I am trying to install the 16-bit game, "NBA Live 98" on my parents' desktop computer, but I got a message that says, word for word:
The version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information to see whether you need an x86 (32-bit) or x64 (64-bit) version of the program, and then contact the software publisher.
Problem is, this computer game is obviously out of date and no longer supported.
Note: The desktop has Home Premium, so XP Mode and Program Compatibility Mode are out of the question. Also, my parents are not willing to downgrade their computer to XP (they discarded the OS CD years ago), and my backup desktop doesn't have a single administrator (everyone's limited). Finally, my laptop charger is broken, so I can't use my Dell Vista.
Best Answer
A 64-bit operating system won't be able to run a 16-bit program unless you run the program through an emulator or a virtual machine. For more info, see these Super User posts:
This question on Arqade: How to get old 16-bit Windows games to work on 64-bit Windows?, is similar to yours, but the solutions in the answers won't help since you can't run Windows XP mode in Windows 7 Home Basic / Premium.
A solution, from this post in Super User:
Since NBA Live 98 doesn't seem to be a DOS game, you might want to try the emulator, Win3mu.
The website for Win3mu only offers a source code download. An installable build for Win3mu can be downloaded from https://github.com/Mwyann/win3mu/releases.
Another alternative is to use a Virtual Machine (VM). A VM will allow you to run a 32-bit OS within 64-bit Windows 7. A VM software you might want to try is VirtualBox, which you can use to run Windows 7 32-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, or an even older Windows OS within Windows 7 Home Basic / Premium.
Other alternatives to VirtualBox (thanks to pixel for mentioning) are: VMWare Player and Windows Virtual PC (Windows 7 Home Basic / Premium are also supported host operating systems).