Q: iTunes 12 incompatible with Windows Vista Data Execution Prevention

Thanks turingtest2. I appreciate your continued attention to this long-standing issue, but I'm afraid that only Apple has the power to really solve it. I will keep that link in mind, but meanwhile maybe a Vista user who is not restricted by such registry keys might try turning off problem reporting for a while?

It might be interesting to hear from someone running 64-bit Vista, since 12.1 64-bit is the first fully 64-bit version of iTunes.

Don't all rush in at once to tell me if turning off problem reporting prevents DEP notifications when exiting iTunes. (Of course my bet is that it does not.) Perhaps further instructions would be helpful? In Control Panel, you will find Problem Reports and Solutions under System and Maintenance (except in Classic View, where it's a separate item). Once there, click "Change settings."  On the next screen, click "Advanced settings," which will bring you to the screen shown in my screenshot on page 5 of this thread. If you find that you cannot turn off problem reporting, that would also be very interesting to me. (Perhaps SP2 disabled some of the settings?)

Other software news that may concern Vista users: Do you sometimes open PDF files while browsing? It seems that Adobe Reader XI does not support Vista - however it does support XP SP3, which is no longer supported by Microsoft: http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/tech-specs.html

(One thing I've noticed since iTunes started crashing on Vista last spring is that no XP users have posted to say "me too"?) Furthermore, if you wanted to use Internet Explorer 9 for browsing, then the recommended version of Adobe Reader is 10.1.4, which was released in August 2012. (Of course IE 10 and 11 are only available to those running Windows 7 and 8, which is one reason Chrome has become so popular.)

Yes, after 9 months and 5 consecutive versions that crash upon closing, it seems reasonable to say that iTunes no longer supports Vista. Your remark inpired me to visit the 12.1 download page to see if Apple had changed their tune. Vista is still erroneously listed, but something else is wrong with this picture:

Googling "iTunes 12.1 Windows 8.1" revealed that the first-ever fully 64-bit version of iTunes for Windows has been an unmitigated disaster!  Take this thread for example (there are many others): Choppy audio music playback after Itunes 12.1 update on Windows 8.1. Ha! Ha! Ha! Those running newer versions of Windows are finally finding out what Vista users have known for quite some time: Apple is no longer very good at writing software that works on Windows (if they ever really were). But what can you really expect from a program that's Beta tested by Mac developers? Windows versions are just an afterthought. BTW there are also a few posts from Windows 7 x64 users, and at least one from a Windows 8.1 32-bit user. So what does that leave Apple with, "iTunes for Windows XP and 7 32-bit"? Ha! Ha! Ha! Those running 64-bit Vista should obviously think twice before installing this update.

I have uninstalled 12.1 and installed 11.1.5 for the fourth time. I have also tried out the free plugin mentioned above. It does allow you to open AAC files with Windows Media Player, but you cannot add them to the WMP Music Library except by creating playlists, i.e. they won't appear under Artist, Album or Songs. (True, metadata is displayed in the WMP video window in lieu of visualizations, but I don't really care for the fonts.) I would instead recommend creating MP3 versions of the files by holding down Shift and clicking Create New Version - but first go into Preferences / Import Settings and set the MP3 Encoder to Custom, then select VBR of Highest quality. Of course you can retain files in both versions if storage isn't critical.

I do not own any Apple products - vintage, obsolete or otherwise - so your link is irrelevant. Like your October 23 post on page 1 of my thread, your insinuation is that we should all be using a newer OS - or perhaps XP, which is even older and no longer supported by Microsoft. I am not interested in your opinion of Vista. Apple maintains that iTunes supports Vista (see screenshot above that I posted yesterday). I maintain that Apple should either stop listing Vista as a supported OS or else start supporting it again, at this point I don't really care which. I can get along without iTunes. What part of "iTunes crashes on Vista every time without fail" do you not understand? Disabling DEP or any other feature will not prevent iTunes from crashing, only Apple can do anything about that.

Attention 64-bit Vista users: Has it been quite some time since you saw an Apple Software Update pop-up? If you check Problem Reports and Solutions, is there an appcrash report for ASU? If you run ASU manually, does it give strange results? The issue doesn't seem to affect 32-bit Vista, but a 64-bit Vista user has a thread about it: Apple Software Update for Windows crashes or returns incorrect/incompatible updates.

In my Feb 12 post I mentioned that Vista is not a supported platform for Adobe Reader XI - at least not according to Adobe. Having seen posts on both Adobe and Vista forums saying that XI actually works well on Vista, I recently installed the very latest version 11.0.10 on my 32-bit Vista PC. I'm pleased to report that it seems to be fully compatible - in fact more compatible than 10.1.13, which is subject to user-specific "doesn't work" issues on Vista. And it is certainly far more compatible with Vista than the last six versions of iTunes, even though iTunes system requirements list Vista as a supported platform. BTW those clinging to obsolete XP no longer have as much reason to feel smug: The last Adobe Reader version that officially supported XP SP3 was 11.0.08. Of course that doesn't necessarily mean that 11.0.10 won't work on XP, and in any case several other free PDF readers are available.

