Running Tally 4.5 in Windows XP using Virtual PC 2007 (Updated)

15 July 2006, 8:48 am ISTFiled under: Technology, Microsoft

I remember this CA (Charted Accountant) friend of mine was hassled because he wasn't able to run the old (only DOS) version of Tally 4.5 on Windows XP. (Those of it who don't what is Tally; It is a very popular accounting software.)

And he had asked me look into finding solutions for it. So I start looking for ways to do it. And found that using a virtualization to be the easiest way to go about. I had tried other virtual PC emulators like Qemu and VMware Player but I found that Microsoft's Virtual PC to be the most easily (for the normal computer user) method to do this.

Now that Virtual PC 2007 is free, we can do this without buying one.

To get started:

Download, Install:

  • Download the free Virtual PC from the Microsoft's site.
  • Download the Win98 Bootdisk ISO image from AllBootDisks.
  • Install the Virtual PC 2004 on to your system.
  • After installation, start the program and start by creating a new Virtual Machine by using the Virtual Machine Wizard, name this "MS DOS Machine" or "Tally Machine". Select OS as "MS DOS".
  • During the process, the Wizard will ask whether you want an existing virtual hard disk, or a new virtual hard disk. Select "new virtual hard disk". Enter a name for the file, something like "Tally.vfd".
  • Save the settings.

Format, Prepare and Get ready:

  • Start this newly created virtual machine by selecting it and clicking Start button. After few seconds of bios output, the screen will say unable to find a bootable device. This is normal, since we haven't made our virtual hard disk bootable.
  • Now click on CD menu and select the "Capture ISO image ..." option. This will popup a file selection dialong box. Select the ISO image that we have downloaded from AllBootDisks.
  • Now restart the virtual machine by selecting the Action menu and select the "Ctrl+Alt+Del". After restart the VM (virtual machine) will boot using the Windows 98 boot disk ISO we just loaded and come to A:> prompt.
  • Now run the FDISK program and create the "Primary DOS partition" on the drive. After exiting FDISK, restart the VM and again boot from the CD again.
  • Now when at the A:> prompt, issue a format command with parameters something like this: format c:/u/s/v:TALLY
  • After the format is complete, switch to C: drive, create a directory by the name of DOS, by issuing the command MD C:\DOS
  • Now copy all the files from the A: drive or the bootable CD drive to the C:\DOS directory.
  • Select the "Release CD" from the CD menu and restart the VM.
  • Now the machine would have booted from the C drive and come to a C:> prompt.
  • Now select the "Capture Floppy Disk Image" option from the Floppy menu. This would open up a file selection dialog box. Goto the directory where you had installed the Virtual PC. Should be something like this C:\Program Files\Microsoft Virtual PC; Now in this directory there should be directory by the name Virtual Machine Additions; Select this and then select the file with the name of DOS Virtual Machine Additions.vfd; You have just loaded a virtual floppy.
  • Switch to A:> drive. And run the command DOSADD.BAT. This will add the required additional features like folder share, etc to this Dos VM.
  • Select the "Release Floppy" from the Floppy menu and restart the VM.

Installing and Running Tally:

  • After the restart, the DOS will load additional programs. After the booting is done; right-click the "Folder Icon" on the bottom status bar and select "Share Folder" option. Select the folder in which your tally installation or installed folder is and select the drive letter as Z.
  • Copy the data from the Z drive to the C drive by creating appropriate folder; After its done, switch to the C:\TALLY folder and start tally and viola, you are done.

Updates:

If you have copied the data / folder from your old set, you can specify the direct path in the command line, for e.g. if your data is stored in C:\TALLY\DATA, you can specify the command C:\>TALLY C:\TALLY\DATA to run tally and look in C:\TALLY\DATA for the data instead of specified in the tally configuration file.

