How to disable program fixes and Program Compatibility Assistant warnings in Windows Vista

This article describes how to disable program fixes in Windows Vista. This article also describes how to disable Program Compatibility Assistant warnings in Windows Vista.

Program fixes

Programs may have program fixes applied to them to help them run without issues in a Windows operating system. However, you may want to disable a program fix on computers in your organization.

How to disable a program fix

To disable a program fix, use a test computer to determine the registry keys to create. You can then use these registry keys to disable the fix on other computers. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Install Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0 on a test computer. To download the Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
   https://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=81 (https://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=81)
2. Click Start, type compatibility, right-click Compatibility Administrator in the results list, and then click Run as Administrator.
3. In the Analyze pane, expand Applications, and then click a program.
4. In the details pane, right-click the program for which you want to disable the fix, and then click Disable Entry.
   
   Note This action creates a registry entry in the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags
   The name of the entry is the GUID that represents the program entry in the Appcompat database. The entry type is DWORD, and the entry has a value of 0x77.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all the program fixes that you want to disable.
6. Export the newly created registry entries to a .reg file. Then, deploy the .reg file to production computers.

Program Compatibility Assistant warnings

When you try to perform a silent installation or an automated installation of a program, the Program Compatibility Assistant may display a warning. Additionally, it may stop the installation. To allow for the automated installation of a program, you may want to disable this Program Compatibility Assistant warning.

How to disable a Program Compatibility Assistant warning

To disable a Program Compatibility Assistant warning, use a test computer to determine the registry keys to create. You can then use these registry keys to disable the Program Compatibility Assistant warning on other computers. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Run the affected program on a test computer.
2. When you receive the Program Compatibility Assistant warning message, click to select the Don't show this message again check box.
   
   Note This action creates a registry entry in the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags
   The name of the entry is the GUID that represents the program entry in the Appcompat database. The entry type is DWORD, and the entry has a value of 0x77.
   
   Note The Program Compatibility Assistant warning appears only for a program that is not blocked from running.
3. Exit the program.
4. Note the registry entry that was created in step 3.
5. In the installation script, include steps to add the registry entry before the installation starts.