Infralution Support

[dclus]

I installed my application and activated with the license key on Vista, a license file was generated. Then I was testing an installer so I un-installed the application and deleted the license file. Did my re-installation and now when I run it the application comes right up without a license file in the application folder. I tried putting it in there manually and even editing it with all 1111-1111 etc. and it did not even see the file and application pops right up. I do the same test on W98SE and WXP and it acts normal… dialog pops wanting activation key etc.

Is there something going on in Vista that is different since it was installed once already?

If so, is there anyway to reset this behavior?

Thanks again for your help.

[Infralution]

What location are you using for your license file? My guess is that you not specifying a path - and so by default it will be saved in the same directory as the executable.

Vista has an interesting "feature" called "Folder Virtualization" (see http://www.west-wind.com/WebLog/posts/5584.aspx). If an application tries to write to certain directories (such as Program Files directories), that the user doesn't have permission to, the file is actually written/read to/from a hidden virtual store. This sounds like it might be a good thing - but if you have multiple users accessing the data (or access the data from an installer with admin permissions and from a normal user account) then it can cause all sorts of confusing issues similar to what you are finding.

Best practice under Vista is to write/read license keys into a sub-directory under Common App Data directory. Unfortunately, in their wisdom, Microsoft decided that, by default, users would not have permssion to write into the Common App Data directory on Vista. This means you typically need to create a sub-directory and set the permissions explicitly during installation. See the following post for more information:

http://www.infralution.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1035&
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Infralution Support

[dclus]

I do not use Vista that much, but you are exactly right about the Folder Virtualization, what a mess… I am not specifying a path for the license file and did find it in the virtual store path...

I tried this:

· Uninstalled the app and deleted the folders in the virtual store for my application.
· Re-Installed the application under Administrator, did not license it.
· Switched to a non-administrator user and licensed it… works fine.
· Switched back to administrator and had to license it again… works fine.

So, other than the shell game that Vista plays with the license file it seems work.
I set “Permissions: everyone-modify” to my data folder (application database) with my installer and thank goodness the “Virtual God” does not touch that.

Thanks again for your responsiveness.