Any Win7 Pro experts out there?

[Quickmarch 488]

Hello MH'ers

Here's March with another challenge for the experts in our midst:

Briefly: I purchased Legends of Flight DC3 and experienced a few small problems with the display of the 2D cockpit. Also, it was recommended that I install the Service Pack available from Just Flight. Just Flight's techies have been tearing their hair out because I cannot install the SP on my Win7 Pro system.

Every time I try I get an error code when I run the executable. Yes, I am running it as 'Administrator' from within an administrator account. Here's the error code screenshot -

Now, the boys at Just Flight have determined that the reason for this error is that there is something that didn't complete its install process. Their solution is to go to a hidden appdata\temp file and delete everything in the file. My problem is that I can't delete everything. Some things run afoul of the permissions (despite the fact that I'm the owner\operator\administrator\chief poobah on this computer). I managed to grab permission over the Temp directory, thus removing the little lock symbol on that. next, I was unable to remove the individual files because they were "Open in Windows Explorer" - duh! I guess they're open in WE, that's how I'm seeing them. Right click\delete - error

I'm not a complete newbie to this process (most would say I have enough knowledge to get myself in trouble), so I pulled up a Command Prompt and cast my mind back to the early days of computing for my DOS commands. I changed the directory to the appropriate C:\.....AppData\Temp and gave it the ol' DEL *.* command. This is supposed to bullet proof, however, Bill has figured out a way to screw up DOS. Even this command didn't get rid of the (supposedly) offending files - error code: "in use by another process".

I'm wondering if my next step is a safe boot (F8) and try from there. But, I thought I might appeal to the experts first and maybe clear up an FSX boondoggle at the same time.

Cheers,

March

PS: Yes, I did set a restore point before I started messing around.

[dogtrack 346]

A handy little utility for dealing with problem Files/Folders :- http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/Unlocker.shtml

[Quickmarch 488]

Thanks Arnie,

I'll have a look.

Oh yes - it is broke

Cheers,

March

UPdate

Tried it. No Joy! It got a bunch of them, but there's still a file = C:\........\AppData\Temp\FXSAPIDebugLogFile.txt

and a sub-dir called gen_py

If, in fact, either of these is the problem, I cannot get rid of them come h*ll or high water.

Ah, me................

[allardjd 1,853]

March,

Is that file name a typo? Should it be FSXAPIDebugLogFile.txt?

John

[Kasper 14]

March, in fact I do know a little about MSWin7 BUT I know even more about Unix/Linux and I can talk you easily through solving the issue with System Rescue CD or any other open source Live CD. I might even be able to talk you through the much more involved MS solution but the easier the better?

[Quickmarch 488]

Thanks Lads,

For John: No, not a typo, I copied and pasted that filename. Funny though, my eye says its FSX associated but the evidence clearly shows F X S! Probably got nothing to do with the simulator. Reminds me of a British manufacturer who has all these lovely young ladies running around London town in T-shirts with fcuk on the front. Sure makes you look twice. never did find out what the acronym stands for other than to deduce that the last two letters represent United Kingdom

And, frankly, I don't see it having anything to do with preventing an executable from running. That is the crux of the problem with the DC3 Service Pack; Just Flight tech seems to think this is the case - but their SP is the only executable that I've ever had the problem with.

For Kasper: I'll welcome any help I can get. Many thanks for the offer.

For all: I'm wondering if I'm chasing the impossible dream. Maybe it isn't necessary to solve the problem with JF's installer (although it's enough that there is a problem to want to solve it anyway). There must be enough people in this forum alone using that software who will know which files are modified by the SP. It's the JF, Legends of Flight DC 3. Beautiful job, BTW, especially the sound file.

It's Sunday morning here in Queensland - bring it on!

Cheers,

March

[Kasper 14]

LOL, it was middle of the night over here, so here we go.

Download Ubuntu 12.04 32(!) bit version over here: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/thank-you?distro=desktop&bits=32&release=lts Yes even if you have a 64 bit cpu.

burn the iso to CD. Pop the CD into the tray and start up the PC from CD - You might need hit F12 or similar during start-up to change the boor sequence to make it boot from CD and not the Hard Disk.

