My Turn For Help Or Suggestions

they used to work previously in xp?

you might try right clicking on the icon / properties and force it to use win 98 compatibility.. worth a try.. maybe the registry entries for it are messed up or the config files..

I only joined the ship at v7, so can't be of much help

As the new (and improved ) Sonar's come out I move on........
Such as when Sonar 7 PE came out I stopped using Sonar 6 and so on.......
But I can't explain why Sonar 3 and Sonar 4 still load but Sonar 5 and Sonar 6 do NOT!
It won't be the end of my world if these don't load but its a question that probably has a simple answer.
Yes I guess I could re-install Sonar's 5 & 6 - maybe I will - but we know Sonar 8 (sigh) is just waiting in the wings.
Don't we all know that?
Too bad the CW guys wouldn't just set a target date and say - "Sonar 8 will be available October 1st."
Kinda like they do for my son's video game releases - hey what a great idea!!!!!!!!!
Anybody at Cakewalk read this stuff?
Anyhow.......

There are functions in Sonar 2 and 3 that just don't port over well to 6 and 7, but I will wager that if you reinstall all the versions <you DO still have all of those old CD's, right?> they will probably work again. The cakewalk.ini file would be different in the later versions, especially if you have changed audio cards or settings.

You're still using the same computer you had back then? You either spent a pretty penny back then or you're way outdated now....might be time for a computer upgrade.

I reloaded some of the old versions just to get the vst.s and MIDI effects and DirectX plugins that they had back then. Some of them are cheesy by today's standards, but some are still very usable. But, if you don't need the old versions, dump 'em.

Just my two cents...