the same thing with MS Office 97, again no positive answers. Tried it and all is fine. There are some older programs that will not with Vista but many will. XP should even be better and easier in the compatibility area.
Softkey made some very good software but some may be upgrade hogs. If you don't get any answers that work for you here keep trying on the Internet.

[David DeCristoforo]

"...no compatability option. general, auto play, hardware, sharing and recording are the 5 tabs..."

That's because you are "right clicking" on the disk icon, not the application installer. If you "double click" the disk icon it should open a window that will display the contents of the disk. That's where you will find the application installer. Follow Scott's instructions from there....

[Dick Adair]

I've tried every option in the compatability tab and no go. Still get the same CTL3.DLL prompt. Thanks for all the suggestions. I guess it's time for a new program.

[Scott Shepherd]

The help on it says that the program has to be on your computer. Are you right clicking on a file that's on a CD? Are you able to get it installed and it won't run? It says that the file must not be on removable media (or something like that).

Search your windows help for Compatibility Wizard and see if you can navigate it from there instead.

[Tom Veatch]

Dick, if you stilll haven't got it fixed, there are some additional pointers for that specific problem at this site (cut and paste into your browser address bar. Not posting as a direct link since that's a no-no):

http://www.asksomeone.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=7185

[Randy Cohen]

google the missing file name....CTL3.DLL. there should be some places to dl it from.

[David G Baker]

I have successfully downloaded dll files in the past and fixed corrupted files so as Randy suggested, give it a shot.

[Bruce Page]

Dick, if you stilll haven't got it fixed, there are some additional pointers for that specific problem at this site (cut and paste into your browser address bar. Not posting as a direct link since that's a no-no):


Tom, a direct link is a no-no when it’s to an auction site like eBay or to another woodworking forum.
Your link is perfectly acceptable.

[Jim Becker]

Tom, a direct link is a no-no when it’s to an auction site like eBay or to another woodworking forum.
Your link is perfectly acceptable.

Direct links to any forum are prohibited, Bruce, not just woodworking forums. Tom's method for a cut and paste link was the correct way to deal with it for a forum reference.

Jim
SMC Moderator

[Bruce Page]

Direct links to any forum are prohibited, Bruce, not just woodworking forums. Tom's method for a cut and paste link was the correct way to deal with it for a forum reference.

Jim
SMC Moderator

My bad. I thought it was just WW forums. Please delete. :o
LSNE
(learn something new everyday..)

[Al Schatz]

I have been using an old program called Softkey "Easy Forms Maker" for about 10 years. About 3 years ago I updated to XP and everything was fine. Recently I had have the disk reformatted and reloaded. I cannot run this anymore. A prompt says cannot find "CTL3D.DLL cannot run 16 bit program". Do I have any options to run the forms I have used? I cannot find any updates to this software. Thanks in advance for any info.

Dick: I too have Easy Forms Maker. The DLL files you are missing is a Dynamic Link Library file and you can go to Google and very easily download it and add it to your windows systems file folder and it should work. I love this program, but am now running Windows 7 and it will NOT work with 7 ! darn it. Have emailed the company, but without any response so far. Stay with XP if you want to continue to use the Easy Forms. Good luck there.

[Jim Becker]

Dick: I too have Easy Forms Maker. The DLL files you are missing is a Dynamic Link Library file and you can go to Google and very easily download it and add it to your windows systems file folder and it should work. I love this program, but am now running Windows 7 and it will NOT work with 7 ! darn it. Have emailed the company, but without any response so far. Stay with XP if you want to continue to use the Easy Forms. Good luck there.

Check to see if it will run in Windows 7 Professional in the XP virtual machine that's available with that version. The XP virtual machine literally gives you WinXP environment for accommodating older software. Note that this is not available with Win7 Home Professional. The upgrade isn't major expensive.

I installed Win7 Professional in Parallels on my new iMac exactly for this reason...to insure I could, if I needed to, have the ability to create an XP environment.

[Darius Ferlas]

DLLs are always a "pleasure" to work with. This is the simplified version of my usual troubleshooting of dlls:

1. check if it is present in your system. Under most common installations, this dll should be located in c:\windows\system32

2. also check if ctl3dv2.dll is present in the same folder too. The two kinda work together, so if one is corrupted or missing the other one may throw errors too.

If the above are found then:

3. since this dll cannot be registered (regsvr32 won't work on it) it may be statically linked within the application you are trying to use. The hardcoded path could be anybody's guess but if this is the case then the dll from path in #1 above could be copied to where your program's executable files are located. Then try to run the proggie.

4. one or both are corrupted (need to download the dll as suggested above) and placed into the path as described in #1.

One trick with a lot of dll files is the source where you download it from. I could send you that dll (I won't) but you'd never know what else it does in your system. Bottom line, get it from someone you trust, like a family member or a neighbor with the same operating system.

[Jerome Stanek]

Check to see if it will run in Windows 7 Professional in the XP virtual machine that's available with that version. The XP virtual machine literally gives you WinXP environment for accommodating older software. Note that this is not available with Win7 Home Professional. The upgrade isn't major expensive.

I installed Win7 Professional in Parallels on my new iMac exactly for this reason...to insure I could, if I needed to, have the ability to create an XP environment.

If you wanted XP why would you install Windows 7 om a Mac to run windows XP. That seems like you could have problems with trying to run 3 different OS to run a program. Why not just install XP.

[Jim Becker]

If you wanted XP why would you install Windows 7 om a Mac to run windows XP. That seems like you could have problems with trying to run 3 different OS to run a program. Why not just install XP.

In retrospect, I supposed if I ever needed XP, I would likely install it in a separate VM under Parallels from Win7. That's actually unlikely because I really dislike XP. I live for the day when my work laptop gets upgraded so I can run Win7.

But for folks with a newer Windows machine that isn't a candidate to run XP due to hardware having moved on, Win7 Pro offers a solution to support the 10 year old Win XP in a virtual machine to run older programs. Win7 Pro also has better networking support when there are multiple versions of Windows on the network and sharing is desired.

[Jerome Stanek]

I have a Win 7 machine that I run VM ware on it to use some of my older programs that will not run on Win 7 even in compatibility mode. I need my scanner and that won't work under Win 7 either.