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MathCad and Windows 7

ptc-1761061
5-Regular Member

MathCad and Windows 7

Will Mathcad 11 work with Windows 7?
25 REPLIES 25

On 2/21/2010 11:48:34 PM, James4 wrote:
>Will Mathcad 11 work with
>Windows 7?

It should. I have it installed on the Windows & Release Candidate

TTFN,
Eden
StuartBruff
23-Emerald II
(To:IRstuff)

On 2/22/2010 12:39:48 AM, eden_mei wrote:
>> On 2/21/2010 11:48:34 PM, James4 wrote:
>> Will Mathcad 11 work with Windows 7?
== It should. I have it installed on the Windows & Release Candidate

It works, together with M14, on my Windows 7 32-bit system.

Stuart


John R Archer
I have loaded Mathcad11 onto my 64bit Win7 machine. The file is in the X86 directory and I have run the compatibility process and tried regtool, but it does not run.
I hope that someone knows the right trick.
RichardJ
19-Tanzanite
(To:ptc-1761061)

On 2/21/2010 11:48:34 PM, James4 wrote:
>Will Mathcad 11 work with
>Windows 7?

Maybe. Some people (such as Stuart) seem to have no problems with Windows 7. Others do report problems, especially with 3D plots. There actually seems to be more discussion about this over on the "other" forum, for example:

http://www.ptc.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7040

Most of the reports are about version 14, but that might just be because more people have that version than the older ones.

Richard
ptc-1761061
5-Regular Member
(To:RichardJ)

Thanks guys. Maybe I'll invest in Windows-7, but I definitely don't want to give up on MathCad-11!

On 2/23/2010 10:04:51 AM, James4 wrote:
>Thanks guys. Maybe I'll
>invest in Windows-7, but I
>definitely don't want to give
>up on MathCad-11!

You could always configure for dual-boot. Some other people here do that.

TTFN,
Eden

I'm curious. Asking out of failry complete ignorance. What is so special about Mathcad 11?

I don't use Mathcad that often but I did do a lot of work on 11 but I now own 13 also.

thanks,

Geophyte1

I think that many people consider it to be a high-point in recent Mathcad development from the perspective of speed, utility, user-friendliness, etc.


TTFN,
Eden
StuartBruff
23-Emerald II
(To:Geophyte1)

On 3/1/2010 6:07:06 PM, Geophyte1 wrote:
== I'm curious. Asking out of failry complete ignorance. What is so special about Mathcad 11?
== I don't use Mathcad that often but I did do a lot of work on 11 but I now own 13 also.

Mathcad 12..14 have a feature called static type checking that imposes rather severe restrictions upon what types of argument a function can take. Look up 'SUC' in the forum to get a better feel for its effects. The intention was good - to try and catch unit (and other) errors at design time rather than run-time, but it's way too proscriptive and broke a significant number of significant worksheets.

In addition, M11's design allowed access to a number of undocumented Maple (symbolic processor) commands. M12..M13 closed the loophole and M14 changed the symbolic processor to MuPad.

Although M13 & M14 improved the performance of a number of numeric operations, they also slowed down the apparent window updating, resulting an overall slower response to display many results than M11 gives.


M13 and M14 do offer some advantages, such as local functions, but not enough to mitigate the effects of SUC (in the minds of several users).

Stuart


John R Archer

I think that I have solvrd my own problem. When I bought my HP DVD-1259 64 bit laptop last August it had Vista pre-loaded and came with a promised HP upgrade to Win7. I upgraded to Win7 Pro ater so that I could run the advertised XP Mode.

XP mode did not load, but after a few hours on line with Microsoft support we discovered that the processor did not support the Virtualisation function. We checked this on the Intel website. Also the BIOS setup did not have Virtualisation setting. XP Mode creates a virtual disc drive.

Checking with HP yesterday I found that no Intel Mobile processors for laptops currently supported Virtualisation and that my machine could not be altered. I had to order a new HP DVDZ machine with an AMD processor to run Mathcad 11 and 14 on a 64bit machine. Programs to run this feature are on the Microsoft free download site.

