Working PROGMAM in Windows XP ?

[kangaro]

WHAT IS PROGMAN?
In windows 3.X was GUI called program manager (shorted "progman") and you can got it on WIN xp too.

Hello BA,

some days ago i installed Windows XP, and now i explore interesting function. If you type "Run > progman" nothing happend, but...


I copied progman files from Windows 98 SE and put it to win xp desktop. Then it works! Some screens (I have Windows 98 in slovak lang. , so the progman will be in slovak too.)


1. I tried create some group (works). Then i tried create program in groups (FALIED)



2. I maximalize the group.



3. When i tried create new program under groun, program falied.



4. File Browser like in Windows 3.x


5. When i click "About progman", it says "Very low memory. Please close programs and try later."



PS: Close EXPLORER.EXE before you open progman !

[adun]

with SP1 you can start the progman.exe of windows XP, with SP2 this function was removed

[STeeLhawk]

You won't get maximum compatibility copying it from Windows 98; try and get the files from Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000, or, ideally, from pre-SP2 XP (after SP2, the Progman.exe file serves only as an item cache, and won't execute no matter what). That should get it working a lot better, otherwise you get all sorts of errors.

An interesting little tidbit is that, if you're running Program Manager as your shell, and you set one of the program group items as Explorer.exe, it won't open up the Desktop and Start Menu with it; it will only open up the Explorer window, akin to how Winfile used to work in Windows 3.x. I was meaning to do an XP install with Progman as the default shell, but the limited features (no right-click!) really limit its use as a full-time shell. I've been searching for a modern enhancement that will run on XP, but to no avail.

[kangaro]

Thanks for info. Maybe later i will experiment with editing MSGINA.dll and KERNEL32.dll from XP to 2000.

[spunker88]

I have a copy of XP SP0 in Virtualbox and progman works fine. You get the XP style file browser when selecting an executable. Works the same as it does in Windows 2000.