Start a live session - do not install.

Now when you have the desktop you should have a folder icon on the second place from the top on the left side bar.

Click on it.

In the window that now opens you should see the windows partition, browse to the offending files, delete, done

shutdown the computer after removing the CD, restart and you are good to go.

If this is not the problem: I do own a copy of the DC3 so we can try to work things out.

One last question: did you disable the program compatability assistant in Win7, because it is the single main source of trouble when installilng programs?

If not, look here: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/4161/disable-program-compatibility-assistant-in-windows-7-and-vista/

Please let me know if you need more assistence.

[britfrog 180]

LOL, it was middle of the night over here, so here we go.

Download Ubuntu 12.04 32(!) bit version over here: http://www.ubuntu.co...=32&release=lts Yes even if you have a 64 bit cpu.

burn the iso to CD. Pop the CD into the tray and start up the PC from CD - You might need hit F12 or similar during start-up to change the boor sequence to make it boot from CD and not the Hard Disk.

Start a live session - do not install.

Now when you have the desktop you should have a folder icon on the second place from the top on the left side bar.

Click on it.

In the window that now opens you should see the windows partition, browse to the offending files, delete, done

shutdown the computer after removing the CD, restart and you are good to go.

If this is not the problem: I do own a copy of the DC3 so we can try to work things out.

One last question: did you disable the program compatability assistant in Win7, because it is the single main source of trouble when installilng programs?

If not, look here: http://www.howtogeek...ws-7-and-vista/

Please let me know if you need more assistence.

you dont need to burn ubuntu onto a cd you can put it on a usb memory stick and just tell the boot menu to boot from the usb stick first , at least this is what i do

[Quickmarch 488]

We've got a big delta in our time zones. Pretty much 1/2 a day.

Thanks to both Kasper and Britfrog for the advice. I'll head on over to ubunto.com (is this Linux?) as soon as I'm finished here and d/l the software. Maybe I'll be able to tackle this tomorrow, (Tuesday here), but I've got a trip up island on Wednesday and won't be able to get back before Saturday. What I'm saying here is that if you don't hear from me for a few days, it's because I'm out of touch.

Cheers,

March

Update - it's downloading now - 15 minutes left. Sure hope this works. At Australian rates this is a killer d/l.

Update 2 - Ok Ubuntu run went fine, other than that it's rather new to me it looked like everything went well. I now have a nice Ubuntu 12.04.1.......cd. I wonder if I should do a parallel install of this o/s - might come in real handy sometime.

BTW: the files icon is #3, but that's neither here nor there, I found it just fine. However, it didn't accomplish anything. Ubuntu sure cleared out that directory - nothing left. As soon as I re-booted the laptop, it wrote a bunch of log files right back into the directory. So I went hunting and found some of the culprits. The big one is the one that looks like an F S X file, but it's a F X S log (empty, by the way) and is owned by a MS Windows Fax program - probably not an issue.

I really think (as does John Allard) that the Just Flight folks are looking in the wrong place.

One thing that did come of this exercise is that I booted the computer into safe mode and tried the install from there - same error code.....HOWEVER, and this is a BIG one, safe mode is pretty slow and it allowed me to see a file that was being written to the AppData\Temp directory. This file, which disappeared fairly quickly, looked like a registry entry - and it contained the text "Disk 1". Sorry, all I got was a glimpse.

This got me to thinking that the software that is not properly installed is the LoF DC 3 and it's looping around and biting its own backside. This might be supported by the fact that this is the one and only piece of software that has ever given me this trouble.

I'm giving this some thought right now and thinking that I should uninstall the DC3 package, group all three installs = The main one, the Expansion Pack, and the Service Pack all in the same directory and try another install. Might even install just the DC3 then try the SP.

Thanks Kasper, Britfrog and JAllard. More work needed and SWMBO is getting ready to go out to dinner, so I'll have to burn a bit of midnight oil on this later tonight.