If you buy a new machine check the BIOS. I am $900 poorer and very unhappy that the Microsoft/HP advertising did not mention processor selection. Ignorance was not bliss.

> Checking with HP yesterday I found that no Intel Mobile processors

> for laptops currently supported Virtualisation and that my machine

> could not be altered



If you don't absolutely need XP mode, you should still be able to run Virtual PC 2007 on Windows 7 (along with your own installation of XP) instead of the Windows 7 'Virtual PC 7'.



Virtual PC 2007 doesn't require hardware virtualization from what I hear (unlike Virtual PC 7).



You need to uninstall Virtual PC 7 before installing Virtual PC 2007.



If that's acceptable, it's much cheaper than a new PC...



-Greg

> Checking with HP yesterday I found that no Intel Mobile processors for laptops currently supported Virtualisation

For What it's worth, it looks like MS says it just dropped the requirement for Virtualization hardware in a new patch for Windows 7.

See

http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2010/03/18/windows-xp-mode-now-accessible-to-more-pcs.aspx

and

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

On the second page, it looks like you're supposed to select your OS and Language, and then choose the 'XP Mode update' button (although I can't select it right now).

I haven't tried it, but this might be helpful for those without Virtualization Hardware.

-Greg
ptc-1761061
5-Regular Member
(To:Geophyte1)

That's the version that I have.

On 2/21/2010 11:48:34 PM, James4 wrote:
>Will Mathcad 11 work with
>Windows 7?

I've got M11 installed on the 32-bit Windows 7, and it seems to be fine.

TTFN,
Eden


John R Archer

I have just completed many hours on line with HP. Apparently my new 64 bit dv6z machine was shipped with an operating system error. After a complete machine reformat and reinstall of Win7 Pro, the virtual machine operated properly.
We spent many hours trying to run Mathcad 11 but it was not compatible.
However I was able to load and run Mathcad 8 Pro, and that is not too bad.
I tried Mathcad 2000, 2001i as well but they did not run.
The Microsoft compatibility site only allows for Matcad 14, but it was worth a try.

On 3/19/2010 10:52:19 PM, JRARCHER wrote:
>
>John R Archer
>
>I have just completed many
>hours on line with HP.
>Apparently my new 64 bit dv6z
>machine was shipped with an
>operating system error. After
>a complete machine reformat
>and reinstall of Win7 Pro, the
>virtual machine operated
>properly.
>We spent many hours trying to
>run Mathcad 11 but it was not
>compatible.
>However I was able to load and
>run Mathcad 8 Pro, and that is
>not too bad.
>I tried Mathcad 2000, 2001i as
>well but they did not run.
>The Microsoft compatibility
>site only allows for Matcad
>14, but it was worth a try.

I'm sorry to see you're still having troubles with the versions you are interested in.

Are you saying your old MathCad versions won't work in your XP Virtual Machines (under Windows 7)?

Just for fun, I dug out my old MathCad 2001 Professional disk and tried to install this under XP Mode of my 64-Bit Windows 7 Ultimate installation (Intel Q9650 processor based system).

For what it's worth, this seemed to install O.k. and I was even able to start MathCad 'seemlessly' in XP Mode on my Windows 7 Desktop.

I started XP mode as a normal Virtual Machine first to install MathCad 2001. This went o.k., except that Microsoft Security Essentials (that I had installed for XP mode) complained that the MathCad registration program was potential Malware because it was exhibiting 'undesirable behavior' :-).

After shutting down the Virtual machine, I launched MathCad out of 'Windows Virtual PC/Windows XP Mode applications'.

I didn't try to install MathCad 2001 directly to WIndows 7 though.

> You have shown another option that neither HP
> or Microsoft mentioned

My understanding is that Virtual PC 2007 in that case is not officially supported (because they only want you to use the Windows 7 product). But, it appears to work for most people (who try it because of lack of hardware Virtualization support).

I tried this for a while with the Win 7 Release candidate (on an old machine without hardware Virtualization support) and it seemed to work o.k., at least in my case.

-Greg

I hope you find a solution. I'm trying to get Mathcad 6 to run properly on Win 7. So far is works OK, but shuts down abrubtly when I try to Save or Save As ...

