Vista - CPU error, incorrect opcode

I've setup up a virtual machine and installed MS-DOS7.1 as the OS, and I'm
trying to install some very old software so I can demonstrate it to a class.
The program I'm trying to install is WordStar from the mid-1980's. When I run
WINSTALL.EXE from the first installation disk, it reads a bit and then exits
with the error: "CPU error: incorrect opcode. Killing process." I wonder if
this is an emulation problem where WordStar was written to run on i86 or 286
or 386 processor chips and the virtual PC emulation isn't taking the
emulation far enough back? I'd appreciate any suggestions as to how I might
be able to install and run some of this old software in my Virtual PC.

On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:55:01 -0800, tripap
<tripap@xxxxxx> wrote:
VPC is *not* emulating the CPU...
It virtualizes the CPU instead, which means that the modern CPU is
used as-is (almost) for the old software. Probably there is a quirk in
the Wordstar installer that detects a "strange" CPU and exits.
Not much to do in that case I'm afraid.

--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)