[Darkbob2]

Recently I've had a bit of touble registering a couple of trusy OCX's on Vista 64 bit HOME systems.

Yes, turn UAC off, run under admin, run command prompt under admin... I know all that stuff and I also know how to register an OCX manually.

The problem only happens for a couple of OCX's and only on Vista 64 Bit Home. No problem on any 32 bit Vista systems or on other types of 64 Bit Vista (ultimate, premium, etc).

Soooo.... anybody run into this kind of thing? Any suggestions?

Thanks

--DB

[dilettante]

I doubt the issue is Home vs. Special Sauce or any other edition of Vista. More likely the differences here are environmental relating to things like whether or not UAC is armed, whether the user is merely in the administrators group or is the actual administrator account, etc.

Where are you putting these OCXs? Are you aware of the differences between System32 and SysWOW64?

Is there some reason why you aren't using a proper setup package? This will tend to ensure that everything is environmentally consistent while you copy and register the OCXs.

And don't go around turning off UAC. You're just throwing the balance of things off by doing this.

Running 32-bit Applications

[Darkbob2]

I am using a set-up program (Inno). It fails to register the OCX and reports the error. That's why I am trying to manually register the file.

The files end up in SysWOW something or other but as I said, there is an error during the setup process. I am not aware of the difference between the SysWOW and system32 folders.

I have tried to register the file (yes, log-in as admin, run command prompt as admin, turn off UAC, etc) in the SysWow folder, the System32 folder and the Program Files (x86)\App folder. No luck.

The problem ONLY happens on Home versions of Vista 64 and never in any other version. It ALWAYS happens in the Home versions of Vista 64.

Would Vista Home turn on or off some setting that other Vista versions don't? I'd love to know what they might be.

The file is called UpdateNow.OCX. The company is out of business. I'm switching over to MSWINSCK.OCX but that will take time.

All other OCX's work fine. UpdateNow.OCX works fine on all versions of Vista except for Home editions of Vista 64 bit.

Any other suggestions? Thanks for your help.

--DB

[Flyguy]

What version of INNO setup do you use?
The latest version is 5.3.5, released on the 23rd of september.
Since version 5.1.x there is better support for 64bit editions of Windows.

[Darkbob2]

I was running 5.3.4 but it's nice to see a new verson out and I'll be sure to update but that's not the issue.

The question is: What would stop an OCX from registering on Vista 64 HOME but not Vista 32 Home and not Vista 64 Ultimate?

Can anyone think of something special about Vista 64 Home that could cause the problem? Thanks.

--DB

[dilettante]

This is a reach, but possible.

Installation is expected to occur under the TrustedInstaller Service context. This is not the same as an elevated admin user. TrustedInstaller can be invoked through a Windows Installer package (MSI) or via legacy installer detection heuristics. This requires that UAC be turned on.

When running this way special 32-bit registry and filesystem redirection takes place to ensure that items are copied and registered in the right places on a 64-bit system.

I'm not an Inno user, but comments I've read suggest that they've tried to get clever and insert an elevation manifest into their setup executable. This blocks the legacy installer detection heuristics in Vista, resulting in the setup running elevated but not under TrustedInstaller.

In addition to having a SysWOW64 there is also a "Program Files (x86)" directory for 32-bit programs. Redirection handles most of the mapping, see Installation Context.


None of this gets you directly to a solution, but note that turning off UAC and using Inno can interfere with the balance of the ecosystem. Is there a good reason why you aren't using a Windows Installer package?

Otherwise you might consider asking this question in some Inno support forum.


There is really nothing unique about "Ultimate" aside from the extra features you're allowed to install and the ability to join Domains.