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<p>The Windows XP user some times face this error when they tried to install a software in there system, "Can't run 16-bit Windows Program" Installation Error. This error has been encountered when attempting to install Application Server for net Express 4.0 on a Windows Server 2003 machine or when you tried to install any software in 16-bit format.</p>
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<h1>How to Fixed&nbsp;Can't Run 16-Bit Windows Program Error</h1>
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<p>The 16-bit components of the InstallShield software used for installation of old software may manifest this error on operating systems where the creation of short file names has been disabled. During an installation of any older software, an error message appears saying "can't run 16-bit Windows program cannot find file for installation.</p>
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<p>According to <a href="https://cloanto.com/kb/14-131">Cloanto</a></p>
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<p>The 16-bit components of the InstallShield software used for installation of old software may exhibit this problem on operating systems where the creation of short file names has been disabled (e.g. by setting the NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation registry value to 1).</p>
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<p>This problem may be solved by moving the setup file to another which does not use long names in its path components. If this doesn't do anything then changing in Registry definitely&nbsp;work for your problem.</p>
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<p>The NTFS file system automatically creates 8.3 "short" file names and stores them along with the NTFS "long" name. Although the short names are not visible when you browse the file system, they are present, and you may see them in some path values stored in the system registry, or displayed in setup programs.</p>
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<p>This duplication, which only affects long file and directory names, results in a slightly increased overhead when creating a new file or directory, however it is required for compatibility with older applications. Unfortunately even some newer programs, released well after the introduction of "long" file names on Windows, rely on support for short file names in order to be compatible with the widest possible range of operating systems and file systems.</p>
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<p>This includes the InstallShield software used by non-current versions of Cloanto applications which did not yet use Windows Installer (MSI) technology.</p>
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<h2>Editing the Windows Registry Fixing&nbsp;Can't Run 16-Bit Windows Program</h2>
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<p>The creation of 8.3-compliant short names on NTFS partitions is controlled by a registry value, which by default is set to enable the creation of short names.</p>
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<p>If the following value is set to 1 then short file names are not created:</p>
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<p>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\<br />
CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\<br />
NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation=1<br />
If the value is missing, or set to 0, then short file names are created:</p>
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<p>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\<br />
CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\<br />
NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation=0</p>
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<p>You have to restart your system in order to take fully effect of changing the registry's values. The changes hasno effect on existing files and directories.&nbsp;To create short names for files and directories which are already on the hard disk it is necessary to force this data to be rewritten, e.g. with a backup/restore.</p>
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