DOS program won't open after changing size

[FrictionBoy87]

On my friends computer, they use a program that is completely DOS based on Windows XP Pro. They wanted to change the size of the window to make it a little bigger and so they click on the top left corner where it says like C:/ or whatever and they said there were different percentages that refered to how big the screen was. so they changed those percentages to try and make the window bigger and they said all the sudden the screen weas like cut in half and then it closed. Now whenever they try to launch that DOS application it just flashes a quick black screen and then theres nothing. I checked in the Processes in the Task Manager and the DOS programs werent running. If anyone has any ideas please post back! This is kind of urgent! Thanks
~Matthew

[Panama Red]

Since DOS won't normally run on XP, try opening a command prompt instead. Run>cmd. That will open a dos-type window.

[FrictionBoy87]

cmd, command, command.com all work fine when i go to Start/Run. Its just this specific program. I am using a shortcut but when I try to launch the exe that the shorcut is linked to it does the same thing. So I'm thinking it might have to do with the properties of the exe? But when I look at the properties its confusing stuff because I'm just doing this over the phone! Any other ideas?

[galaxian]

Run the program directly from the CMD prompt, or make a new shortcut.

[FrictionBoy87]

When I run it directly through a cmd prompt it works just fine. But the people that this is for wouldn't know how to go through an entire command prompt just to get to a program! I need this to work via a shortcut but it just doesnt want to do it! So heres what I did...

I went to Start/Run typed cmd then hit OK
I typed CD C:\BM3 then hit Enter
Typed BM3.exe then hit Enter
The DOS program launched and everything was just how its supposed to be. So I clicked the top left corner of the sceen and hit Properties, then went to Layout and made sure the Window Size was Width: 80 and Height: 25 then I hit OK and chose "Save properties for future windows with same file title". Then I navigated to the BM3.exe. I went to My Computer/C:/BM3/ and double clicked BM3.exe. Same thing, black window flashes up then closes. That has nothing to do with Shorcuts because I'm directly launching the exe without a shortcut involved. I also did this in Windows 95 Compatability Mode and Windows 98/ME Compatability Mode with the same results. Now heres the weird thing! When I switched usernames and launched BM3.exe it worked just fine! No problems at all and I didn't even do anything! Does that provide any hints as to what the problem is? I really hope so because this is a bit important!! Thanks for any help that you guys can give me! Peace

[glc]

In the properties of the shortcut, on the Program tab, uncheck Close on Exit. This will leave the window open and you can read any appropriate error mesages.

[FrictionBoy87]

Ahh! I just said I'm NOT using a shorcut! I'm launhing directly from the exe.

[glc]

Make a shortcut. That's easy enough and it's going to help your troubleshooting.

[FrictionBoy87]

Okay, the problem here is I'm not actually at the computer. The computer with the problem is my friends and its at their house. I'm going over there in a few so I'll try to make a shorcut and test all that stuff out. Thanks for all your help so far! Peace

[Redfallon]

agree with G on this one, make a shortcut, in it you can specify properties for window size, memory, compatibility mode (which is garbage, IMHO) and other things. Plus you can check out error codes returned.

[FrictionBoy87]

Okay I resolved the issue thanks for all the help! I went to the BM3.exe file, right clicked it, and I unclicked "close on exit". this gave me an error message and paused the application. I was going to search for the error message but I was like hey wait I'm still in the program its just paused. So I clicked the top left corner of the screen, chose Properties, chose Layout, and made the sizes default (W 80 H 25) and chose to save it to all applications with that name or something. Anyways that did the job! Thanks for the help peace!