I read through all 39 pages of the Tech 2 Clone thread today and noticed that some people were having problems installing TIS2000 on machines running anything other than Windows XP Pro 32-bit. In the following, I am going to explain why this seemed to be the case and show how you CAN install TIS2000 on machines other than WinXP Pro.
64-bit versions of Windows contain backwards compatibility with 32-bit applications, but not with 16-bit applications. And 32-bit versions of Windows are backwards compatible with 16-bit applications. The problem with installing TIS2000 on newer machines is that, while the TIS2000 program itself is 32-bit, the installer and drivers are 16-bit. Therefore, you are able to install TIS2000 natively on ANY 32-bit Windows system. This will just work, without having to run anything in compatibility mode.
However, if you have a 32-bit copy of Windows 8 installed (I don't wanna know why you do), running 16-bit applications are disabled by default. You can enable it by going to Control Panel and clicking on 16-bit Application Support then clicking Enable.
For those of you with genuine copies of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate with a multi-core processor (who doesn't run Win7 on a multi-core these days); these versions of Windows 7 allow you to use Windows Virtual PC, which lets you virtually run Windows XP Pro without a disc or OS installation. You need to install Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC in order to use it. Before you can download these updates, M$ makes you run a little .exe that checks if your OS install is legitimate. Anyway, after you get that all installed and XP Mode is booted, you can copy the OP's cracked TIS2000.zip over to the WinXP Desktop and follow the README.txt inside to install it. Here is a link to the thread with the cracked TIS2000 http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2435898&postcount=1 ...I have tested this on my desktop running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit and the cracked copy of TIS2000 the OP posted installed and ran with no problems. Instructions for Win7 XP Pro virtualization mode here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/install-and-use-windows-xp-mode-in-windows-7
Now to the most common problem. If you are running a 64-bit version of Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 Home Premium or lower, or ALL versions of Windows 8 and 8.1, I guess any version of Mac or Linux too, you have a couple of more involved and more risky options...
You can obtain a legal copy of Windows 2000 or XP Pro 32-bit on your own. It includes two programs for making a bootable CD or USB drive. Pop the bootable device you created into your laptop, reboot to the device, then install that operating system onto a seperate partition of your hard drive, or a different hdd altogether. Or you can install Virtualbox (free software), and run the cracked Windows copy via a virtual machine... The method I took to test this was to create a separate partition on my ssd and install it there. When the computer reboots, it will ask you what OS you would like to run. Select Windows XP Pro, then continue installing TIS2000. If you're gonna be writing to the main drive on your computer, I suggest first creating a bootable USB with Clonezilla on it and creating a drive backup with that http://clonezilla.org/downloads.php ...This allows you to make a complete backup image of your hard drive, and allows you to flash it back to that drive at any time. A good thing to have around anyway.
I do not have a Tech 2 device and am unable to test that everything is working with any of these methods. However, I see no reason why these solutions will not work with a RS232 to USB Convertor on any computer you may have without a serial port.
64-bit versions of Windows contain backwards compatibility with 32-bit applications, but not with 16-bit applications. And 32-bit versions of Windows are backwards compatible with 16-bit applications. The problem with installing TIS2000 on newer machines is that, while the TIS2000 program itself is 32-bit, the installer and drivers are 16-bit. Therefore, you are able to install TIS2000 natively on ANY 32-bit Windows system. This will just work, without having to run anything in compatibility mode.
However, if you have a 32-bit copy of Windows 8 installed (I don't wanna know why you do), running 16-bit applications are disabled by default. You can enable it by going to Control Panel and clicking on 16-bit Application Support then clicking Enable.
For those of you with genuine copies of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate with a multi-core processor (who doesn't run Win7 on a multi-core these days); these versions of Windows 7 allow you to use Windows Virtual PC, which lets you virtually run Windows XP Pro without a disc or OS installation. You need to install Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC in order to use it. Before you can download these updates, M$ makes you run a little .exe that checks if your OS install is legitimate. Anyway, after you get that all installed and XP Mode is booted, you can copy the OP's cracked TIS2000.zip over to the WinXP Desktop and follow the README.txt inside to install it. Here is a link to the thread with the cracked TIS2000 http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2435898&postcount=1 ...I have tested this on my desktop running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit and the cracked copy of TIS2000 the OP posted installed and ran with no problems. Instructions for Win7 XP Pro virtualization mode here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/install-and-use-windows-xp-mode-in-windows-7
Now to the most common problem. If you are running a 64-bit version of Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 Home Premium or lower, or ALL versions of Windows 8 and 8.1, I guess any version of Mac or Linux too, you have a couple of more involved and more risky options...
You can obtain a legal copy of Windows 2000 or XP Pro 32-bit on your own. It includes two programs for making a bootable CD or USB drive. Pop the bootable device you created into your laptop, reboot to the device, then install that operating system onto a seperate partition of your hard drive, or a different hdd altogether. Or you can install Virtualbox (free software), and run the cracked Windows copy via a virtual machine... The method I took to test this was to create a separate partition on my ssd and install it there. When the computer reboots, it will ask you what OS you would like to run. Select Windows XP Pro, then continue installing TIS2000. If you're gonna be writing to the main drive on your computer, I suggest first creating a bootable USB with Clonezilla on it and creating a drive backup with that http://clonezilla.org/downloads.php ...This allows you to make a complete backup image of your hard drive, and allows you to flash it back to that drive at any time. A good thing to have around anyway.
I do not have a Tech 2 device and am unable to test that everything is working with any of these methods. However, I see no reason why these solutions will not work with a RS232 to USB Convertor on any computer you may have without a serial port.