Hello,

I use XP mode on a Win 7 64 bits system. It is possible to install and run MathCad 2001 but NOT MathCad 11. I suppose it is a problem with the installation program, may be.

I build a other virtual XP PC with my original copy of XP, but it is the same result : MathCad 11 don't run.

I'm looking for a solution ... ?

I was able to get single user licensed mathcad 11 running on XPM in W7 professional 64 bit, which I just upgraded to in the past month. Here is an update to yesterday's post, now including how to get the service updates. Since over two years have passed since the original posts, it may well be that PTC now has a new setup file or something that would work better than this. The following is what worked on my setup, using the Mathcad 11 CD labeled 309.1.

summary

- get the activation wizard working from the cd, by running mcad.exe on cd or by running as evaluation only.

- get the C_DILLA folder into XPM C:\, activated with key from PTC website form & email.

- run the cd setup program on the W7 side to load program files.

- run the service release updates to get to v11.2a on the W7 side.

- copy the whole Mathsoft directory over from W7 side C:\Program Files (x86)\

into the XPM C:\Program Files\ folder. You can cut and paste from W7 to XPM.

- in XPM run C:\Program Files\Mathsoft\Mathcad 11\regtool.exe select [Register Components].

- install e-books and extensions directly from CD on XPM side.

problem

The setup exec on the CD loads the program files into the Windows 7 x86 program directory, but setup never gets to the activation wizard part of setup. Under Windows Virtual PC running XPMode (XPM), the CD setup program would not run at all.

activation

I was able to get the activation wizard going somehow, directly from the CD. It may have been by going into D:\Mathcad\program files\Mathsoft\Mathcad 11\mcad.exe. or it might have been by by trying to run mathcad from cd with "evaluation copy only" checkmarked (no product code needed), and I can't recall if it was while running the CD in XPM or on the W7 side. I had tried so many different things that I can't recall exactly which was the one that worked, and I can't seem to recreate the scenario, perhaps because the registry is changed. But eventually I did get a message that the evaluation trial period had expired and I needed to activate the product. Then i was able to put in my product code, generate a request code, submit it to PTC, receive an activation key, rerun the CD mcad.exe which again started the activation wizard and then accepted the activation key. I remember worrying that the request code might have somehow picked up the volume serial from the CD drive instead of the hard drive, but that fear was laid to rest when the activation created a C_DILLA folder on C:\ of the XPM side. But still the setup program will only run on the W7 side, and the activation key is under XPM. The workaround was to copy the program files from the CD into the XPM program file folder, and run the regtool.exe [register components] to get Mathcad 11 working under XPM.

service release updates

I then tried to run the service release updates to get from 11.0 to 11.1 and then to 11.2a. These execs (like the CD setup program) would not run on the XPM side. However, they did run just fine on the W7 side. Run in this order:

MC11WorkProgSPA.exe

MC11WorkDocSPA.exe

MC11WorkProgGOLDSPASP1.exe

MC11WorkDocGOLDSPASP1.exe

MC11WorkProgSP2A.EXE

MC11WorkDocSP2A.exe

Not sure if you really need the first two (PTC does not include them in download page).

Then I copied the whole now-updated-to-11.2a mathcad program file directory from the W7 side into the XPM program files directory, then ran regtool.exe [register components] from the new XPM program files mathcad folder, to get v11.2a running in XPM.

ebooks

Finally, the CDs to add e-books (extension packs) work fine to install on the XPM side (unlike the M11 setup CD or the service releases). The one exception was a corrupted handbook file for the solving and optimization pack which gave the error "This handbook version is too low to be displayed". I got that to work by saving these lines in a file named SOLVE.HBK and placing that in the HANDBOOK folder, to replace the corrupted solve.hbk file.

; Solving and Optimization Extension Pack

;

.version 8

.titleSolve

;

splash splash.mcd : Welcome to Solving And Optimization

toc toc.mcd

This is just a workaround, Mono Zeftel worked on the original solve book and can maybe provide the correct solve.hbk file ?

best regards,

Mo

Maurice Holahan wrote:

...ebooks

Finally, the CDs to add e-books (extension packs) work fine to install on the XPM side (unlike the M11 setup CD or the service releases). The one exception was a corrupted handbook file for the solving and optimization pack which gave the error "This handbook version is too low to be displayed". I got that to work by saving these lines in a file named SOLVE.HBK and placing that in the HANDBOOK folder, to replace the corrupted solve.hbk file.

