Windows 10: Solitaire from Windows XP runs fine on Windows 10

There has been a lot of talk in the media about how Windows 10 "Solitaire Collection" is now adware with the option to pay an ongoing subscription fee to remove the ads. I only care about two versions of Solitaire; the original and Spider Solitaire, and I only like them from XP or earlier (I don't like the newer, anti-aliased graphics of the versions included in newer versions of Windows; I much prefer the classic look which goes back to Windows 3.0).

Also, I like the XP versions of Paint and Calculator better than the Windows 10 versions as well, and those run fine too. If you replace the newer versions in system32 with the XP versions, they instantly start filling in immediately and seamlessly, as if they had always been there. For example, if you right-click an image and select "Open with ... > Paint", it will open in XP Paint without issue. Even the icons in menus get replaced with the old icons.

They are all just small, standalone .exe files, except for the original Solitaire, which is an .exe file (sol.exe) plus a .dll file (cards.dll). Just place sol.exe and cards.dll in the same folder.

Here is a screenshot of them running (right-click > view image [or whatever the equivalent of that function is in your particular browser] for fullsize):





:)

 

How can I restart the same game of Spider Solitaire in Windows 10?

I just copied the .exe file from my Windows XP computer and it appears to run OK. I think that if there are any problems with XP Spider Solitaire you can run it in XP compatibility mode on a Windows 10 system. This is an option you can see by right-clicking
the .exe file.

 

XP Version of Spider Solitaire No Longer Working in Windows 10

I have been playing the Windows XP version of Spider Solitaire for many years now. I run Windows 10 on my laptop and have been using the XP version of Spider Solitaire on Windows 10 since Windows 10 was released.

Earlier this week Spider Solitaire stopped working on my Windows 10 laptop. It will not load correctly. All I see is the box that asks if I want to begin a new game.

I removed Spider Solitaire and tried to reinstall it, but with the same results. The game will no longer load and open on my computer.

I do not have, at least have not yet found someone who is still running XP on their computer, however, I do have my old XP installation disk.

I have thought about allocating 1/4 of my hard drive to XP and downloading XP on it so I will have a dual boot and then could still use XP just for the heck of it, and therefor Spider too.

All of this seems like a lot of trouble just to get Spider back and I know there must be a better way.

Has anyone else who plays XP's games run into this and what is the fix?

 

"Gaming" forum? I didn't know Paint and Calculator were games. This is a general discussion topic, which is why I posted it in General Discussion.