Edit: Ignore everything I'm saying here and try the patch that pisces72 linked to further below.

Hi, don't know if you're still looking for a solution but I'm just gonna post this: this error commonly occurs when a DirectDraw application is trying to force screen settings that are not supported by the system, be it the resolution, color depth or refresh rate.

So what's more important than the OS is what kind of device you're using (desktop, laptop, netbook?) and what the native resolution of your screen is as well as the graphics card. I'm not sure whether there is a definite solution but that information may at least confirm the cause.

While Cossacks is perfectly flexible when it comes to the ingame resolutions the main menu is probably hardcoded for one specific resolution (I'm not sure which one, though, probably 800x600, maybe 1024x768). But who knows, maybe there's a way to work around this problem.