Microsoft Knowledge Base Email Alertz

KBAlertz.com: When you start a 16-bit application, you receive an error message similar to the following: 16 Bit Windows Subsystem - Hidden Console of WOWVDM. The NTVDM CPU has encountered an illegal instruction. Source When you receive WOWVDM error messages...

Receive Microsoft Knowledge Base articles by E-Mail?

Every night we scan the Microsoft Knowledge Base. If technologies you're interested in are updated, we'll send you an e-mail. You only get one e-mail a day, and only when new articles are added.

Click here to create a
FREE account
Already have an account?
[Click here to Login]

Search KbAlertz

Advanced Search

Webmasters
Put kbAlertz on your website.
[ Click Here for more! ]





ASP.NET 3.5 Web Hosting with Windows 2008 and SQL 2008: Click Here!
Discount ASP.NET Hosting
ASP.NET 2.0 and 3.5
Windows2008 and SQL2008
US and UK Hosting
KBAlertz referrals get
** SIX MONTHS FREE **


Community Site



We Send hundreds of thousands of emails using ASP.NET Email


ASP.NET 3.5 Web Hosting with Windows 2008 and SQL 2008: Click Here!
Discount ASP.NET Hosting
ASP.NET 2.0 and 3.5
Windows2008 and SQL2008
US and UK Hosting
KBAlertz referrals get
** SIX MONTHS FREE **




Mentioned In








Microsoft Knowledge Base Article

This article contents is Microsoft Copyrighted material.
©2005-©2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use | Trademarks




Article ID: 156687 - Last Review: February 20, 2007 - Revision: 2.1

Entries in Config.nt or Autoexec.nt May Cause NTVDM Errors

System TipThis article applies to a different version of Windows than the one you are using. Content in this article may not be relevant to you.Visit the Windows Vista Solution Center
This article was previously published under Q156687

SYMPTOMS

When you start a 16-bit application, you receive an error message similar to the following:
16 Bit Windows Subsystem - Hidden Console of WOWVDM.
The NTVDM CPU has encountered an illegal instruction. Source

CAUSE

When you receive WOWVDM error messages when starting 16 bit applications, they may be caused by problems with the Config.nt or Autoexec.nt file. These files are parsed each time a VDM is started. If there are problems with these files, you may see error messages such as the above.

RESOLUTION

Either restore the Config.nt or Autoexec.nt file, or remark (REM) any nonstandard lines in the existing files to determine which file is the source of the errors. Remove the offending lines.

MORE INFORMATION

Also, check the versions of the Command.com files. The modified date should be the same as the dates of the original installation of Windows.

Rename any versions of Command.com that are not of these dates, with the exception of a version of Command.com in the root folder of the boot partition (usually drive C) and the Windows folder if you are dual-booting with Windows 95 or Windows 98.

You should also make sure that there is only one copy of the Windows Command.com file, in the System32 folder.

APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.5
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.5
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
Keywords: 
kbprb kbusage KB156687
       

Community Feedback System

Very often, it takes hours to solve a problem. Very often, you've looked high and low, and have tried a lot of solutions. When you finally found it, chances are, it was because someone else helped you. Here's your chance to give back. Use our community feedback tool to let others know what worked for you and what didn't.

Please also understand that the community feedback system is not warranted to be correct, it's simply a system that we've built to let people try and help each other. If something in a feedback response doesn't make sense to you, or you're not comfortable making changes that the feedback talks about (like registry edits), please consult a professional.

Thank you for using kbAlertz.com Feedback System.

-- Scott Cate

Be the first to leave feedback, to help others about this knowledge base article.

(Optional) Name

(Optional) Public URL Or Email

Comments
No HTML -- Text Only Please