How to Install Crystal Reports 9 in Windows 7

Crystal Reports is the best reporting application for programmers to design the reports from several data sources. Microsoft visual studio has this package with built in option from their versions 2003 to 2008. Now Visual studio 2010 supports crystal reports via add-on only. Visual basic 6 Programmers compatible with crystal reports 9 or 9.x versions and it working fine on Windows XP machines. But Windows 7 supports crystal reports versions above 11 only. If you want to setup an application in windows 7, which is designed with visual basic 6 and Crystal Reports 9.2. So You must install Crystal reports run time files on windows 7. Generally you can't install the Crystal Reports 9 in windows 7 but we can do that with some tricks.

Disable UAC in windows 7

User Account Control (UAC) limits any application installation which is not authorized by an Administrator account. You have to disable the UAC before crystal reports 9 otherwise you cant install it. Let's see how to disable UAC in windows 7.

*Go to Start->Run and type regedit to open Registry editor.
*Navigate to following registry keys
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Policies/System
*Search the Value "EnableLUA" and modify that value to 0 (zero).
*Exit from Registry Editor and Restart your system.

Installing Crystal Reports 9.x in Windows 7

1.Open the Crystal Reports 9 setup folder and right click on the file "Setup.exe" and select Run as Administrator.
2. Click Next and the installer will install all components of Crystal Reports 9 Package.
3. After the finishing setup you have to change the compatibility settings for Crystal Reports application. Go to your installation path which is like as below.

C:\Program Files\Crystal Decisions\Crystal Reports 9

4.Right Click on Crw32.exe file and Select Properties. Go to Compatibility tab, tick the checkbox on "Run this program in compatibility mode for:". Then select the OS Windows XP Service pack 2 in the list.That's all. Now you can design the reports and view crystal reports in windows 7.