ok, I got it. Right click on crafty.exe and click 'run as admin...'
Crafty Error
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I'm curious... are you running it without a GUI? If no, what GUI do you prefer?
Aug 25, 2012
0
#4
Ed, based on the error message, I think he's running the Crafty Chess GUI written by Valters Baumanis.
http://valters-and.co.cc/crafty/gui.php
Ah, Crafty Chess is listed right there, in the window. I didn't notice it.
Good work. Thanks.
Aug 25, 2012
0
#6
Yes, that's right, Escherehcs / Ed Collins.
Can I use any other GUI? I don't know anything about all this so you may suggest me some. Thanks!
Hi Sandy,
You can use many other GUIs. Since Crafty uses the xboard protocol, (as opposed to the UCI protocol), all you have to do is find a GUI that supports that protocol.
Just so you know, I would say that most of newer (and stronger) engines use the UCI protocol. A few examples are Rybka, Houdini, Stockfish, and Critter.
If you Google "xboard vs uci" or "winboard vs uci protocol" or something along those lines, you will find many websites that mention the differences between the two protocols, and how they both came to be, assuming you're interested. (It's geeky stuff for most people but I enjoy reading about it.)
Three GUIs that I know that support xboard are SCID vs. PC, WinBoard, and Arena. Fritz 12 and Deep Shredder (commercial GUIs) obviously support it also... I just checked and sure enough, Crafty is one of my loaded engines with both Fritz 12 and Deep Shredder. So there's five GUIs right there. There are others, I'm sure. Most of the better GUIs support both protocols. Offhand, I'm not sure if Tarrasch does or not, not am I sure about Kvetka.
My favorite GUI is currently SCID vs. PC and so that's the one I will suggest for you. You can find a small "tribute" to it here, complete with a few screenshots, tips on using that GUI, etc:
http://www.edcollins.com/chess/scidvspc
(I do know that many prefer Arena, but I'm one who does not.)
It really depends upon what you want to do with your GUI, and how you want to use it. All of them have their advantages and disadvantages.
Aug 25, 2012
0
#8
Hi Ed, thanks a lot for this info. Although it is all Greek to me, I will go through the links and try to understand. 
Best,
Aug 25, 2012
0
#9
Sandy, I hate to pile on, but I guess I have no choice.
One other consideration is that I think the Crafty.exe file that you're currently using contains both the Crafty engine and the CraftyChess graphical user interface (GUI). So I don't think you can install the Crafty.exe file contained in CraftyChess into another GUI such as Winboard or Scid.
What you'll have to do is locate and download just the bare Crafty engine files, then load that into the GUI (such as Winboard or Scid). If you want to be able to play Crafty at weak levels, you'll need to download the Crafty engine package from Jim Ablett's site. (The Skinner compiles used to not have the skill level switch activated; I don't know if the latest Skinner compile has changed this setting.)
Here's a link to get the Crafty 23.4 engine package from Ablett's site. (It's a long page, you might have to use your browser's "find" feature to locate the Crafty information.) You'll need to download the crafty-234-ja.zip file. The Crafty book named Crafty-book-gm-2600.zip is optional.
Oh, one other thing to mention. If you get the Crafty engine installed in your GUI, you'll probably need to modify Crafty's configuration file (named Crafty.rc). For example, if you want to set Crafty to a weaker level, you'll need to modify (or add) a line for the skill level command.
I'm not able to open Crafty. See the attached screen shot.
What is wrong, can anybody please suggest a solution. Thank you.