virtual 8086

[tanner]

I'm trying to run Ultima 7 on my Windows ME system. I get an error message saying that something has placed my system in virtual 8086 mode. I believe I got to this point after I downloaded a couple of early dos games and ran them on my system.

I have since deleted those early dos games, but still get the error message. How do I get out of virtual 8086?

Thank you (by the way, I don't have a dos manual and don't have a clue how to change settings in dos).

[DOSGuy]

In the beginning there was the 8086, which only ran in Real Mode. The 286 introduced 16-bit Protected Mode, which sucked and didn't really catch on. The 386 introduced 32-bit Protected Mode, which was awesome and became a requirement of Windows 3.1 and on. All CPUs since the 386 have had Virtual 8086 mode, which allows the execution of Real Mode applications that are incapable of running in Protected Mode. NT-based versions of Windows, such as Windows XP, use a program called NTVDM to enable Virtual 8086 mode so that you can run DOS programs that use Real Mode from a 32-bit Protected Mode operating system.

When do you see this message? It sounds like it's only happening when you try to run Ultima 7, in which case you should use DOSBox. As for why you didn't get this message before you downloaded those programs, and continue to get the message after deleting them, you may have installed something or had something added to your start up routine. If you can't find it in Add/Remove programs or can't find it in your Start Menu to locate the uninstall program, you might be able to find it by watching your Task Manager (though this is no guarantee that you'll be able to get rid of it).

[Qbix]

Not every dos game has a problem with V86 mode (virtual 8086)
Some do, some don't
Ultima 7 is one of the few that does. Most dos games don't care. Hence win95/98 could run that many dos games.