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Vista Beta 2: Software Install Review
With any OS install comes installing software. With any beta software install comes issues. The logical conclusion is, with any beta OS install comes software install issues. Ok…maybe not exactly so but for the most part you have to agree. :-)
I am now on Vista Beta 2 (5384), which you can read more about those install woes in my Software archives, and I am pretty much done re-installing all of my software. I had some problems with a lot of software but for the most part 5384 had TONS more success than 5308 (the Feb CTP). While going through the process I thought about all of my readers and decided to go ahead and make notes about what I was installing and the success of each one. Let’s dive in and see what happened.
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ColdFusion MX 7.0.1
Initially I tried installing and received the same “NULL Pointer” error I received on 5308. This time Vista came through. After the install failed and closed, Vista popped up a window and asked if the install went ok or should it “Reinstall using recommended settings”. I told it to reinstall and CF installed, silently…was a shock to me, perfectly fine.
The one problem here is CF doesn’t know how to configure an IIS 7 site. This isn’t a big issue. you can setup CF to run on IIS pretty easily. I have yet to do it since the majority of our work is on client servers or published to KM’s test server. Either way, CF 7 installs now! WOOO HOOO! :-)
QuickBooks Premier Edition 2005
The odd thing here is QB required the install of Flash Player 7. Well, I actually had 9 installed. :-) Either way, QB didn’t want to play fair. I went ahead and let it install FP 7, wait…install failed. CRAP! What’s up now? I tried installing under XP SP2 settings but still a no go. The next logical thing was to install with Admin priv’s. This didn’t work either. I went into the CD, ran the Flash Player 7 install manually (as Admin; normal mode failed), returned to the QB install, let it install .Net 1.1, and everything was fine.
A major issue I had with 5308 and QB was the Amyuni printer driver. The driver is what QB uses to email PDF’s to customers, etc. Maybe there is a way to configure QB to use another converter but I don’t know how. This was HORRIBLY frustrating in 5308. Apparently, per Amyuni Tech Support, QB 2006 has no problem installing Amyuni on Vista. The issue is Vista no longer allows kernel-mode print drivers. So, I can’t send any PDF email communication from QB.
Well, I was anticipating 5384 work different but…same issue. Amyuni won’t install. I didn’t expect kernel-mode drivers to come back but I was hoping something worked here. As an alternative, I use FlashPaper, which I’ll get to in a few, to print things from QB to PDF (or FlashPaper, those rarely do I send a swf). So all isn’t lost here.
Office 2007 Beta 2
Ok…I’m going to control myself but I will say OFFICE 2007 IS SHAAAWEEEEEEEEET! Back to install stories. :-)
Shockingly Office failed. I didn’t write down the exact error but it was something to the effect “{office name} encountered an error.” I think {office name} stands for Office 2007 Beta 2 but I don’t know why I wouldn’t have just written that or something shorter to signify the name. :-) I ran as an Admin and was fine. None of the apps require me to run as an admin. They all work as expected with not 1 glitch. Outlook quit on me once and I take blame on that one.
The best part of 2007 is what gets installed: Access, Excel, InfoPath (which is pretty sweet), Outlook, Powerpoint, Publisher, Visio Viewer, Word, Shared features (normal Office stuff), and Tools (same as shared). That’s a pretty extensive list. ;-)
WS_FTP Professional 2006
The app installed without 1 glitch. I was pretty impressed. 5308 had install probs and when I ran the app certain features weren’t there and it acted pretty weird. Obviously, I’m expecting 5384 to play nice.
5384 hates WS_FTP. Seriously…it is the only app I have tried to install that absolutely will not work. It won’t even run. I tried running with older Windows versions (even back to ‘98) and as Admin. Nothing works. When I run the app I get a “Secure Loader Error” error which reads: The Secure Loader used to protect this software has encountered a fatal error. Please contact your software vendor.
What a bummer! Now I have to use Dreamweaver (which is horrible with big files) or FileZilla (which is no where as feature rich as WS; but it is free). I haven’t tried updating WS to the latest build for 2006. If I do I’ll report the results.
Trillian
“Error in buddy.dll” is the error I received. The error isn’t actually in the dll but in the fact it couldn’t create a directory. Run as Admin and all is well.
Dreamweaver 8
Installed perfectly fine and was 400% faster at installing. It took minutes where last time roughly took an hour or so.
Flash 8
“Unable to execute the specified command line!” {Insert Scooby Doo confused sound here} DW worked but Flash failed. I trembled in my boots on this one. Flash is a huge part of my daily dev work so I needed it. I didn’t write down my fix but I believe it needed Admin priv’s.
SQL Server 2005
Oddly, I received a compatability error. I told it to ignore and “run anyway” and everything was fine.
SQL Server Studio Express CTP
I get an “unexpected error. error code 29506” error. I haven’t looked into it after the error though. Reason being, it is an MSI file so I can’t set compat’ settings or force to run with Admin rights, unless I login as the admin. If anyone has any idea here it’d be greatly appreciate it. :-)
Norton Antivirus 2004
5308 wouldn’t install NAV at all. I could download files, extract, and run in any configuration Vista would allow. By configuration I mean different compat’ modes with and without Admin rights. Nothing worked and nothing has changed in 5384. I’m still without virus protection.
I get compat’ issues if I run straight up with not changes to rights or anything. With admin rights alone, it fails with compat’ issues. Same goes for running under XP SP2. So, I’m stuck like Chuck (whoever he is).
Camtasia Studio
Fine.
Canon S820 (printer)
Intially it shows “Incompatible with current OS” and after clicking OK it told me “There is no inf file for this printer.” Vista, in all of its glory, asked, ever so politely, if I’d like to run with “Recommended Settings” and I agreed. It was a good choice. Everything is fine.
