Can't Launch or Uninstall

[5ynic]

Help - can't launch Flare/Capture/Mimic!

Have been running Flare + Mimic + Capture on an XP box with all latest patches for over a year. Haven't installed any software recently.

Yesterday, I did a copy'n'paste in Capture, everything froze, when I tried to restart Flare I got this:


Same for Mimic and capture too.

So I rebooted (several times) checked no weird threads were running in task manager, and tried again. Same result.

OK, I thought, I'll uninstall and reinstall Flare. But I got this

followed by this:


So I tried again but selected the "Repair" option - same result.

Tried starting with Capture and mimic - same result.

I work from home using Flare on my PC, so this has a major impact for me - anyone got any suggestions short of rebuilding the box?

TIA,
Jay

[helen]

I think I'd try reinstalling the .Net framework if you haven't done so already. It looks like it's in pain if Flare, Capture and Mimic have all packed up.

[RamonS]

This is the typical behaviour of the awfully misdesigned Microsoft Installer (msi packages). I often get this with msi packages and there is really no good way to fix that. One way is to use the official Microsoft tool. Information about it is here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301
It allows you to whack the uninstallable application from the list of installed applications. After that you can delete the application folder and clean up the registry.
The problem is that when you install an msi package parts or even the entire package are dropped into the folder C:\WINDOWS\Installer. Some also create a folder in there. Rather than to make things easy some dimwit at Microsoft decided to rename everything and key it with a GUID, which will be written into the registry from where the uninstaller can determine which uninstall / update / remove / change / whatever package is to be used. This is like dominos, once you take one out of the row only few of them will fall over.
I mentioned it many many times to MadCap to ditch this installer and use something that is more reliable and doesn't waste space for a huge uninstall package. I think Microsoft makes software vendors use this format when they want to sign the package, which basically only displays the correct name during installation (not during uninstallation) and costs an arm and a leg for basically zero service.

So, get that tool, delete application entry for Flare, then reinstall. Says a lot when Microsoft even provides a tool to fix their blunders.

[LTinker68]

Have been running Flare + Mimic + Capture on an XP box with all latest patches for over a year. Haven't installed any software recently.

Did you uninstall anything, or install any Microsoft patches? I just got prompted to install some MS patches and it's requiring a reboot of my computer. (And I forgot to set a system restore point before installing the patches, dang it all.) So an MS patch may have installed incorrectly or caused another problem. Uninstalling and reinstalling the correct .NET framework might help.

[5ynic]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.
Unfortunately reinstalling dotnetfx didn't make any difference.
Using the MS tool recommended by RamonS got me further - Flare showed as not installed, and the install process got most of the way through, but then bombed out with the same "file exists" error.
Further googling turned up this:
http://www.itauthor.eu/2007/02/27/reins ... mment-4827
but even using regedit to blow away every key with madcap or flare in it made no difference - partway through the install, the old "File Exists" error popped up again.
I've now lost 2 full days... I'll try Lisa's suggestion of rolling back to a restore point, and after that I will have to rebuild my machine I guess.

[RamonS]

Did you delete the Flare application folder and tried a reboot after using the uninstall repair tool? Keep in mind this is a Windows systems, so three consecutive reboots are not unreasonable.

[5ynic]

RamonS - yes, I deleted the application folder and rebooted.... But (when I get up in the morning) I will try one last time after another 2 reboots.

[5ynic]

Just in case anyone comes back to this thread looking for an answer...I found one...sort of.

I followed all the instructions at
http://www.itauthor.eu/2007/02/27/reins ... mment-4827

and after deleting every single file and registry key I could find, I created a new UserID in windows.

Then I logged in as that new UserID

Then I reinstalled Flare, and selected "only me" when prompted whether to make it for everyone on the PC or just me, and also selected a new install folder which I created on root of C:\.

This worked. I then made sure everything I need is accessible to the new windows User, and always log in as that user...This solution is not something I could do if I was on a corporate LAN of course.

[RamonS]

So even using the Installer Cleanup tool didn't do anything? Wow! Shows again that MSI ist just plain horrible.