"This Program Cannot Be Run in DOS Mode" Running Windows XP Setup (278104)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional
This article was previously published under Q278104

SYMPTOMS

When you run Setup.exe in a real-mode command prompt, you may receive the following error message:
This program cannot be run in DOS Mode.

CAUSE

Setup.exe is not intended to be run from MS-DOS mode for Windows XP.

RESOLUTION

To run Setup from MS-DOS, you can run Winnt.exe from the I386 folder on the Windows XP CD-ROM. Type drive:\i386\winnt.exe, where drive is your CD-ROM drive, to start Setup.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:1/15/2006
Keywords:kbenv kberrmsg kbprb kbsetup KB278104
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