Why does my micrografx american greeting creatacard not work on my windows 8

Micrografx Creatacard Gold 3 was created back in the Windows 98 days and most likely the installer is a 16-bit installer. Windows XP worked OK with 16-bit installers, but Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8, 8.1 will not work. There is a work-around I found ( I actually found this fix for installing Photoshop 7 under Windows 7) and it works! I was able to install Photoshop 7.0.1 under Windows 7 Pro x64 edition and it works great!

Perform a search for Install-Photoshop-6-or-7-on-Windows-7 or go to this website http://www.wikihow.com/Install-Photoshop-6-or-7-on-Windows-7. Under this website, Look at Method 3 of 3 .

Stuff you will need:

1. A working Windows XP -SP3 system where you can install the Free Scalable Smart Package. You may be asking why? You will need to install the Micrografx Creatacard Gold 3 on this system with the "Discovery Program" running so it can create a new 32-bit installer
2. A CD-RW or a Memory Stick where you can copy the new .MSI file created and run it from Windows 7 x86 or x64 bit system.
3. Download the Free Scalable SmartPackager program. This used to be called WinInstall LE but they have since changed the name. You can find the program here http://www.scalable.com/smart-packager-ce-msi-package/. This is Free, but you still need to register to get the software. The latest version as of last week is v2.0.2.
4. Printed out instructions from the website so you can follow along. Once you perform this, you may end up trying this for other "older" software as well.

Basic Overview:

1. Under your Windows XP - SP3 system, install the Packaging software called Scalable SmartPackager v2.0.2

2. Once you have installed the SmartPackage program, it is a good idea to Reboot your system so all files get updated properly.

3. Start the icon called Smart Packager.

4. Under Smart Package, make sure you are under the Welcome screen and click on the Discover a new Package under Common Tasks.

5. When the Blue Discovery screen pops up, click on the Next button

6. Under the New Package Information screen, type out Creatacard Gold3 or something that you like

7. Under the Output Folder, Click the Browse button and select a folder or location where you want the new Creatacard Gold3.msi to be saved. Make sure you click on the Show advanced Options box below and Then Click Next

8. On this screen, you will now need to Click on the Start Discovery. This is what the SmartInstaller program will use to see where all the files are being installed to, etc when you run the Creatacard Gold 3 installer.

9. Insert the Micrografx Creatacard Gold 3 CD in the drive and install the program like you normally would. Please remember to install any of the Extra Free fonts as well during this time since this will be the only time you will have to create a new 32-bit installer (unless you run this process again)

10. After the Creatacard Gold 3 program has installed, verify it is working by Running the program and testing out various things within the program. (This is while the Discovery is still running in the background)

11. Once you have verified the Creatacard Gold 3 program is running properly (under the Windows XP system) then go back to the Discovery window and click on the Red Stop Discovery button and then click on the Next Button.

12. Make sure the Add new package to Smart Packager is checked and then click on the Finish button. This will now save the new "updated installer" MSI file over to the folder location you specified under option 7 above.

13. Copy this new *.MSI file you just created and either burn it to a CD-RW or copy to a Flash drive and take this file over to your Windows 7 system.

Please note, these instructions are an overview and may not contain the entire correct order. The last time I performed this was back in January 2014 when I first discovered the article about using Scalable Smart Packager to re-create an installer file into a true 32-bit installer.

For me so far, the installer has worked with Photoshop 7 and several Photshop plugins like KPT5, KPT7, etc.

I make no guarantees that this will work in your situation but it could not Hurt.

Plus, should you have problems removing this program I would recommend you try this Free program called Revo Uninstaller v1.95. This is Free for Home/Personal use only.

Hopefully you can use the above instructions I provided and get this great program to work under Windows 7.

Please let us know if this process worked for you or not.

Windows 7 professional and Windows 7 Ultimate have a "Windows XP mode". It may work without it but if it doesn't just use Windows XP mode. Which you can download here.

The website / Microsoft site does not have any information if this software will work with Windows 7 / Vista, hence it would be a better idea to try installing it and see it it works. If it does not work with windows 7, windows 7 has a very good feature called XP mode to use old software and hardware which are compatible with XP but not with windows 7.

Please check the link below for details of what is XP mode in Windows 7

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/Details.aspx?type=Software&p=American%20Greetings%20Creatacard%20Platinum&v=Encore&uid=8&l=en&pf=0&pi=0&s=american%20greeting&os=32-bit

Please check the link below for details of how to use XP mode in Windows 7
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-IN/windows7/install-and-use-windows-xp-mode-in-windows-7

Ok after days of working with this on windows 7 32 bit. I have found that having anything pluged into the speaker jacks make it crash. with the error. you that are having problem try and unplug your speakers and see if it wor

Its prbably not compatible with the current version of windows that you using.

Windows 7 shares alot of the atributes of windows Vista,try that driver.
System Requirements

• Platform: Windows 98 / XP / Me / 2000
• Media: CD-ROM
• Item Quantity: 1

› See more system requirements Product Features

• Windows 98/2000/Me; 200 MHz Pentium or compatible; 64 MB RAM; Windows XP; 300 MHz Pentium processor or faster 128 MB RAM; Minimum 427 MB hard disk space; 800x600 display, 16-bit color;
• Windows compatible mouse; Windows compatible sound card and speakers; Windows compatible printer (monochrome or color); Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher
• 33.6 Kbps modem or faster and Internet service provider account required for Internet access, online graphics, online projects, and animated greetings
• Encore/ RiverDeep
• PC

This is system requirements "above" Vista and Win 7 are not supported.You would have to contact them for support.Sorry.

I have the same problem when trying to install on Vista (Home version), except it freezes at 4% intalling fonts. Have tried to adjust setup.exe properties to compatible options, still doesn't work. Also used Windows Vista compatability wizard with no luck.

Vista has been a problem since it was introduced. Essentially Microsoft released it without ensureing driver were available for existing software and hardware. Some manufacturers have been making efforts to get Vista compatible Drivers available. Check the software websites for updated drivers.

Hello,
It looks as though American Greetings has discontinued CreataCard which means they shut down the online content. There is no solution as American Greetings no longer supports the product.

The program is not compatible with Windows Vista.

Sorry for the bad news. Your English is just fine!
-WN

I just installed Hallmark Comedy Card Studio by Sierra on my Vista 64-bit machine. It works with all the saved files from Creata Card. If the Calendar and Address Book data file is fmnot32.dat, rename it to planr32.dat and then the Event Calendar will work as well.