User comments

Deepak Suryavanshi (suryavanashi at gmail dot com)     19 September 2006, 11:24 pm IST
Dear Amit, Thaks 4 telling the way of running Tally 4.5 in XP. U hav told that Virtual PC is free but i just got a demo version of 1 month from Microsoft Site. And after installng all the stuffs ,all the data in VP 2004 in which i hav installled Tally is gone. And that is also without any notification. And my Virtual Tally is also gone. Plz tell me how to retreve data from my VP 2004. Deepak Suryavanshi
d.suresh (aurosuresh at indiatimes dot com)     30 October 2006, 09:07 pm IST
Hi Amit, Thanks for the virual pc concept for using tally 4.5 on win xp, but i am facing problem of printing. it is very slow. I am trying to print to the printer connected to lpt1 on host WIN XP OS.Can you please help in this regards. Thanks & Best Regards, D.Suresh
Kunal (Kunal12333 at gmail dot com)     28 November 2006, 08:51 am IST
Dear friends Please tell me to which dir the files are stored using Virtual PC for tally 4.5 as I have to take my backup. Please tell me at the ealiest. I will be thankful to the person who tell me the solution.
Sheeba.S (sheeba-sheeba70 at yahoomail dot com)     14 December 2006, 11:34 pm IST
hi I want the instructions about the tally 4.5
Sheeba.S (sheeba_sheeba70 at yahoomail dot com)     14 December 2006, 11:37 pm IST
hi I want the instructions
sj (sjwebemail at yahoo dot com)     11 January 2007, 11:16 am IST
Thanks for the thorough instructions on how to run Tally 4.5 on XP. Accurate and clear step by step instructions. Great help for users like us !
dhiraj kumar (dhiraj_sah at yahoo dot co dot in)     15 March 2007, 09:05 pm IST
Dear Sir, I want to know the process of operate tally 4.5 in xp
dev (devanshu_fear at yahoo dot co dot in)     20 March 2007, 08:41 am IST
PLZ TELL ME HOW 2 RUN TALLY 4.5 IN XP
shaaan (shaaan143 at rediffmail dot com)     22 March 2007, 12:43 pm IST
hi the addons are not working with the share folder give me sone thing that works or let me know how to make iso image of the tally 4.5
amit (jainamitoo7 at gmail dot com)     6 April 2007, 10:27 pm IST
hi... it really workout for me too.... i tried it with VMplayer... it worked fine... just the problem with VMplayer was that.... shared folder does not working in the free version of VMware...
dilip (dilip_sangani29 at yahoo dot co dot in)     13 April 2007, 10:52 am IST
how can i download tally4.5 in windows xp????????
Suparna Srivastava (suparnasri at hotmail dot com)     19 April 2007, 10:02 pm IST
hi... it really workout for me too.... i tried it with VMplayer... it worked fine... just the problem with VMplayer was that.... shared folder does not working in the free version of VMware...
Anonymous User (test at test dot com)     29 April 2007, 02:09 am IST
You can use Tally Version 4.0 in Windows XP. It works perfectly fine in windows XP Dos Box. No need to use virtual machine
Anonymous User (test at test dot com)     29 April 2007, 02:11 am IST
Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 is now freeware. Similary the Latest Release of Virtual PC is Virtual PC 2007 and is available for download from Microsoft site. It is also freeware.
Sunny Bagga (sunny01_bagga at yahoo dot co dot in)     4 May 2007, 11:44 am IST
the whole process of installing VM and tally was successful but the only problem is how to open tally in VM it displays C:\> Now what should I write to open tally 4.5
Deepak (deepakjain_711 at yahoo dot com)     5 May 2007, 02:37 pm IST
amit, thanks for guiding about virtual pc. it has been a great help of urs. tally runs perfectly in virtual pc but i am not able to take print out from it now. my printer is connected to LPT port but it doesnot take commands from tally. can you help me on this?
Myli Knights     30 May 2007, 02:26 am IST
Can any one plz give me tally 4.5 plz, i want it, plz anybdy can gimme tally 4.5 link plzzz,
kh (khramani at hotmail dot com)     23 June 2007, 09:39 pm IST
