Question About "autoexec.nt" and "config.nt" (in Vista)

> "bjackson...@yahoo.com" wrote:

> > We are creating an installer for our application which we of course
> > anticipate will be installed under Vista (more and more as Vista
> > becomes more commonly used). One thing this installer does is set the
> > attributes of the files "autotexec.nt" and "config.nt" to READ-ONLY
> > (BTW, in Vista, these files are located in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32).
> > There is something peculiar about our app which is why, under XP, we
> > had the installer "protect" these files by setting them to READ-ONLY.
> > My question is, does anyone see any problem in setting these same
> > files to READ-ONLY under Windows Vista? We had no customer complaints
> > after thousands of installations under XP. But maybe Vista, at some
> > point, changes these files (ie. "autotexec.nt" and "config.nt") for
> > whatever reason and, if we set them to READ-ONLY, Vista wouldn't be
> > able to change them.

>
> 1. Modifying system files, particularly in a way that might break the
> operating system in unexpected ways is _a really bad idea!_ You may want to
> rethink that plan altogether.
>
> 2. Is your application a 16-bit application? If not, those files have
> absolutely no impact on it at all. They are only used to initialize the
> 16-bit WOW subsystem.
>
> 3. If your app is a 16-bit application it won't run at all on Vista 64-bit
> as that OS has no 16-bit subsystem. You may want to note that before people
> buy the app.
>
> 4. If your app is actually a 16-bit application and it needs to rely on the
> autoexec.nt and config.nt files to be formatted a particular way to work
> properly you would be a whole lot better off by using a .pif file that
> overrides those files instead.

> can modify them.

> > These files are read-only to users by default. Only administrative programs
> > can modify them.

>
> Modifying the contents of these files is fine. Modifying the behavior of
> them is not a good plan. The fact that nobody has reported problems is most
> likely due to the fact that your app is the only 16-bit app these users have,
> so you are saved by writing to a 15-year old model. That said, I think you
> should update the app to 32-bits, or better yet, both 32 and 64\. You will
> lose a significant portion of the market otherwise as 64-bit Vista does not
> have a 16-bit subsystem.