Last night I tried to update to the latest iTunes version 12.1.2, but after an incredibly slow download the installation failed. Today I completely uninstalled 11.1.5 (the last version that was fully compatible with Vista) in order to do a clean install of the latest version. I went to the official iTunes download page, and after clicking Download Now I was promptly taken to a page that said "Thank you for downloading iTunes," however nothing was downloaded! So I finally downloaded the new version from filehippo. Not surprisingly, there has been no improvement regarding BEX errors on Vista:

Problem signature

Problem Event Name: BEX

Application Name: iTunes.exe

Application Version: 12.1.2.27

Application Timestamp: 55236809

Fault Module Name: StackHash_fa8d

Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0

Fault Module Timestamp: 00000000

Exception Offset: c3f05858

Exception Code: c0000005

Exception Data: 00000008

OS Version: 6.0.6002.2.2.0.768.3

Locale ID: 1033

Additional Information 1: fa8d

Additional Information 2: 137028d3438f8bc00249ffd9be6e4a9f

Additional Information 3: 06cb

Additional Information 4: 148aa568c182bbf72174a8ba0c6948fb

It was suggested earlier that we should try reinstalling Vista, the presumption apparently being that Apple can do no wrong, therefore our Vista PCs must all be corrupt in some way. I had no intention of wasting my time that way, but a sudden calamity on March 11 forced me to reinstall Vista. As mentioned above, iTunes 12.1.2 nevertheless crashes upon closing.

It has often been suggested that antivirus software might be causing iTunes to crash. The only AV I have installed since reinstalling Vista is Microsoft Security Essentials. I get BEX errors when closing 12.1.2 even with real-time protection disabled. As reported earlier, I also got BEX errors when I was using first AVG, then Panda - even if they were disabled. Other posters using McAfee, Norton and Avast have also reported this issue. I can only conclude that antivirus software is definitely not the cause.  (Speaking of antivirus software, I have more bad news for Vista users: It seems that Avira ended support for Vista some time ago. On the brighter side, they have also ended support for XP.)

Another brilliant suggestion was that Vista users should turn off problem reporting altogether - as if iTunes only crashes because Windows reports crashes. My former Vista installation had Group Policy registry keys that prevented my from properly discrediting this helpful hint from someone who obviously has no Vista PC, but not my new Vista installation:

But as I mentioned on page 5, adding iTunes to the Block list shown above is a wothwhile idea for Vista users who do not wish to downgrade their iTunes. It won't prevent the BEX errors that trigger DEP, but it will at least prevent the accumulation of problem reports regarding iTunes crashes, and without turning off problem reporting for other programs that might unexpectedly become problematic.

If there's a program on your PC that causes a buffer overrun (BEX) every time you use it, the sensible thing to do is uninstall that piece of junk and use different software that is compatible with your operating system. I have completely uninstalled iTunes 12.1.2 and installed 11.1.5 for the 8th or 9th time. True, version 11.1.5 is now more than a year old and lacks certain security patches, but I have no intention of using it for online shopping or anything other than file playback. Amazon has plenty of mp3 files that can be played using software that is compatible with Vista, including Windows Media Player 11 and iTunes 11.1.5. Some of the links posted earlier in this thread are no longer any good, but iTunes 11.1.5 32-bit can still be found at Apple - Support - Downloads . The direct links that turingtest2 posted on pages 2 and 3 appear to be still good (including the 64-bit version), and you could always try oldapps.com.

Caution: If you have an Apple mobile device running iOS 8, you would not be able to support it using iTunes 11.1.5 or any other version that is fully compatible with Vista. You could simply leave iTunes open on the taskbar as long as possible to reduce the number of annoying DEP notifications, and you could add iTunes to the Block list for problem reporting as discussed above. Do not "shoot the messenger" by disabling DEP and/or WER. They are just doing their jobs by alerting you to iTunes crashes, and disabling them will make your Vista PC more vulnerable to malware andd other problems.

Posts by cneufeldhq on page 4 of this thread give me the impression that an iPhone running iOS 8 cannot be supported from a Vista PC even if your iTunes is up to date. If you are running Vista and have an iPhone running iOS 8 that you can't support, I would urge you to Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support. You might also want to start your own thread, since this one is about to be marked "Solved." (I've wasted enough of my time on a problem that only Apple could solve, and I'm more certain than ever that they will never solve it.) Frankly, your best solution is probably to buy a new PC or perhaps a Mac. It's long past time for Apple to stop listing Vista in the system requirements on the iTunes download page. Compatibility has been broken for nearly a year now.