Installation issue Windows 7 - access control (1 Viewer)

[mbc]

Hi,

I will try to keep this brief...

I created a project in access 97 years ago which is still running, making sales and is increasing each year.. I purchased and use the access developers tool kit for access 97 which takes care of the installation for me

I am not a programer by any means, just a hack, but after many years of messing about I have some knowlege.. (hence the need for the tool kit as i would not be able to do that side of it myself without that piece of software)

I installed Windows 7 on another pc to test the program.... yes it fell over (yippeee).. but I have been able to resolve all issues except for the access control settings.

I can change these manually and all works ok, but this is useless to me as I cannot work out how to have the write & modify permissions for all users when the application installs.

senario: if someone downloads the program and installs it into windows 7 (I suspect the same issue with vista and ntfs) the operating system automatically marks the 3 application files (2 x mdb and 1 x mde) without write or modify permission. So the application falls over before it can even start.

The average person on the street is not going to know or even want to change the permission settings, as they will expect to be able to download and install the software and it will work (which is how it should be)

I have spent the last 2 days reading an searching the net but I cannot find a way of fixing this issue.... maybe I am looking in the wrong areas... Obviously there is a way, can anyone help because my brain is hurting from all the strain of reading and searching...

I have the software install using winrar exe, which then extracts and runs the setup.exe file.... maybe I have to have another program that changes the permission settings during installation or something, as I cannot see how to have this happen using the current developers took kit... (but I dont know, so I will be guided by you smart people on this site)

thanks

john

 

[genesis]

couldn't you include a readme text file in your application or zipfile for any instructions for your program?

 

[mbc]

I could easily include a txt file, and place a page on the website to cover this..

But the average person is not going to be able to handle it... from experience over the years I have come to the conclussion that you almost need to hold some peoples hands even to install the program.. Also the software can be downloaded without anyone coming to the website so they will never see the webpage, and if the software does not work when they install it they will just move on to another program (from experience this is what happens, unless they came from word of mouth and actually want the program)

So the best senario is that everything gets taken care of during the installation process...

 

[shadow9449]

I didn't know that Windows 7 was available until October. If I am correct in my assumption that it's still in Beta, then it might be hard to get complete information for it.

In Vista, in order for a downloaded program to work from an executable, it has to contain the word "Setup" in the name. So instead of calling it "Myprogram.exe", call it "Myprogram_Setup.exe". My assumption is that Microsoft believes that virus writers don't know how to find this out so things are more secure this way. It's possible that Windows 7 works the same way but as I said, this is a guess.

SHADOW

 

[mbc]

Windows 7 is in pre release, but new pcs are set to be issued with windows 7 some time in the next 8 weeks from what i hear... Windows 7 is really a great system, I think microsoft finally got it right..

I have no problem with the installation itself...

From what i see vista can have the same issues depending on how individuals setup their systems.

If we take vista as an example, if you look at the properties of a file you can select who has access to write or modify the file. If no permission is given to write or modify the file then naturally no-one can make entries into the database.

When I install the software it consists of the mdb and mde files... In a usual installation on say XP it will install with the ablity to write to the database (which is how it should be)... But when you install on Windows 7 (yes the install file is called setup.exe) it will install everything 100% perfect but the mdb and mde files will not allow standard users to write or modify the files. So naturally nothing works unless you go to the properties of the files and tick to allow you to modify and write.

I have tried to test with DOS commands to change this permission settings but no luck as yet either.. I believe someone would have seen this with vista at some stage and have an answer (well I hope)... getting newbie users of pcs to change file settings is not going to happen as they will just go elsewhere thinking the program does not work (from experience)

John

 

[Chaz]

Sorry - not read all the thread but Access 2007 works well on W7 - I run it at home. Can you not upgrade the database to a newer version?

 

[mbc]

Sorry - not read all the thread but Access 2007 works well on W7 - I run it at home. Can you not upgrade the database to a newer version?

Hi, No updating to a newer version is not possible due to the nature of the application (plus I doubt it will fix the problem).

Yes, Access 2007 does work on W7....

However to install a standard out of the box runtime version using the microsoft developers tool kit, you will discover that it does not work, as the mdb and mde files that get distributed are included in the win7 access control limitations, and because of this win7 does not allow write or modification.

The only way to allow it is to manually change the file settings, which is not something that the average mum and dad with no pc skills even comprehends. They want to be able to download the software and begin using it.

Clients will naturally not have the complete version of 2007, I know that when I installed 2007 on my machine all was ok... but if you do not have 2007 installed (and you format and reinstall win7 as a new install), then install the application as a client would do, then you soon discover that this problem exists (I have fully tested this 4 times with 4 fresh installs of windows to ensure what was happening does exist)

There has to be a way around it as microsoft created all these programs, but so far between 3 forums no-one has an answer.....

I hope someone here can help me

thanks

 

[DCrake]

This may be a silly suggestion so don't LOL but what happens if you renamed the mdb and mde files before packaging then after install rename them accordingly. What i am thinking is that if a txt file is given r/w permissions when saved to disk, does the actual renaming changes the permissions? I wonder.

David

 

[mbc]

hi DCrake;

it kinda sounded like it wouldnt work, but I tried it anyway as sometimes the oddest thing works.. but no it didnt, it keeps the same settings as previous..


John

 

[DCrake]

Like I said, just a suggestion. My next suggestion would be to write as vb script file (.vbs) that is run on completion of the install that sets the attributes of the files.


Here is a little app that I have just knocked together that changes attributes of files. This may be a starting block for you.


I also have it in visual basic which could be turned into a exe which also could be run on completion.

David

 

[mbc]

Like I said, just a suggestion. My next suggestion would be to write as vb script file (.vbs) that is run on completion of the install that sets the attributes of the files.


Here is a little app that I have just knocked together that changes attributes of files. This may be a starting block for you.


I also have it in visual basic which could be turned into a exe which also could be run on completion.

David

Hi David..

Thanks for your help.... yes my next attempt was going to see if I could achieve something to this effect... but still hitting my head against a brick wall with Windows7 and its little unique things it does, but its only early days.

thanks for your file... only problem is I cant open it, it must be in a later version of access...

I figured if I can find out how to do this and if it works, I would attach a simplle VB6.exe file (just because i have that software, or something similar, if a batch file worked I would be happy to do that) I know I am asking for a lot, are you able to convert that code to something that VB6 would read, a txt file would do, it would give me some idea of what you have done...

As I have said I am no programmer, just a hack, but I am not adverse to learning whatever I need to get the job done.. I have no intention of allowing Windows 7 to distroy my pocket money each month.

John