It is a perfect solution to run old application on new platform. please inform me HOW TO MAP NETWORK DRIVE ON TALLY 4.5 running on virtual PC 2004. Can any one has idea ? please send suggestions.
ADITYA GOEL (adityagoel1111 at gmail dot com)     24 June 2007, 03:10 am IST
please tell me how to copy all the files from the A: drive or the bootable CD drive to the C:\DOS directory
JITENDRA SHARMA (jsjeetu at gmail dot com)     27 June 2007, 04:04 am IST
DEAR AMIT, I HAVE FINISHED ALL THE STEPS FOR INSTALLING VARTUAL MACHINE-2004 AND GETTING THE FOLLOWING ERROR MESSAGE DURING RUNNING THE TALLY-4.5. TALLY ABNORMAL COMPLETION STATUS:6 INCORRECT PATH FOR DATAFILES.
Dilip Chauhan (duniyadeepki at yhaoo dot co dot in)     30 June 2007, 09:54 pm IST
hi i want to rename my company name. i am working in tally 4.5 but the featur of alter is hide what can i do... in this position pls advise regards chauhan
Giriraj Dutt Harsh (gdharsh at gmail dot com)     23 July 2007, 08:16 am IST
Dear Amit, these are very useful instructions. I use Virtual PC 2007 and complete step up to make Bootable C: drive. Now I try to next step and reach on 'Virtual Machine Additions' folder but there is no file with the name of 'DOS Virtual Machine Additions.vfd' . Please help me.
mirc (gamze at hotmail dot com) from mircsitesi.com     31 July 2007, 05:58 am IST
great job dude. i like it so much.. i read all article, and will try it out
dinesh (dinesh at yahoo dot co dot in) from paydaysameday.com     4 August 2007, 09:07 pm IST
dear sir tell me the process of runing tally 4.5 in xp.pliz pliz i required it urgently
Rahul (rahul_g1982 at rediffmail dot com)     26 August 2007, 07:11 am IST
DEAR AMIT, I HAVE FINISHED ALL THE STEPS FOR INSTALLING VARTUAL MACHINE-2004 AND GETTING THE FOLLOWING ERROR MESSAGE DURING RUNNING THE TALLY-4.5. TALLY ABNORMAL COMPLETION STATUS:6 INCORRECT PATH FOR DATAFILES
Aslam (mohdaslam77 at rediffmail dot com)     3 September 2007, 10:32 pm IST
Hi Amit, Can you please let me know in which format tally saves the file. And how to convert the same tally format file into Text or Excel format. I hope to hear soon from you, I am in Urgent need of it. mdaslamhussain@yahoo.com Aslam
shaikh irfan (bazmeirfan at rediffmail dot com)     5 September 2007, 06:20 am IST
hi... it really workout for me too.... i tried it with VMplayer... it worked fine... just the problem with VMplayer was that.... shared folder does not working in the free version of VMware...
Amrik Singh     16 September 2007, 04:43 am IST
Dear GAURAV JAIN If you want to recover data protected by Password in Tally follow these steps 1. Create a new company with same name "Remember Its company No." 2. Delete Company.YYY (YYY = Password Protected Company No.) 3. Rename Company.XXX (XXX= No of Newly Created Com) to Comapny.YYY Just Open Old One and Enjoy
Shiju Chacko (shijucomputers at gmail dot com)     19 September 2007, 09:30 pm IST
Dear Friend Amit, Where from i download the virtual PC 2004, I download the virtual pc 2007 and the file name you mentioned is not on the list (Additions.vfd). Can u tell how to run the same if you have vpc-2004 please send me. Waiting for ur reply. Shiju
Abdul Razzaq (razzaqlucky at yahoo dot com) from free2earn.bravehost.com     13 October 2007, 09:20 pm IST
It works fine man.Thank you very much for a great in depth support you have provided.You have given allmost every detail step which needs to apply there in Microsoft Virtual Machine.If anyone have problem for Microsoft virtual Machine they can find crack from google search.
Tarun Kumar (tarunkr100 at hotmail dot com)     19 October 2007, 02:43 am IST
Can you just tell me how I can increase the files open at a time in windows XP Thanks Tarun
nawab khan (nawabkhan1984 at hotmail dot com)     31 October 2007, 11:16 am IST
