I have this program that is written in Visual-C using the 16-bit API.
It runs fine on 3.11, 95, 98, 98SE, ME and XP.
It did run on fine a Windows 2000 machine until now. The end user has it at their factory and now it terminates the application with no comment, no messages, nothing.
The application tries to run, it flashes on the screen momentarily and then everything disappears. The Windows message loop (GetMessage) ver gets to see any termination message. Any suggestions?
Try it on another Win2k box if you can. If it used to work, it probably:
a) still does but needs reinstalling
b) still does but the host PC is killing the process (what’s changed on the host PC?)
It’s entirely possible that something (probably YAFMP… yet another freakin’ microsoft patch) has altered the OS runtimes. Try reinstalling the program first though.
It seems that this solitary box is refusing to run any 16-bit apps. They must have installed something on it that is causing the problem.
As far as reinstalling the app. That’s a simple copy into the directory, this app doesn’t do anything to the registry, it doesn’t use dll’s. Very simple app.
Did they just recently install a service pack?
http://www.winnetmag.com/Article/ArticleID/25858/25858.html
(Why do 16-bit programs no longer run on a Windows 2000 system after I install Service Pack 2 (SP2)?)
To resolve the problem, perform the following steps:
Start a registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe).
Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\AppCompatibility\NTVDM.EXE subkey, then press Delete.
Click Yes to the confirmation.
Restart the computer.
Note, I can’t vouch for this fix..so back up the registry before mucking around in there 
I found the problem. It was a virus or malware program called COOL.EXE and it was killing other tasks like regedit and command.com.
When the registry editor didn’t run, I decided to test for a virus. Of course, the assumption was that this company have some virus protection on the system and it didn’t. The utility hijackthis.exe saved that day and deleted the virus.
Glad to hear you got it straightened out! I certainly would have been suspicious myself if regedit wouldn’t run…