I'm hoping my question can have a happy ending. In the mid-90's, I purchased Filemaker 3. When Filemaker 5.5 Pro was released, I bought the update CD, which requires the user to either have FM 3 installed or to have the installation CD for FM 3. I've used it all these years, most recently with Windows XP Pro, and it has worked just fine. The databases I began with were long ago converted to FM Pro 5.5 databases.

 

I'm still using FM Pro 5.5 on a laptop with WinXP Pro, but in 2013, I purchased a PC with Windows 8. I haven't been able to install FM 3 on it, therefore can't install FM Pro 5.5. I am retired and rarely use Filemaker, but I have a few Filemaker databases I'd like to add to my Win 8 machine. I don't feel it's worth upgrading FM for the sake of using a couple of databases.

 

Has anyone else run into this situation and/or have a (possible) solution? Is there perhaps any other software that can read FM 5.5 databases? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Have you tried to install FM3 in compatibility mode? Ie, right click on the setup file (might have to copy it to a local drive), then select properties, and the compatibility tab.

On the compatibility tab you can set "run this program in compatibility mode for:" and then select WinXP or something.