Computer problem. Install shield v. user profiles, XP-pro v. XP-home

Factual Questions
1

Short form questions: Which XP-pro files and/or directories does “install shield” running under XP-pro use to initiate the post-reboot part of an application installation? Is there a downside to manually deleting this so that an installation that can’t complete (detailed below) will stop trying?

Background:

The machine is a laptop. I have the machine set up with a second user profile for my
GF when she borrows it. The machine came with XP Home Edition. (HE)

There is some software (two applications) I use for my side consulting business, that I absolutely must use…And it works well, and the rep gives it to me free (I basically do beta testing for them) so even if there was an alternative, I would use this. Lets call these Applications A & B. These were installed under XP-HE, and all was well. they showed up under my profile, and not under Kevbabe’s.

A later consulting gig required that I use two different applications. Lets call these applications C & D (because they suck). Expensive, not user friendly, intrusive, and worst of all ONLY work under XP-pro. I’m pretty sure the actual application would work fine under any widows OS, but the anti-pirating scheme requires NT, 2K or XP-pro. Unfortunately, the supplier is industry leader so it is virtually impossible to make my clients switch from this donkey to a real horse. So I upgraded the machine to XP-pro, and installed these. There was trauma transferring the licenses, etc, but I eventually got them working and all seemed well.

Until Kevbabe wanted to check her email at the coffee shop, that is. After upgrading to XP-pro, an installer dialog box comes up associated with applications A or B, and tries to finish the post-reboot part of an installation. I think it is looking for files which have been deleted as part of cleanup after the “real” install. This goes into a loop, and seems to require hitting “cancel” in the dialog box at just the right moment, or it pops up again in a few seconds.

Uninstalling/reinstalling is not an option. The installed application is obsolete, and not available, but I have a client who refuses to upgrade, so I need to maintain the old version.

I have been in contact with the programmer for this application. Unfortunately, he is Japanese and his English is nearly as bad as my Japanese.(which consists of amusing the sushi chef with my attempts at pronunciation of menu items) It also seems that he is more of a specialist application programmer (and very good at that based on using his efforts) and doesn’t know much about how the installer package works.

2

I know this is not going to be at all helpful, and you probably have this thread watched which will cause you to come here all giddy that someone may have known the answer, or at least a clue, but I am not that person. However in my 3 years or so of lurking/membership this is the hardest computer question I have come across IMO.

Now watch someone like Shagnasty or that engineer comp geek (I don’t think that is right, but something like that) come here, and say something like “oh, you just need to hit f6 + alt + windows key”

3

I don’t have the exact answer, but here’s the likeliest places to look. If yuo have security on her account locked down, yuo may have to temporarily make her a machine admin to make these changes & then re-lower her privileges.

  1. Log on as her.

  2. Look in the registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce for a likely-looking entry. If found, change the contents in a recognizable & reversibel way (eg if it says “C:\program file s…\install.exe”, change it to “C:\program file s…\install.exe.BROKEN” & then reboot. If the problem goes away, you know you found the right thing & you can then safely delete it. If the problem is still there, remove the “.BROKEN” to restore the status quo ante.

  3. Look in “C:\Documents and Settings<her user name>\Application Data\InstallShield Installation Information”. Under there should be several GUID-named folders. each one represents the info needed to install/uninstall something. Don’t go deleting stuff until you know which one it is, or else you’ll hose yourself for uninstalling something else. As above, try renaming the GUID folders in a reversible fashion one at a time & rebooting after each until you find the one which makes a change. Restore any changes yu make which dont’ solve your problem.

Since the program you’re having trouble with is ancient, it’s installer may well be a Win95-era thing & who knows

4

Thanks for the advice.

It occurred to me that GF has almost no data on this machine, so I saved her profile directories, deleted her user account, and set up a new one.

However, the bleeping installer came up on the new account. The good news is that it was now able to complete…so it only came up the first time.