Hi dear Amrik singh how are you Dear i m also using TALLY 5.4 i gave password of all my companies but i forgot the password i have tried but i dont remember the password you wrote to the Garau jain the three step but i dont understand that how i delete the company and which company i delete it if you dnt mind please learn it to me on explain . thank you so much
Nair (phoenixenggngp at yahoo dot co dot in)     22 November 2007, 08:57 am IST
How to delete a company from tally 5.4
SRIDHAR.M (sridharm70 at hotmail dot com) from google     23 November 2007, 03:32 am IST
i want this for my use
pallark (prk1929 at yahoo dot com)     26 December 2007, 03:04 am IST
ALLY ABNORMAL COMPLETION STATUS:6 INCORRECT PATH FOR DATAFILES:{
manoj gandhi (mgandhi443 at yahoo dot com)     29 December 2007, 08:06 am IST
dear amit, i did all the method you write here but got the error of ALLY ABNORMAL COMPLETION STATUS:6 INCORRECT PATH FOR DATAFILES:{ please suggest what to do thanks. waiting for your reply
l (lucky20082 at gmail dot com)     3 January 2008, 10:56 am IST
Format, Prepare and Get ready: Now click on CD menu and select the "Capture ISO image ..." option. This will popup a file selection dialong box. Select the ISO image that we have downloaded from AllBootDisks. after following these steps also i am getting the same message as NON SYSTEM DISK OR DISK ERROR REPLACE & PRESS ANY KEY WHEN READY.
manoj gandhi (mgandhi443 at yahoo dot com)     4 January 2008, 09:05 am IST
dear amit, i did all the method you write here but got the error of ALLY ABNORMAL COMPLETION STATUS:6 INCORRECT PATH FOR DATAFILES:{ please suggest what to do thanks. waiting for your reply please send the reply fast waiting from last one week thanks
lucky (lucky20082 at gmail dot com)     4 January 2008, 11:39 am IST
Format, Prepare and Get ready: Now click on CD menu and select the "Capture ISO image ..." option. This will popup a file selection dialong box. Select the ISO image that we have downloaded from AllBootDisks. after following these steps also i am getting the same message as NON SYSTEM DISK OR DISK ERROR REPLACE & PRESS ANY KEY WHEN READY
bharat sarmalkar (bharatsarmalkar at gmail dot com)     9 January 2008, 03:02 am IST
I tried this few year back. IN windows xp if u have fat32 partitions. Then reboot ur system using bootable disk of win98 then on command promp go to tally 45 directory and rn tally45.exe it works The data folder will be also same only problem is what you need to reboot to command prompt. and while using tally u wont be able to use any other windows based application
Rajesh Nath Goswami (rajeshrmg at gmail dot com)     9 January 2008, 06:04 am IST
How to read a data file of tally
manoj (mgandhi443 at yahoo dot com)     14 January 2008, 10:31 am IST
dear amit, i again repeat all the process but same error found please help in this matter if cant then please tell waiting error is : tally abnormal status : 6 incorrect path for data files
jitesh (JITESH dot PATEL1 at GMAIL dot COM)     10 February 2008, 01:25 pm IST
I use Virtual PC 2007 and complete step up to make Bootable C: drive. Now I try to next step and reach on 'Virtual Machine Additions' folder but there is no file with the name of 'DOS Virtual Machine Additions.vfd' . Please help me.
Preet (preetkhushi at gmail dot com)     6 March 2008, 08:42 am IST
Dear Amit thanks for ur help brother but i face the problem is that i m using the Vrtual Pc 2007 and there is no file with the name 'DOS Virtual Machine Additions.vfd' plz help me brother i m so greatful to u dear
Emraan (emraan dot khan at rediffmail dot com)     13 April 2008, 08:19 am IST
Yes now Old school days came back again now you can run Tally 4.5, Tally4.5 (dos version) under windows xp with "Run Tally" utility available with me. How? just email me at emraan.khan@rediffmail.com And it is not free you have to pay some affordable fee for it.
Rahul Bhaskar (rahul dot bhaskar at rediffmail dot com)     10 May 2008, 06:22 am IST