; Solving and Optimization Extension Pack

;

.version 8

.titleSolve

;

splash splash.mcd : Welcome to Solving And Optimization

toc toc.mcd

This is just a workaround, Mono Zeftel worked on the original solve book and can maybe provide the correct solve.hbk file ?...

Hi Maurice,

Please see the attachment.

Vladimir,

The file you sent works perfectly. Thank you kindly for sending it.

best regards,

Mo

No problem.

LucMeekes
23-Emerald III
(To:VladimirN)

I've done some experimenting lately with the intent to have Mathcad 11 running under native Windows 7/64.

What I've found out so far is the following. All experiments have been carried out with Mathcad 11 installed for evaluation, but I have some experience that says it should be the same for an activated Mathcad 11, in addition I used the 30-day try-out period of windows, so no activation necessary. Of course you need a valid licence to permanently run Win7 and Mathcad 11.

- Installation of Mathcad under Win7/32 as well as /64 works OK, but after installation the program will simply not run. At best you get an error message telling that the program failed to start properly.

You can install a virtual WinXP in Win7/64 and install Mathcad 11 in there. This worked without problems for me. The problem is that within the virtual machine Mathcad runs very, very slow with some operations (especially for file access, and I need it to process file data).

- Installation of Mathcad under WinXP/32 as well as /64 works OK and Mathcad will run.

- As there is no update path from WinXP/64 to any higher windows (Vista, 7) this is a dead end. However WinXP/32 an be updated to Vista/32 and that can be updated to Win7/32 and this results in Mathcad 11 running on Win7. Note that with updating I mean that the OS is updated, while installed programmed remain installed; as opposed to the "custom" upgrade where the OS is essentially completely re-installed and your old windows directories are moved to a Windows.old folder...

Unfortunately there is no update path from Win7/32 to /64. This is 'cross-platform' and requires a 'custom' upgrade.

- I've tried to install Mathcad 11 on Vista/64, and had some success. The main problem is that upon starting Mathcad, every time, a message pops up asking for (administrator) permission to alter settings; after OK the program runs, but this is not the way I want it. There is an update path from Vista/64 to Win7/64, but with Mathcad not running smoothly under Vista/64 I didn't try that out (yet).

So, so far my recommendation to have Mathcad running under Win7 only works for 32 bits and goes like:

- Install WinXP/32, no need to activate it.

- Install Mathcad 11, activate it. Update Mathcad to 11.2a.

- Get the Vista/32 installation files, they are available on the web. Update WinXP to Vista, no need to activate that.

- Run Mathcad. If it fails, run the 'mathcad.exe' file as administrator once. Reboot Vista and check that mathcad runs normally.

- Get the Win7/32 installation files, they too are available on the web. Update Vista to Win7, no need to activate that (yet).

- Run Mathcad. If it fails, run the 'mathcad.exe' file as administrator once, if necessary set mathcad.exe (and maybe mcad.exe) to run in WinXP sp3 compatibility mode. Reboot Win7 and check that mathcad runs normally.

- If all is well, activate Win7. You need a valid key for that!

Success!

Luc

RichardJ
19-Tanzanite
(To:ptc-1306396)

Good recipe. I followed your basic method, but with a major shortcut:

1) Copy the entire Mathsoft/Mathcad 11 folder from your old PC to the XP mode Program Files folder on the new PC.

2) Run mcad.exe in XP mode to start the activation wizard.

3) When you get the new key from PTC, run mcad.exe again to enter it. This creates the CDILLA folder.

4) Run regtool.exe in XP mode.

5) Manually create the start menu shortcut.

That's it. As far as I can tell (no extensive testing yet) everything works fine, and of course it's already configured the same as the old PC, with all service releases, function packs, etc

I also installed MC13 in XP mode, but that was easy.

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