Invalid TLS Index with AppVerifier -- CR8.5 CRPE

Question

We are using the old CRPE engine, utilizing the 8.5 version of Crystal Reports.  We've used this for a number of years, and hoping not to have to rewrite everything for the latest .NET versions.
We are attempting to have our software Certified for Windows Vista.  This requires that the Microsoft AppVerifier runs against the application to detect various problems, including issues with Threads and Handles.  It appears that the use of PEOpenEngine() in the application is causing this Invalid TLS Index error to occur.  We have tried various versions of the crpe32.dll, from 7 to 10.2, and all of them seem to have the same trouble.  I've also found a few other documented cases online with users having the same problem.
Does anyone know anything about this problem, if a fix has been issued, or if there are any workarounds for it?  Microsoft will not issue a waiver, so it is impossible to have an application pass certification while using the CRPE engine.
Links with more info:
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1459040&SiteID=1
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1131227&SiteID=1
Thanks for any ideas.

Answer 1

Hello Don,
Crystal Reports 8.5 was retired long before Vista was released.  Mixing in other CRPE versions wouldn't be supported to work in your application.  Business Objects SAP won't go back and update earlier versions of Crystal Reports (like CR8.5) for Vista support.
CR XI R2 with later service packs is supported on Vista, however using direct API calls (e.g. PEOpenEngine) was retired after CR9.  It is unlikely that you'll be able to upgrade your application to CRXIR2 without a major rewrite to move to the Report Designer Component (RDC).
Note that CR2008 doesn't ship with the RDC.  The recommended upgrade path is to move to the .NET platform.
Sincerely,
Dan Kelleher