My mum is moving to a new Windows 10 64-bit computer. She's got one particular old mahjong game (never found a newer one that is better than it) which is her favourite game, and it's 16-bit.

In Windows 7. I set it up to use Windows XP mode transparently - so the VM runs in the background, but the game just runs in a window on the desktop like any other game - you don't have to start up the full Windows XP and then navigate within it to start the game, you just click the icon on the desktop and it opens up.

Is it possible to replicate this transparent VM behaviour in Windows 10? I know I can run Windows XP in a virtual machine of some sort, but that's rather more clumsy than I'd like.

Do you mean compatibility mode? W10 still has that. If you're actually talking about VMs, then no Windows 10 has no such feature built in, but then again neither does Windows 7.

Windows 7 Ultimate Edition (which I had) had an extra VM service you could download and install called XP Mode: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-NZ/windows7/install-and-use-windows-xp-mode-in-windows-7

As I outlined in the OP, this allowed you to transparently run the XP VM in the background, and the application would behave just like any other native 32/64 bit application on your desktop with its own window.

So no, I don't mean compatibility mode, I mean an equivalent for Windows XP mode, using some other software, because Windows 10 doesn't support it. I've already tried the compatibility options, and doing some brief research shows that Windows 10 64-bit cannot run 16-bit applications natively, although the 32-bit Windows 10 can.

Some ideas:

1) Can it run on DOS? You could use DOSBox and create a shortcut file that automatically launches the game inside it.
2) Can you decompile and recompile the application for 32-bit? Not sure on the feasibility on this, and it could introduce bugs, but it's worth a shot.
3) Is teaching her how to use a virtual machine an option? This is the most straightforward approach to solving the issue.
4) Do you really need to upgrade to Windows 10? Windows 7 is the most mature and stable MS OS available, and despite what Microsoft says, upgrading isn't always the right answer.

1. It's a Windows 3.1 game, so I doubt it will work in Dos. It is worth trying though.
2. No
3. Yes, but it's a much clunkier approach than I'd like.
4. It's a new computer that came with Windows 10 so there's no option there.

Edit:
Did some googling and found it here: https://archive.org/details/win3_Shang2DE

There's also a terrible (original) DOS version from 1990 but it's highly inferior - this one is from 1994 with midi music and sound effects and a much better colour palette and resolution. Anyway, it looks like there should be a way to get a local Windows 3.1 emulator that will launch directly into the application, and that's probably the best route to take.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Apr 22 2016, 8:51 pm by Lanthanide.

That link says dosbox in the title bar, maybe you should try it in dosbox. ;o

Here you go: http://www.howtogeek.com/230359/how-to-install-windows-3.1-in-dosbox-set-up-drivers-and-play-16-bit-games/

So install over windows 10 with windows 7.

Dunno if Lanth's mom is getting a desktop or a laptop, but lots of laptops nowadays have Windows 10 locked onto them, so they can't install any old versions. I don't know if this is the case for desktops.

... Reformat the drive, install Windows 7.

Dem0n's comment made me flinch for a second. Considering where the software and hardware trend is going to, I wouldn't rule out that the manufacturers would actually create firmware's that would block other OSes.

Oh and it seems like you guys figured it out already but I wanted to note that Windows 3.1 is no OS by itself. It's more akin to a quite sophisticated GUI for DOS. So yeah, it makes sense you could build it inside a sufficiently accurate DOS simulation.

Some name-brand computers (both laptops and desktops) actually entirely lack legacy BIOS support and can't run Windows 7. You can attempt to run the 64-bit version in UEFI mode on those, but it never finishes booting up (the logo still animates, but it doesn't get anywhere).

Somewhat related to this, any Windows version older than Windows 10 supposedly won't run on anything past Intel's Skylake (similar timeframe on AMD CPUs as well). Windows 7 will be supported on certain Skylake systems, but not all, and only until sometime in 2017 or 2018. This is something Microsoft announced. I'm not sure if this means it won't work at all or if they just won't try to fix any problems it has on anything but those supported systems. I think it was said that Windows 8.1 wouldn't be supported on Skylake or later.