Those installing the initial Simulator 13 release from September 2007 on Windows 2000 machines may receive the following cryptic error message immediately upon startup:

This problem occurs because a dynamically linked library (DLL) file required to run Simulator does not come with the Windows 2000 installation. IF THIS MESSAGE DOES NOT APPEAR, DO NOT PERFORM THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS. This file is available from the Microsoft Download Center as the Platform SDK Redistributable: GDI+. To obtain this file click the following link:

Download the Platform SDK Redistributable: GDI+

After downloading the gdiplus_dnld.exe executable, run it to extract the gdiplus.dll file. Extract this file into the Simulator installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\PowerWorld\Simulator).