Windows 10 -2004 - Applications (.exe) created with SWFStudio load in ALL versions of WIndows except 10-2004

William Heinz 1 Reputation point
2020-08-02T21:06:12.61+00:00

WIndows 10 2004
I have had a number of successful applications that have been running for my customers for over 10 years that were built using SWF Studio from Northcode. Northcode is no longer in business and I believe the primary programmer died this year - so there is no possibility of getting help there. SWF Studio embeds Flash.ocx. It stopped working for Windows 10 1803 but the author of SWF Studio (the same one that died) provided a new version that got us past the issue. The current result with 2004 appears to be the same as it was with 1803 before the fix - the program does absolutely nothing. It shows in the `Task Manager but is somehow blocked from doing anything. No message from Microsoft is provided. There is no clue as to why the program is being blocked and no error message and it does not work in compatibility mode or when running as an administrator.

Northcode in the latest version provided a way for us to choose the OCX to be embedded.

Here are my questions:

Why is the program being blocked even in compatibility mode?

Is there a version of Flash.ocx that when embedded will work with Windows 10 -2004? If so, where can I get it?

Is it worth trying to get the program to run with the Flash.ocx unbundled? If so, again, which version.

Are there any other possible work-arounds (e.g. a regedit value) to get the program to not be blocked? I cannot ask my customers to not install 2004.

Why will it not run in compatibility mode? It is still running for me in ALL versions of Windows and all Windows updates prior to 2004.

I am in the process of moving to another development platform (HTML5) but I need some time. Also I am not alone. A number of other developers have the same issue. Any hints as to what is happening would be so very much appreciated. A little understanding as to why it is blocked might give me a clue as to how to get around it.

Please help. Time is urgent.

Thanks,

William

Windows 10 Compatibility
Windows 10 Compatibility
Windows 10: A Microsoft operating system that runs on personal computers and tablets.Compatibility: The extent to which hardware or software adheres to an accepted standard.
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  1. Joy Qiao 4,896 Reputation points Microsoft Employee
    2020-08-03T08:18:33.113+00:00

    Hi William,

    Thank you for coming Microsoft Q&A.

    As I know, compatibility mode is based on hard coding, so if there is an application without compatibility mode, we might not able to make any modify to add it.

    We could delay Windows system to install feature update up to 1 year, however, I noticed you could use Windows 10 1803 on your environment, but this version will end of support until Nov. 2020. So delay version 2004 feature update is just a workaround to postpone your action which will not resolve it. We know, you might want to disable feature update, however it is not possible for Windows 10 except they not connect Internet always.

    flash.ocx file issue, we recommend to ask for help from flash support, they should be more familiar with their product.

    According to your description, we think your issue might be more related with windows application compatibility development, so we recommend to ask for help from winapi-compatibility team, (try to create a new thread and change tag to "winapi-compatibility"). They would give you some suggestions on develop point.

    If you have any other confuse, please reply to us directly.

    Bests,

  2. Glenn Jones 1 Reputation point
    2020-10-06T18:13:45.517+00:00

    Hi @William Heinz

    I am deeply sad to hear of the loss of Tim, he was a great developer who created awesome things and a super kind person who would often go out of his way to help us out.

    Unfortunately we are also in the same boat as our applications have the exact same problem, I am not hopeful of a solution to this... have you found anything?

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