In August of 2006 when Windows Vista was nearing release candidate status, we conducted some initial tests with Windows Vista Beta 2 Build 5472. Software successfully installed and tested included:

Advanced Accounting 5.1 (TPC50.EXE 3/26/97) using the Btrieve 5.10a (12/30/93) record manager

(the above would therefore include TAS 5.1 as well)

Same as above but using the Windows 16-bit mode (TP5WIN.EXE 4/24/97)and Btrieve 5.00 DLL (4/2/93)

Advanced Accounting 6.1 (tp6runtime.exe of 2/3/03) using the Btrieve 6.15 (32-bit) record manager (w32mkde.exe of 2/23/98)

(the above would therefore include TAS 6.114, taspro6.exe of 2/2/03)

TAS 7i (tp7runtime.exe of 5/11/06, taspro7.exe of 4/5/06)

Applications work as expected using normal installation procedures. No critical issues were identified.

Since the initial release of this tech support memo we have conducted some fairly extensive tests with Vista Home Basic (not necessarily recommended, but an O/S that users are now commonly deploying) in late March of 2007. Some minor issues have been noted, but nothing mission critical. A number of our users as of the first quarter of 2007 successfully deployed network clients running Vista. We have not yet conducted any tests with 64-bit versions of Vista.

In 2007 we updated our 32-bit installations to provide additional Vista support. We also significantly updated our Btrieve 6.15 setup tool. Later in late 2007 we conducted further tests with Vista Ultimate. In March of 2008 we preliminarily tested SP1 including a tp7runtime.exe that is in a release candidate stage. Applications all continue to appear to work as expected.

Vista issues

 

All versions: users who do not "run as admin" will experience issues in properly installing and making required setting changes. In general if one of the Windows versions crashes, run it once as admin (right click, then run as admin) to create the registry keys. Also, because of the way that Vista "virtualizes" INI files stored in protected system-wide locations such as C:\Windows, C:\Program Files and Registry Key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE there are potential issues (although not serious) for which alternative solutions will be provided. Because of this when installing to Vista, we recommend not installing to C:\Program Files.

DOS versions (5.1 16-bit): DOS is not dead! DOS apps continue to run just as they did with XP Pro. When installing the Advanced Accounting 5.1 workstation configuration program or installation a new version, some users have not properly "run as administrator" (a problem that users will generally encounter with all installations). There is also an issue with the older Adv 5.1 installation as provided by us with regard to creating a desktop icon, so users will have to manually create one. The Adv 5.1 installation also does not currently recognize Vista and the user will need to choose the XP Home/Pro option. Unlike prior versions, you cannot configure the DOS version to run in a full screen, see Microsoft knowledgebase article 926657. You can however make the DOS screen much larger by clicking on the icon's properties and choosing a font size of 12x16 (for example). Users will continue to experience problems when trying to print to USB connected printers, but usually this obstacle can be overcome. Users should be aware that the 16-bit 5.1 versions will generally not run on the 64-bit versions of Vista (although it may still be possible with terminal emulation software).

Btrieve 5.10a (DOS/16-bit): there are no known issues except see above re: 64-bit Vista versions

Advanced Accounting 6.1 and higher (32-bit): no known issues other than indicated elsewhere

TAS 6.114, TAS 7 and TAS 7i (32-bit): no known issues other than those noted elsewhere except that developers providing end users with help files in the HLP format should be aware that this format is no longer automatically supported under Vista. You can however download the WinHelp viewer at Windows Help WinHlp32.exe for Vista. Or, switch to another supported help format option.

Btrieve 6.15 (legacy 32-bit): There are no known issues except with the Addsum Btrieve 6.15 configuration utility BTRSETUP.EXE that is able to read registry values but does not seem to write them (update note: in 2007 this utility was significantly updated and re-released and now works as expected under Vista). The W32MKSET.EXE utility appears to function as expected when run as admin. Configuration of Btrieve 6.15 is not intuitive and may require support.

Pervasive 9.x (32-bit): Needs to be enabled in firewall (popup should come up automatically when installed/run for first time). Pervasive should be run as a service, to do that see Pervasive PSQL Service Utility for Windows Vista. Run this after Pervasive has been installed. In September of 2007 Pervasive released V10 which is the first fully Vista compliant product. Note that Pervasive versions prior to v9 will require an update in order to run under Vista.

Microsoft Windows Vista web site: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/