Version 9C caution

MPM wrote on 10/28/2009, 3:09 PM
Had *ALL* sorts of prob installing 9C over the top of 9B in XP Pro SP3 32. With no complaints posted so far it's probably just this rig, but it was a big enough PITA that I wanted to post a caution, suggesting that folks backup at least their registry before update install [i.e. ERUNT in XP 32, System Restore in Vista/7].

Install started off normally -> setup insisted on installing MS C++ runtimes for VS 2005 & 2008 (nothing in either was particularly new, dating 7/09) -> setup halted with the message it couldn't find the Vegas msi setup file -> browsing to the file from the message/warning dialog didn't help -> canceled install.

At that point Vegas 9C setup would only repair or uninstall -> attempting to run Vegas brought up serial # registration dialog -> figuring settings lost at least, restored registry backup to try again -> setup again required the 2 runtimes, which wouldn't install with errors of not being able to see setup files, even after browsing to them -> ran Vegas to see if at least 9B would still run, & 9C had been installed. Wasted quite a bit more time verifying that indeed all new files were indeed in place.

FWIW:
IMHO sounds/seems like msi installer problems (that are unfortunately not rare) often caused by (I guess the polite way to put it would be) going by the book rather than adding extra coding to work around msi faults. When/if that happens, & conditions are right -- meaning it depends on what else you've installed that used msi -- *#%@!!! happens. If you get bit by msi bugs, check out [http://www.virtualdub.org/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=267#body] & follow the [much longer] link on Avery's page. It'll probably take me a day or so before I know for sure if anything else was effected by the 9C install.

Comments

Jay Gladwell wrote on 10/28/2009, 5:37 PM

Sorry to hear you're having problems with 9.0c. It installed and is working just fine for me.

More often than not it is individual system (PC) issues, as you mentioned.


Derm wrote on 10/28/2009, 5:41 PM
I posted problems with the install yesterday:
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=679856&Replies=2

Still no joy : (
MPM wrote on 10/29/2009, 4:24 PM
>"Sorry to hear you're having problems with 9.0c"

Thanks Jay :-)

Well... The msi installer is a bug-ridden @#$&%*!!! ;-)

Seems to me all of the posts on installation prob. point to the same design prob in the installer routine itself -- Windows Installer keeps track of everything from every app install, but not in a way that keeps that data separate... IOW it can confuse requirements &/or locations from one app to the next.

I've had it show up as problems in Corel's WordPerfect Ofc, &/or CorelDraw! Suite, with Roxio's suite among others (at separate times). I've seen where every time you start an app it wants to install again. I've seen installs totally fail without easy explanation.

What's happening here, far as I can tell with 9C, is the routine can confuse the file locations from different steps of the install. When/if 9C's install asks for "vegas90.msi" or the Visual C++ runtimes, all 3 are in your temp folder, in a sub-folder named "SonyInstall_1". Problem is, they're all 3 in the wrong form -- they're from the initial stage where the installation files are 1st unpacked. "vegas90.msi", "vcredist_x86.exe", & "vcredist2_x86.exe" each have to be expanded one step further to get to the files it actually wants.

Those files, in that form, never make it to your temp folder, but are expanded into some other location on your hdd (probably config.msi), only the installer can't remember where. Instead it looks somewhere else -- my guess is that it looks to some other temp location once used by whatever other msi install file. The good news is that it doesn't seem to mess up the Windows Installer code on your machine -- I installed another app just to try & make sure.

Microsoft has a tool designed originally for Office to wipe some of those records that confuse the installer, so for some that might help, now or in the future. The free Universal Extractor can also be a huge help -- that's how I found out what was in those 3 setup files with 9C's install.

If/when it gives problems not finding stuff, as I found out, 1st check that Vegas hasn't been already updated to 9C. 2nd, when the install window appears go to your temp folder (if nec search for that Sony_Install folder) & use Universal Extractor to expand either the Vegas msi or one or both vc redist files as needed. Clicking the browse button in the message window, navigate to those expanded files.
JJKizak wrote on 10/29/2009, 5:09 PM
I had no problem installing (9.0C32 and 64 bit) over 9.0b in Vista 64.
JJK