Cannot Start Windows 95 After Installing Close-Up

• Microsoft Windows 95

SYMPTOMS

After you install Close-Up, you receive the following error message when you start Windows 95:

   Cannot find a device file that may be needed to run Windows. Make sure
   that the path...

CAUSE

Close-Up must change the video driver in order to support desktop display on a remote computer. However, Close-Up does not modify the Windows system files directly. Instead, it installs a terminate-and-stay-resident (TSR) program that watches for an application trying to read the System.ini file (as Windows 95 does at startup). When Windows 95 reaches the display driver line in the System.ini file, the TSR steps in and patches the read operation on the fly. However, the file that the patch references (Vddvga.vxd) is not part of Windows 95.

RESOLUTION

Since no changes were made to the system files there is no workaround. Windows 95 is not a supported platform for the Host side of Close-Up, but does work as a Guest workstation. Norton-Lambert plans to release a version of Close-Up that is compatible with Windows 95.

MORE INFORMATION

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