Hi sir, actually I have been able to run Tally 4.5 as per the procedure i.e C: tally dos But the problem is that I am not able to run or feed my Data already copied from my windows 98 machine, Plz plz tell me a perfect solution for this. I would be really thankful to you for this great help. Good bye and take care., keep rocking like this always.
GAURAV JAIN (mailme_garuav25 at yahoo dot com)     18 May 2008, 08:08 am IST
DEAR AMIT....... I M FORGETTING THE PASSWORD OF MY ONE COMPANY IN TALLY 7.2 WHAT CAN I DO FOR RECOVER MY DATA......................... IF I DON'T GOT THE PASSWORD I HAVE IN TROBLE IN MY JOB.... PLEASE REPLY SOON....... ITS URGENT..............
Ankit (ankitarora23 at gmail dot com) from gmail     25 May 2008, 02:57 am IST
DEAR AMIT, I HAVE FINISHED ALL THE STEPS FOR INSTALLING VARTUAL MACHINE-2004 AND GETTING THE FOLLOWING ERROR MESSAGE DURING RUNNING THE TALLY-4.5. TALLY ABNORMAL COMPLETION STATUS:6 INCORRECT PATH FOR DATAFILES
Vikas (vikas1980online at yahoo dot com)     21 June 2008, 09:01 am IST
Thanks a lot. I have successfully installed. I have not yet tried thr printing from Virtaul PC Tally. Will it be slow or fast. Do convey back. If its slow then the procedure to print it in fast speed. Also please tell if Virtual PC 2004 can be uograded to Vitual PC 2007 without losing data. Lastly I want to say Thank you very very much. Now I can run some old DOS based games also like DAVE etc which i was dieing to play. Thanks a lot Mr. AMIT.
ankit (ankitarora23 at gmail dot com)     22 June 2008, 03:51 am IST
Hi Amit, Thanks for the virual pc concept for using tally 4.5 on win xp, but i am facing problem of printing. it is very slow. I am trying to print to the printer connected to lpt1 on host WIN XP OS.Can you please help in this regards. Thanks & Best Regards ankit arora
Pranjal (vorapran at gmail dot com)     24 June 2008, 12:40 am IST
Hello friends... amit thanks for wonder guidance on installing and using virtual PC for tally... i successfully installed virtual pc and tally but stuck at a point... A error message is displayed saying "Tally abnormal closure Status:6 Incorrect data path"... can you help me for this...
Bhavesh Dineshchandra Bhatt (bhavesh_anand80 at hotmail dot com)     27 June 2008, 05:52 am IST
Hi Dear All, How Can I Setup Tally 4.5 (Licence Copy) in multiuser environement. Second if there is more than 12 year company's data in Tally 4.5 Version in another PC and it is very slow. How can I split Company data? It will affect tranaction on current year? Plz. help me....
Rakesh Goyal (advocaterakesh30 at yahoo dot co dot in)     29 June 2008, 11:11 pm IST
i can't get print of tally4.5 on my new laser pritner hp1020.
lakhan (lakhanmohta at rediffmail dot com)     14 July 2008, 05:27 am IST
amit, thanks for guiding about virtual pc. it has been a great help of urs. tally runs perfectly in virtual pc but i am not able to take print out from it now. my printer is connected to LPT port but it doesnot take commands from tally. can you help me on this?
lakhan (lakhanmohta at rediffmail dot com)     14 July 2008, 05:35 am IST
Amit,Plz tell me how to retreve the tally 4.5 data from my VP 2004 to run in others computer. Plz reply soon. my mail is. lakhanmohta@rediffmail.com
svel (ssukv07 at hotmail dot com) from digitalamit.com/blog/blog/105.html     16 July 2008, 11:50 am IST
DEAR AMIT, I HAVE FINISHED ALL THE STEPS FOR INSTALLING VARTUAL MACHINE-2004 AND GETTING THE FOLLOWING ERROR MESSAGE DURING RUNNING THE TALLY-4.5. TALLY ABNORMAL COMPLETION STATUS:6 INCORRECT PATH FOR DATAFILES FURTHER WHAT CAN I DO...
Kamlesh (kam_rank at yahoo dot co dot in)     26 July 2008, 05:36 am IST
I have done all the process. all data files are also copied by creating appropriate folder. but when we execute it, it gives an error Abnormal Completion Status : 6 - Incorrect Path for Data files. Please advise.
Piyush Jain (piyushjain_838 at yahoo dot com)     23 August 2008, 06:38 am IST