Dell Resource CD (GX240)
Fine. (this is nothing but a bunch of driver’s, etc)
DellTouch Keyboard 2.0
Fine but I can’t seem to find where I can change my keyboard hotkeys. :-) Well, I haven’t really looked either. Ok…I looked. In Control Panel go to Keyboard and the third tab is DellTouch. There is only one button labeled “Configure Button” and it doesn’t work. :-( lol.
Flock
Fine.
ATI Software (video card, etc)
Compat’ issues which are fixed via “Recommended Settings” install, after Vista asks of course.
Logitech QuickCam (which is a phat webcam, btw)
Fine
Photoshop CS2
Fine but it keeps asking me to register. I’ve registered like 5 times, each time thinking I must have “thought” I did the last 4 times, and it keeps asking me every time I open the program. Other than that, no issues at all.
Adobe Reader 7
fine
Nero 5
Fine. Wait, app won’t run! CRAP! The app wouldn’t install under 5308, which was terribly frustrating, so progress was made. I remembered an update I had so I went to my download folder (which has gigs of software from the past 5 years) and looked for the update. Ah ha! Nero 5.5.5.9 update installed fine, after a compat’ issue which I ignored and the install went fine, and the app works beautifully.
Multidmedia Zinc 2.5.0.13
Installs fine but you need Admin rights to run the app. I didn’t try with XP compat’ so that may be an option as well.
Winzip 10.0
Fine.
Eclipse 3.1
Unzip failed due to security issues but that was fixed with Admin rights. Copy worked after extraction.
Flex Builder Beta 3
I know, Flex is released now so no need. I’ll speak on it anyway since the final release may have the same issue. Opening the install exe throws “java.lang.StringIndexOutOfBounds Exception: string index out of range: -77 ….” which, oddly enough, was either ignored or fixed on its own because the exe still opened after I clicked OK. I went ahead with the install but recieved the “Power User Dialoog” error. This is fixed by running the install with Admin rights.
Flash Remoting Components AS 2.0
Use “Recommeded Settings” once it fails and it will install fine.
Contribute 3.1.1
Fine.
JRE 5.0 Update 7
It prompts for Adminn but works fine anyway.
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Phewwwww…that was a lot of typing. I believe all of my apps are listed above. A couple may have been installed and not noted due to me dovetailing while coding. Hopefully the above info helps someone fix an issue I either solved or Vista solved for me.
Continue to look for more news regarding my Vista trials and trib’s. Speaking of trib’s, my apologies for all of the shorthand. I knew I had a lot to type so I got lazy. LOL. With just my luck, Microsoft released a newer version than 5384 about 7 days after I installed 5384. :-( The latest build is 5456 which you can read more about on Paul Thurott’s SuperSite for Windows.
In Jerry Springer fashion, here are my closing thoughts:
Vista is going to be amazing. Yes, there are bugs here, there, and everywhere for a lot of people but, for someone who has been on Vista, solely mind you, since February 2006, Microsoft is doing a great job here. The improvements from 5308 to 5384 is absolutely amazing. It is faster, more reliable (seriously hasn’t crashed once; ghost restart once but no crash), and more responsive. I am thoroughly amazed and how much better Beta 2 is over Feb CTP. Thurrott states 5456 is a huge advancement over Beta 2 (5384).
This simply leads me to believe, Microsoft will come through in great fasion and have an amazing product in 2007. Both Vista nd Office will definitely bring good tidings to Microsoft, and probably stock holders. Hrmm…maybe I should get some stock in Microsoft before Vista launches. Maybe we will. That’ll be putting my money where my mouth is, right?
Anyways, I’m out. It is late and I need to get some rest.
Posted by John C. Bland II on July 1, 2006 1:24 AM | Permalink
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Comments
“The one problem here is CF doesn’t know how to configure an IIS 7 site. This isn’t a big issue. you can setup CF to run on IIS pretty easily.”
John,
I am having the same problem but have do not know how to configure the IIS for Coldfusion. I keep getting Mapping error:
“HTTP Error 404.3 - Not Found
Description: The page you are requesting cannot be served because of the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) map policy that is configured on the Web server. The page you requested has a file name extension that is not recognized, and therefore is not allowed.
Error Code: 0x80070032
Notification: ExecuteRequestHandler
Module: StaticFileModule
Requested URL: http://localhost:80/CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm
Physical Path: C:\inetpub\wwwroot\CFIDE\administrator\index.cfm
Logon User: Anonymous
Logon Method: Anonymous
Handler: StaticFile
Causes:
The appropriate MIME map is not enabled for the web site or application
Solution:
Verify that the MIME map is enabled….”
Could you past on the procedure that you used to set up the IIS server for ColdFusion.
It was a breeze for you but I am not as adept.
Thanks for your time and knowledge.
Posted by: iam bennu | July 6, 2006 1:40 PM
I have having the power user issue while trying to install the final release of flex builder 2. I only have one account in vista and it has admin & power user rights, but I still get the error and cannot continue. Any thoughts. How did you work around it.
Thanks
Aaron
Posted by: Aaron Lawrence | August 14, 2006 4:30 PM
Aaron
Right click on the EXE and select Run as Admin. In Vista, as crazy as it may sound, being an admin doesn’t give you “admin” rights. :-) It does but UAC protects certain actions. You can turn off UAC though.
iam bennu
Sorry about the long delay. I saw your post and meant to actually gather steps to fix the issue and create a new post but never did. I saw you on another list/forum discussing it and it seems as if they gave you good answers on how to fix it so I hope the issue has been resolved.
Posted by: John C. Bland II | August 18, 2006 12:53 AM