Member Avatar for vnatech

I have a client who is getting errors when he tries to install a DVD game from his DVD drives, the main error is "This is not a valid win32 app." I can see all the files from win explorer and I even copied all the game files to his hard drive and ran the game setup from there, no problems.... but when I try to load the game or any DVD game, same error and the drive won't auto load, I have to browse to the setup files... I tried an external DVD that I know is good, same error... He can watch DVD movies, no problem and CD's load no problem, I checked the BIO's and the drives show, I've gone into Hardware Manager and the drives look good, can't figure this out... anyone have a answer. He has XP pro, AMD AM2 3200, 1 GB Ram, 16X Lite-on DVD-/+RW, 16X LG DVD-ROM.. and no other problems that I've seen.

P.S No viruses, no spyware, no ad-ware, clean machine.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by jbennet

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Short summary and focused next steps based on the posts from , and .

Because the installer runs after copying to the hard drive but fails when executed from any optical drive, gather concrete evidence before making changes. Confirm whether the machine is 32‑ or 64‑bit (as asked). Try the same installer from a USB stick or a mapped share: if it runs there but not from the DVD, the problem is specific to how Windows is handling executable images on optical media.

Targeted diagnostic checklist (in this order):

  • Capture the failure with Process Monitor (Procmon). Filter for the DVD drive letter and reproduce the double‑click. Look for a CreateProcess/CreateFile result such as STATUS_INVALID_IMAGE_FORMAT or NOT_A_WIN32_APP; that will tell you if Windows thinks the image format is wrong (for example, a 16‑bit installer on a 64‑bit OS). Procmon download: Process Monitor.

  • Check for file‑system filter drivers or virtual drive software that can alter CD/DVD reads (Alcohol, Daemon Tools, Nero packet‑writing/InCD, AnyDVD). Use Autoruns to review drivers and filters, then temporarily uninstall or disable any virtual/packet‑writing software: Autoruns.

  • Inspect the CD/DVD class registry key (backup registry first). Look under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} for UpperFilters / LowerFilters. Remove those values only after a full registry backup and create a restore point, then reboot.

  • If filters/drivers are not the cause, uninstall the optical drives in Device Manager and reboot so Windows redetects them.

Cautions: always back up the registry and create a restore point before editing. Use Procmon output to decide next steps (it gives definitive error codes rather than guesses).

Recommended Answers

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Member Avatar for DaveB

Hey

Did you check out the MS Knowledge Base article for this;

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/218617/en-us

Did it provide any help.

Also try running event viewer,

Start > Run > eventvwr.msc

And find any related events to this error, and post, or research the Event ID's.

Regards, David

Member Avatar for jbennet

I have also seen this occur on systems with old versions of Windows Installer. Download all the available windows updates for him and see if it helps.

Member Avatar for vnatech

Thanks DaveB,

I checked out the KB on Microsoft and there are a few more things there that I haven't tried and I will next time I can get with my client and the Event Viewer tells me to look at services to make sure there on, no real help there...

Hey

Did you check out the MS Knowledge Base article for this;

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/218617/en-us

Did it provide any help.

Also try running event viewer,

Start > Run > eventvwr.msc

And find any related events to this error, and post, or research the Event ID's.

Regards, David

Member Avatar for vnatech

jbennet, Thanks but that was one of the first thing that I thought of MSI Installer updated that first, all Win updates are installed, I think it has something to do with the Hardware and the way it is installed, I think i'll get with him this weekend and just check his updates and some MS KB tricks, I'll update this post after that.

vnatech

Member Avatar for jbennet

Is he running the 64 bit version by any chance?

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