Delphi 7 and Windows 7 and 8.1 32 and 64 bit

Delphi Object Pascal. The version I use (since it is the last version close to traditional Windows programming) is version 7. The best version to use, is the version that floats around as Delphi 7.2 Second Edition 42 MB (search a torrent site) which is a trimmed and bugfixed small package.

Of course this package runs fine on Windows XP. But how to install on Windows 7, 8, 64 bit?

This is how I got it to work on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 64 bit.

Installation

  • Make sure you run this as administrator, you will need the privs.
  • Run the Delphi installer (in compatibility mode if errors). Use defaults for the file locations, ignore the incompability warnings.
  • Do not start Delphi 7 as it will complain when starting a project about unable to rename delphi32.$$$ to .dro in the /program files/delphi directories . And something about debug options requiring a change.

So there are access problems, as to be expected. Windows 7 is a lot more robust, so directories are better protected.

Solve the access problems

  1. Run this as administrator.
  2. Open the properties on c:/program files/delphixxx directory.
  3. On the first tab Clear the Read-only attribute and press Apply for all files including subdirectory.
  4. Open the security tab
  5. Give users (and admins if necessary) full access to c:/program files (X86)/delphixxx directory

Now Delphi can be used to write programs again.

Edit August 2010: Windows 7 64 bit is also not a problem. Delphi is installed in C:\PROGRAM Files (X86)

Fix Winhelp

Help does not function, a windows pops up telling “winhelp is not supported anymore on this Windows version, go to microsoft.com for a fix” .

Search  Microsoft.com Windows Help program for Windows 7′ or 8 or 8.1 on microsoft.com, currently here  install that.

Now on Windows 8.1 (64 bit) I got the winhelp installer throwing ‘Incompatible sytem’ errors at me. After some research it was solved by downloading installing the English (US) language pack and have that active during the install (Charms, PC Settings etc).

Now help functions also.

I have upgraded my Windows 8.1 64 bit and Delphi 7 continued to work. So far so good. It means the procedure to get Delphi 7 on Windows 10 is still OK.

What did no work? The Help function is broken again, Microsoft did not (yet?) update he HELP support for Windows 10.

After some googling I arrived at:

Microsoft answers

Here is a solution (thanks to Komeil Bahmanpour): Go to his site

Download Local copy since 2020

I needed a solution in order to get help working for Delphi  on Windows 10.

Komeil’s install.cmd file didn’t work as is (its pre Win10) so I simply modified it.

Unpack the download (Install.cmd, winhlp32.exe, winhlp32.exe.mui) to a new directory.

Edit the install.cmd and add the following two lines to the ‘settings’ section:

set WindowsVersion=7
goto :BypassVersionError
(yes, ‘WindowsVersion=7’ is correct.) Save the file and execute as administrator.
All should go without error. Delphi help, and every other help file I’ve tried, now works exactly as it should