Reinstalling VV3?

bjornkn wrote on 4/17/2002, 6:56 AM
I had to install a new 80GB drive and at the same remove my old C: drive (6GB) because I have no free slots for another IDE controller card, and I already had all 4 IDE devices in use.
I used DriveCopy from Powerquest, along with Partition Magic, which apparently worked without a problem (although it did take a lot of hours!).
But when I now try to run Vegas Video 3 or SoundForge I'm told that the programs are not properly installed. Why? All the files are still there, and all the drives have identical hierarchy (C-H). The Computer_ID haven't changed, has it?
When I try to reinstall I only get a dialog that tells me that it can either repair the installation, or remove it. But this doesn't work.
Please don't tell me that I have to go through all the hassle with installing everything again, reregistering everything etc?? It was a real nuisance having to do all that in the first place :-( I really hope that I can avoid doing it again. Besides, I really need to trun Vegas ASAP. LAst time it took me several days to be up and running...
What's the easy way to do it?

Comments

Former user wrote on 4/17/2002, 7:29 AM
The only way to get back up is to reinstall fresh and reregister your serial with SF (Internet method). Remember that any changes to your hardware environment (like a hard drive), will most likely result in a new machine code. Your copy exercise has simply preserved the old machine code - so when Vegas starts up, it generates it's new code and expects to see that code (probably in the registry) - if it doesn't (right now it sees your old code), you get these startup errors.

Cheers,

Cuzin B
bjornkn wrote on 4/17/2002, 8:09 AM
Oh, I really was afraid of that :-(
VV3 (and Sound Forge) are great programs, but I really hope they would make it a bit a easier for their users to get up and running (and keep running..).
I wonder how any hours I've spent on installing and registering VV3 by now?
It's not few...
Chienworks wrote on 4/17/2002, 8:17 AM
What problems do you have when registering? I'm using a 866P3 system with a 56K modem. I can do a complete installation and register online in less than 5 minutes. I'm pretty sure that Sonic Foundry intends the process to be this fast and easy, yet i often see people in the forum having trouble with it. If we can find out exactly what these problems are for enough users, they might be correctable.
Former user wrote on 4/17/2002, 10:56 AM
Takes me about 2 minutes to complete everything. That's a complete clean install of Vegas from scratch plus the registration. What sort of problems are you having?

Cheers,

Cuzin B
bjornkn wrote on 4/17/2002, 5:23 PM
The problem is that you don't really know what will have to be reinstalled.
When I installed VV3 the first time it refused to accept my online registration, telling me that I was using a wrong UserID(?) number. After a few retries I got to the dialog where you could click Cancel to get more info. Then you're supposed to register by phone, which is both inconvenient due to time zone differences, and possibly quite expensive from Norway (I don't think I have ever phoned any support phone without having to wait in a queue for at least 30min..). After a few emails I found out that I could use the web page registration form to get that activation key that the built-in registration didn't want to give me. After I got that key emailed I was finally able to run VV3. But then I had to go through the same system again with registering MC mpeg as well as that other mpeg plugin. I don't remember if I had to do the same with the Batch Converter. Anyway, it took me several days, exchanging mail with Sonic Foundry (always helpful and friendly BTW) and receiving the right passwords, to get Vegas up and running.
BTW, I have now removed Vegas and reinstalled. I'm having exactly the same problems now that I had the first time - ie Vegas always refuses to accept my UserID (whatever that is..) and I have to register on the web again to get a new activation code. The same hhappens with the mpeg plugins too.
I'm not saying that this is a big job, but it is quite confusing and annoying. I also now have a lot of serial numbers, and also several different Computer_IDs.
I think it should be possible to make this more user-friendly, and with less cryptic messages.
Former user wrote on 4/18/2002, 6:49 AM
What is the exact message that you are getting? (Please spell it out word for word) and I will see if I have seen it before.

Cheers,

Cuzin B
bjornkn wrote on 4/18/2002, 8:48 AM
As I have now removed and reinstalled everything I can't get back to the exact messages without reinstalling everything again, which I will not do ;-)

The first message I got was something like: "This program is not installed properly. Please reinstall".
After removing VV3 and reinstalling I used the built in registration dialog for online registration. After contacting SoFo automatically with my serial number I got the message text in the dialog like : "There UserID is invalid. Try again".
I don't think I ever entered anything called UserID? Could it possibly be because I have scandinavian characters in my name (ø and å), and that the UserID is built from my name? SoFo doesn't handle the international versions of Windows too well. Sometimes their software wants to install to "Program Files", and sometimes to "Programfiler", which is the correctly named location in Norwegian Windows.
After 3 retries I can finally see the ComputerID, open the registration page on SoFos web page and enter serial+ComputerID to get the activation code by email.

Former user wrote on 4/18/2002, 9:17 AM
Strange that you have to mess around with the procedure you describe. When I purchased Vegas, I received a registry file that has my serial number in it. This was emailed to me after the purchase was complete.

Here's my install procedure (from scratch)

1. Install Vegas (This archive is sitting on one of my spare drives)
2. When the install is complete, I go to my Vegas License folder (again on my spare drive) and double click this reg file that I received from SF. Windows asks if I want to merge this file into the registry. I click Yes.
3. I then start Vegas and it immediately goes into the registration dialog.I choose "I wish to register online blah blah". I fill out my data and submit the data.
4. A quick Internet handshake takes place and I receive one of two possible messages:
a) Vegas successfully registered.
b) Too many activations - try again later.
5. If I get a) - it's time to rock on. If you ever see b) - this means that your activation limit based on your ComputerID has been exceeded. I had this happen a couple of times and I called SF Support and told them to up my activations to like 30 for each of my apps. They were real good about it.
6. Total time - 2:00 or less.

Do you install Vegas this way or a completely different way?

Cheers,

Cuzin B
SonicNancy wrote on 4/18/2002, 9:47 AM
Hi there,

We are aware of this problem, and are looking to fix it in the next version release of the software. Here's the question/fix from our registration FAQ's listed on the site. Sorry this is causing you problems.

When I try to register online from within the application, I get an error message that reads: "Invalid User ID." How can I fix this so I can register my software?
Please follow these instructions exactly to avoid causing any problems with your software.


Close the Sonic Foundry application.
Click the Start button and choose Run. The Run dialog displays.
Type regedit and click OK. The Registry Editor window displays.
In the Registry Editor window, locate the following folder: Hkey_Local_Machine/Software/Sonic Foundry/Shared Information/User Information.
In the list in the right pane, double-click on the Cookie key. The Edit String dialog displays.
In the Value Data field, highlight the text and press the Delete key on your keyboard.
Click OK.
Close the Registry Editor window.
Start the Sonic Foundry application, and, when prompted to register, choose Register online. The application should now register properly.

Nancy
bjornkn wrote on 4/25/2002, 4:43 AM

>We are aware of this problem, and are looking to fix it in the next version release >of the software. Here's the question/fix from our registration FAQ's listed on the >site. Sorry this is causing you problems.

That was a pretty subtile bug I must say.
But thank you for telling me/us. I did as you wrote, deleted the Cookie key value in the Registry, and now I didn't have any problems registering at all:)
It even worked when I tried to register Acid Xpress :-)