I am trying to install an old version of Quickbooks Pro on a new computer running windows 8.
It keeps telling me “could not write run key”
What the hey? You buy a new puter and can’t load certain older programs on it?
Can anyone help me? Thanks in advance!
Yeah, a lot of DLLs and other parts change with different versions and this prevents a lot of stuff from being compatible.
Last gasp effort: Do the install as admin. Perhaps the error is due to user rights not being high enough to perform the operation.
Is there an install log that gives more details?
Yep. Happens all the time. Microsoft has even stated publicly (on more than one occasion) that they will gladly break backwards compatibility to make the next version of windows “better”.
Microsoft has gotten dinged in the past by running everything basically in administrator mode (Apple and all of the different flavors of unix like Linux tend to run in user mode, which was cited for many years as one of the big reasons why they were so more immune to viruses and such), so in the latest versions of windows they’ve switched to running most things in user mode. This is why ftg’s suggestion of running it as admin is a good one. The error message “could not write run key” certainly sounds like a permissions thing to me. You might also try the various compatibility modes if that suggestion doesn’t work.
Some things just aren’t going to work, though. I ended up installing virtualbox on my computer at work and I run an XP virtual machine on it just so that I can use certain programs I need.
thanks for the help, but how DO I run it in admin mode?
ftg suggested running the installer as an administrator. **engineer_comp_geek **was talking about running the program itself (once installed) as an administrator, which has a better chance of resolving the issue IMO.
To run something as an administrator: Right-click on the program or the shortcut and select the menu entry called “Run as administrator”.
If it does resolve your issue, you can modify the shortcut itself to always run as an administrator. Right-click on the shortcut and, in the Compatibility tab, there is an option called “Run as administrator”. Turn it on, press OK and you’re set.
Cite? Because that sounds like Apple to me. Microsoft has always bent over backwards for compatibility. They even have a compatibility shim for programs that do break. They go out of their way with compatibility modes.
And, yes, if the problem is that something can’t be written, it’s almost certainly a rights issue. The Run key should be writable if you are running as Administrator.
Do you work for Microsoft? 
I always install in admin mode.
There was a way to be able to log into the admin account in Windows 7 after the fact. There may be one to make the admin account display at logon in Windows 8.
I apologize for being so dense, but where is the program or icon that I right-click on?
Its the setup.exe or install.exe
if you are installing from CD or DVD, this might run as soon as you load the disc , by the autorun process.
But cancel that and go to “my computer” and then the DVD drive and then find the .exe at the top level… right click that and choose “Run as admin”.
IF the exe is hard to find , if you looked at the autorun.inf file, it will say where it is hidden…