Cheers,

March

[Quickmarch 488]

Sorry about the confusion. I've updated this thread (above) then realised I need a new post to trigger any further comment

March

[Kasper 14]

Hi March, too bad this did not solve the problem.

Regarding dual install - I absoluteliy recommend it but : I am always on Linux professionaly only reverting to Windows for gaming and when I absolutely have to for the benefit of a client.

Both resizing partitions and installing a boot loader are normally done without any trouble, but there is a risk. I have had both gone wrong from time to time - even recently - and recovering from a messed up partition table or manually editing the boot loader is no fun.

Regarding uninstalling: I recommend using a seperate tool like CCleaner https://www.piriform.com/CCLEANER to make sure that the relevant registry entries are also deleted. You can also have it check and clean your registry. This tool is for free and I use it a lot when dealing with issues on Windows PCs.

Good luck

[Quickmarch 488]

Thanks Kasper,

Yeah, didn't help. But, did you note the part where I (and others) are concerned that this is not the root of the problem. JF is likely making a mistake and blaming this issue on improperly installed software. They sent me a reference to a small piece of software to run that looked for incomplete installs. I'm sorry, I don't have the reference handy as I'm not in Brisbane at this time. I'm replying on a portable machine that does not have FSX or any of the FSX references on it. Anyway, the software they sent found nothing wrong with my FSX machine.

Yes, I do use CCleaner. It is my registry cleanup tool of choice. It didn't find anything either.

I hear you on the dual install. I'm not much of a unix guy so would probably shoot myself in the foot given the right tool.

OK, we're back to square one, again. Anyone with any ideas? Also, anyone out there in FSX land experienced the same problem with JF's DC3? It's not really important. I can reconfigure the panel myself. I'm just being lazy and hoping for a quick solution. I think I'd really like some of the features that are advertised to be included in the service pack, but nothing absolutely necessary.

Is there any possibility we can reverse engineer this SP and cherry pick the features. Most of it must be FSX style config file corrections/additions that are simple text files.

Standing by,

March

[Kasper 14]

March, the JF guys may not have explained properly - but they do have a point.

Error 5001 means :The operation cannot be completed because other resources are dependent on this resource.

So probably there is a piece of software which installation did not finish properly and that process is now claiming a resource needed by this installation.

Can you see what the latest product was that you installed (FSX or other) and remember if you ran into any trouble installing it?

Can you install other SW whitout any trouble?

As an alternative I have installed the update in a temp directory so I can provide all the files if you rather go that route.

Let me know and I will provide you with an download link.

[EDIT] I will need to know which version you have to know what files to give CD, DL Digital unlock, DL serial key {/EDIT]

[Quickmarch 488]

Hi Kasper,

You may be right, but we cannot find the offending SW. The SP from JF is the ONLY SW in the history of this laptop that has returned this (or any other) error on install. There's 100's of SW installs on the machine.

Unfortunately, this has gone on long enough that there are likely to be 10 (estimate) SW installs since then. Some of them are still there and some will have been removed by using the uninstall features in control panel. So, I'm sorry, but I cannot answer your question as to what was the last install - just that I didn't have any problems with it.

If we go the other route, ie: d/l the files from your source, I will have to contact you after 24 hours as I am away from the boat, visiting ashore. I'll be back at my laptop tomorrow evening (Australian time). At that time, I will be able to report version, etc.

Cheers,

March

[Kasper 14]

Hi March,

That's OK, the files won't go anywhere.

[Kasper 14]

March, see PM

[Quickmarch 488]

Thank you, Kasper,

For those of you who may be interested in this thread: the issue with the install has not been resolved although Kasper has solved my particular problem.

As there is not a tag for "Fixed", I will use the "Solved" one in order to put this to bed.

If anyone with Just Flight's DC3 is experiencing strange displays, instruments with unusual readouts and other things that go "bump" in the night, maybe we should start another thread.

Cheers,

March

Update - There is not tag for "Fixed", but I found one for "None". I used that instead of the "Solved" tag

[Kasper 14]

Glad you got it working!