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I run Delphi 5 on a surface pro 3 (win 8.1) as well as win 7-64bit on a desktop. If the surface pro 3 is "upgraded" to win 10 will Delphi 5 continue to run properly?

RRUZ
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Pseudolus
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    Modern IDE versions run on Win10, and they have a lot more complexity and dependencies than D5 had. So I am sure it will work fine, especially if it is working on Win8. On the other hand, modern versions do put some files in the Windows system folders, and those files need to be moved manually on an "upgraded" system because Win10 preserves an existing Windows installation by renaming `C:\Windows` to `C:\windows.old` and that has caused some minor problems for the IDE. So, if you run into any problems running D5 because it cannot find files in the system folder, check the old system folder. – Remy Lebeau Aug 15 '15 at 22:38
  • Additional comment to remy's comment; you can downgrade if it turns out that any of your software is not working. Only for one month after the win 10 upgrade though. – Laurens Ruijtenberg Aug 15 '15 at 22:58
  • Really appreciate the helpful replies from both Remy and Laurens. Thanks. – Pseudolus Aug 16 '15 at 01:38
  • Q: Any particular reason you're using Delphi 5? As opposed to, say, Borland Pascal (at one extreme), or the current version of XE8 (at the other)? Interesting link: [Inspiration to Ditch Your Ancient Delphi Version](http://delphicodemonkey.blogspot.com/2013/12/modernize-your-codebase-inspiration-to.html) – paulsm4 Aug 17 '15 at 03:39
  • @paul Sometimes it's just expedient, sometimes it's safe. I recently made a minor change to a no longer maintained program, a program developed in Delphi 6. It would have been risky to change to a modern Delphi. – David Heffernan Aug 17 '15 at 18:37

2 Answers2

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Yes, Delphi 5 will run on Windows 10. Of course, you need to deal with the fact that the IDE attempts to write to its installation directory which fails under a default installation under UAC. But you already know how to deal with that since you have experience running it on Windows 7 and Windows 8.

David Heffernan
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  • I use Delphi 7 on windows 7, 8 and 10. All you need to do is NOT install in the "program files" directory. I have created a directory c:\ggProgramFiles and that is where I install delphi 7. Runs fine without a single problem – GuidoG Aug 17 '15 at 17:57
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    @GuidoG I install under program files and apply a permissive ACL to the install directory – David Heffernan Aug 17 '15 at 18:01
  • Did not know that one. What if Delphi wants to read/write to its files, will the actual files be used or will windows use copies in the users directory ? If the latter is the case than I will pass, have bad experience with that – GuidoG Aug 17 '15 at 18:06
  • @GuidoG I don't know what you mean by the `uses` directory. Permissive ACL on install directory for non-UAC aware Delphi versions works. I prefer that because it keeps my programs in one place and avoids proliferation of directories at root level. Same tactic applied to Python installations and their site-packages directories. – David Heffernan Aug 17 '15 at 18:08
  • What I mean is that when software not written for windows 7 or up (delphi 7) writes to a file that is in the program files directory, than windows does not uses the actual file but creates a copy hidden deep in the users documents files, I believe it was the users appdata directory. The problem is that when that same software reads from these files, sometimes windows reads from the actual files, while it wrote to the copy. Which give strange results ofcourse – GuidoG Aug 17 '15 at 18:16
  • @Guido It's called the virtual store. But with a permissive ACL, the program can write to the actual location – David Heffernan Aug 17 '15 at 18:29
  • Virtual Store, that's the word I was looking for, right. So setting this permissive ACL really works than, that is good to know, thanks. – GuidoG Aug 17 '15 at 18:33
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It runs but more experimental, not recommend to develop something. On some machines the dbe installer stops during installation. The component bar dont show hints. It becomes unstable after termination of a debugged program some freezes the IDE. You should start delphi as administrator without compat. options otherwise you get very slow programs in debugging mode. Oh i forgot, some components are broken like the latest quickreport component produces errors like "no default printer available".

Lendgen Olger
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