Windows 7 64 bit platform
IE version 11.0.9600.18792

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George & Roland -

   You were right.

   I did the following:

        1)  downloaded a trial copy of Winzip

        2)  decompressed the original PB ZIP file using WinZip (George suggested that using any tool other than the one used to compress thefiles might cause problems)

        3)  uploaded the PBv12 decompressed file to my VM, then copied it to a drive other than the C drive
        4)  on the M drive, I set the Compatibility tabpage for the "Setup.exe" files in the main folder AND in the PowerBuilder folders as follows: (Roland suggested this)

                    Windows XP SP3, Run in 256 colors, Disable display scaling on high DPI settings, and Run as Administrator

        4)  Ran the AutoRun.exe as Administrator from the M drive....

        5)  ....and the baseline PBv12.0 IDE installed successfully

    For the updates, I upgraded to PBv12.1, b7055 as follows:

        1)  decompressed the original PB ZIP files, EBF18315 and EBF20016, using WinZip

        2)  uploaded the PBv12 decompressed file to my C drive on the VM

        3)  on the C drive, I set the Compatibility tabpage for the "Setup.exe" files in the main EBF folders as follows: 

                    Windows XP SP3, Run in 256 colors, Disable display scaling on high DPI settings, and Run as Administrator

        4)  Opened up a Command Prompt in Administrator mode

        4)  Ran setup.exe from the Administrator: CMD prompt as follows

                     a)   set the directory to where the EBF was located,

                     b)  entered the command  "c:\> setup -i GUI" on EBF18315

                     c)  repeat steps 4a and 4b on EBF20016

        5)  ....and the EBFs installed successfully

Later -

Olan

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UPDATE:  Several sites said that decompressing the original ZIP file with a tool other than WinZip could cause errors in the decompressed files.
1.  I found the original ZIP file
2. I downloaded an evaluation version of WinZip and un-zipped the ZIP file
3.  I ran the AUTORUN, and it popped up, but the instant I clicked on the POWERBUILDER option I got the same error again.

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With a new VM I am attempting to install PBv12.0. The AUTORUN starts but as soon as I click "PowerBuilder" I immediately get this error:

Does ANYONE know what this error means and how to fix it?

// Here  is the data on the error popup in case you cannot see the image:

>SedtupNew\setup.cpp (143)
PAPP:
PVENDOR:
PGUID:
$15.0.0.498
@Windows Vista Service Pacl 1 (7601)
IE Version: 9.11.9600.18792

Thanks,
Olan