This is a result of an incompatibility between the VA Smalltalk installation and the reduced runtime image.

To find out more about the problem, use the -l option on abt.exe to direct the default output to a log file. Start abt.exe (or nodialog.exe) again. Now examine the output log file. The output log file might contain information about the reduced image, for example:

The abt.exe (or nodialog.exe) must come from the same version of VA Smalltalk as the version which was used to package the runtime image. A mismatch will generate error 37. A solution is to install the same version of VA Smalltalk (or Server Runtime) as you used in generating the packaged image.

This might be problem related to paths in the .ini file again, or it might be that there was a mix up in the packaging of the runtime image. In the worst case, it might involve repackaging the runtime image.