DEAR AMIT, I HAVE FINISHED ALL THE STEPS FOR INSTALLING VARTUAL MACHINE-2004 AND GETTING THE FOLLOWING ERROR MESSAGE DURING RUNNING THE TALLY-4.5. TALLY ABNORMAL COMPLETION STATUS:6 INCORRECT PATH FOR DATA FILES FURTHER WHAT CAN I DO... Plz. Plz. Help Itz..... Urgent Plz
sanjeev (sanjeevmfc at gmail dot com)     27 November 2008, 05:56 pm IST
solution for (status:6 incorrect path for data files further) steps 1. go to the icon of folder at the bottem of the window, 2. now click the share the folder 3. next to tell the path of DATA folder of tally45 and assure the Z drive 4. then go to the DOS prompt type Z: click enter 5. then type the copy z:\ c:tally\data/ (where tally folder exist) 6. you see that all the files of data folder will be copied to your tally folders 7. now restart the virtul pc, 8. start tally 4.5 you will done ok best of luck bye and take care all of you
siddharth (sid2415 at gmail dot com)     11 December 2008, 03:58 am IST
please tell me how to copy all the files from the A: drive or the bootable CD drive to the C:\DOS directory
Sandeep Saini (sandeepsaini2010 at gmail dot com)     24 December 2008, 05:28 am IST
Dear Sir, Plz solve my problem . sir i am using tally 4.5 but my new pc run xp. i am cannot use virtual pc i want without virtual pc run tally 4.5 with xp. thank you Sandeep Saini Sonipat(Hr.)
N.J.Reddy (njreddyhyd at hotmail dot com)     23 January 2009, 09:47 am IST
Tally 4.5 runs well in Microsoft virtual PC. But the problem is printing. After sometime the printer will not respond. If it so happens, then we have to again reload Windos 98 again. That is why I have changed my 4.5 data to 7.2 and now using Tally7.2 in XP. For fun sake I am still working on Tally 4.5 after booting from dos. I have loaded my pen drive with dos. I am also using Tally 7.2 booting from Bart PE CD. To know more about Bart PE, please google it. You will learn how to make a Bart PE CD.
Amit Kumar (dj_keer at yahoo dot com)     18 February 2009, 08:05 am IST
How Can I run tally 4.5 ver. in windows xp plz tell me now plz
Prakash (prnoida at yahoo dot co dot in)     23 March 2009, 12:24 am IST
Dear Sir, I am not getting any .vfd in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Virtual PC
RAJNISH (infinity dot rajnish at yahoo dot com)     1 April 2009, 12:01 am IST
haii i am not able to find the option of msdos when creating new virtual machine.
SHESHADRI (nsheshadri at hotmail dot com) from bcasonline.org     12 April 2009, 06:08 am IST
Sir, let me know how to split data of tally 5.4
Mohit (mrajpura at live dot com)     15 June 2009, 10:08 pm IST
Dear Amit, I Installed VMware Workstation in my desktop and than i install Windows 98SE than i install TALLY45 till here every thing working fine but when i double click on tally i received error message "Tally Abnormal Completion Status : 6 Incorrect PATH for Data files." Please give solution as soon as possible. Send me mail
subbu (vnsubramani at yahoo dot co dot in)     8 August 2009, 10:12 pm IST
hi i created every thing but i am unable to create data path. how to creat it plz guid me at the earliest. thank you
Vipul (viply1 at gmail dot com)     12 August 2009, 02:47 am IST
dear anyone who can help me, i am having a problem in the following step. pls anyone who has crossed this step pls pls pls help :) "Copy all the files from the A: drive or the bootable CD drive to the C:\DOS directory." pls tell me how the copy is done along with exact code if any... thnaks :)
Vipul (viply1 at gamil dot com)     20 October 2009, 02:32 pm IST
hey amit i installed everything... jus one small problem im having... when i go to cd:\tally and type tally it comes "tally abnormal completion" status 6 - incorrect data path for data files. What should i do to make tally work... pls help.. all the tally data is in c:>tally>data
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Amit Arora is web developer with expertise in developing eCommerce enabled websites for the businesses.

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