不记得是Windows10在哪次自动升级后，IPX协议就不支持了，表现就是某些老式网络软件和游戏不能启动了，而且也无法配置IPX网络。查询了一下，这是一个国内外Windows10/11老用户的FAQ式问题，但是在微软的网站却查不到解决方案，这让我对微软在线支持服务的质量深表怀疑，甚至有些微软MVP的相关文章也找不到了，想想这也不奇怪，眼下是云计算的天下，微软虽然干的不错，但是原先桌面的热潮早已经消退，先是迁移到Web和移动开发，现在部分开发专家又迁移到云计算平台上，这么多次分流，也难怪微软桌面开发FAQ问题都没人愿意回答了。移动云的开发者社区目前已经聚集超过20万开发者，超过2万核心开发者，也是这个潮流的必然结果。（https://ecloud.10086.cn/api/query/developer/user/home.html#/api/query/developer/techarea/skillpage.html）
一、IPXWrapper简要介绍
好在还是有桌面的核心开发者出手。一位名叫Solemnwarning的开发者（真名是Daniel Collins），2017年写了一个IPXWrapper（http://www.solemnwarning.net/ipxwrapper/）目前版本是0.6.1（开源、GPL协议），原文介绍信息如下：
IPXWrapper is a wrapper library which emulates IPX support while tunneling the packets over UDP. This allows you to run legacy games and other software that require IPX without having to install the IPX driver which is unavailable as of Windows Vista/Server 2008.
IPXWrapper has been reported to work with the following games:
- Atomic Bomberman
- Carmageddon
- Carmageddon II
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
- Darkstone: Evil Reigns
- Delta Force 2
- Diablo
- FIFA: Road to World Cup 98
- Heroes of Might and Magic III
- Machines: Wired for War
- Need For Speed III – Hot Pursuit
- Outlive
- Rising Lands
- Rival Realms
- Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri
- Star Wars Episode I: Racer
- Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
- Street Wars: Constructor Underworld/Mob Rule
- Theme Hospital
- Total Annihilation
- Twisted Metal 2
- Virtua Cop
- Warcraft II
- War Wind
- War Wind II: Human Onslaught
If you have any problems or encounter a bug, please email me with a description of the issue and include ipxwrapper.log which should be in the same directory as the ipxwrapper DLLs.
二、IPXWrapper使用说明
使用方法特别简单，只需要把这几个DLL文件和reg解压缩到待执行的程序目录，根据你的平台情况，导入某个reg文件，然后就可以启动老式软件了，正常使用了。原文说明如下：
Introduction
IPXWrapper allows using software that needs IPX/SPX support on recent versions of Windows which no longer support it.
Quick start
Copy the four included DLL files to the directory containing the program that needs it and run directplay-win32.reg or directplay-win64.reg, depending whether you are running 32-bit or 64-bit Windows.
Choosing network interfaces
By default, IPXWrapper will operate on all network interfaces in the system, which may not work correctly if you share more than one network with any other systems running IPXWrapper.
To instead use a single network interface, change the “Primary interface” to the interface you want to use. Some software may also require you to select the interface in question inside it. Disabling all other interfaces may make this easier.
Using the real IPX protocol
If your software needs to send/receive real IPX frames, for example because it talks to an old piece of equipment that only understands IPX, install WinPcap and enable the “Send and receive real IPX packets” option.
**NOTE**: SPX connections are not supported when using this option.
Compatibility
Software that uses WinSock 1.x and/or DirectPlay (before version 8) is supported.
The following have been reported to work:
* Atomic Bomberman
* Carmageddon
* Carmageddon II
* Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
* Darkstone: Evil Reigns
* Delta Force 2
* Diablo
* Heroes of Might and Magic III
* Need For Speed III – Hot Pursuit
* Outlive
* Rising Lands
* Rival Realms
* Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri
* Star Wars Episode I: Racer
* Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
* Street Wars: Constructor Underworld/Mob Rule
* Theme Hospital
* Total Annihilation
* Twisted Metal 2
* Virtua Cop
* Warcraft II
* War Wind
* War Wind II: Human Onslaught
License
Copyright (C) 2008-2017 Daniel Collins <solemnwarning@solemnwarning.net>
Read license.txt for licensing terms.
三、一些启示
看了这个网站最大的收获不仅是IPXWrapper软件，而是学习了一个老司机的开发工作：他首先写了这个系统，然后立刻就搭建了自动化测试基础设施（一个4台虚拟机的虚拟化的环境，使用了VirtualBox，跑在一台机器上，http://solemnwarning.net/post/ipxtester），2年后，他发现他的环境在由于Windows经常升级不好用了，但是由于Windows升级造成镜像无法使用，他又不愿意去弄明白为什么，于是就尝试在AWS用最小的投入重构这个测试环境（http://www.solemnwarning.net/post/ipxtester-aws），涉及到很多技巧和省钱妙招，值得学习！
相关信息：
http://www.solemnwarning.net/post/ipxtester-aws
《如何在Windows10/11下支持IPX协议？》有1个想法