johnhc

Comments on using nLite and WMP11 with Comodo: I, too have Comodo on my system (Win XP x64). I had several instances with nLite running into 'in use' files when locating the source files. I used Process Explorer with little success but discovered that the file was on the Comodo 'Pending List'. Cleaning up the list cleared the problem. The 'in use' problem also seemed to clear with just another try. I have run WMP11 with no problems. I also find that putting Comodo in 'Installation Mode' reduces the messages I get when running these integration applications but I leave Defense+ running. Hope this information is beneficial. John

Don't know if this helps but I found this via Google trying to find out what 'Flat Menu' is. Flat Hope it helps. John

Kelsenellenelvian, I got curious and ran some tests using the cmd prompt. When I ran your 7z.exe (4.42 or 4.57) version I got either 'not a valid archive' or 'unable to open archive' errors. This explains why my Install did not work when I first used 6.4 (forgot to replace your 7z with my 64 bit version). I had DLed the latest nLite archive and saw that there was a 4.42 version of 7z.exe. Since nLite seems to work fine for me with no changes, I was wondering what was going on. nLite's copy of 7z is the same byte count as yours (4.42) but the hashes are different. A digression here: how about supplying hashes with your releases, so we can verify they DLed correctly? Please, thanks! I ran a test with the nLite 7z.exe and it worked fine. I then replaced the 7z in your tools folder with the nLite one and the Install also worked fine. This may be a workaround for supporting both 32 and 64 bit versions of Win XP. I looked at the properties (Version Tab) and found that yours says 7z for Internal Name and 7z.exe for Original File Name. The nLite one says 7zd and 7zd.exe respectively. Also when I run nLite 7z (cmd prompt) the first line includes: 7-Zip (A) [NT] 4.42. Yours, simply: 7-Zip 4.42. I posted in the nLite forum about my concern about the 32 bit version of 7z. The only response I got did not address my concern. It does not seem to be a concern considering my tests - although I only tested .7z and .rar archives. I don't know what this all means but thought it was interesting. Enjoy, John.

Kelsenellenelvian, Thanks for your reply. I had played with the wpi.htm, trying to put comment delimiters around the suspect code and inserting the line from the Vista .htm and kept getting strange looking top bars. I re-DLed the Evil_Vista and saw that you had removed the offending lines. It worked fine but I then inserted the line from Vista and I now have a title: <center><font color=#FFFFFF size="6"><b>Windows Post-Install Wizard</b></font></center> Thanks. John

I determined what is causing the red x in a rectangle at the center top. The Evil_Vista theme does not have a Title.gif even though the wpi.htm file references one. The image on your website shows no title. I could not figure out what to remove in the .htm file so I created a 1x1 .gif and tried to match the color of the top bar. It looks a lot better without the red x. John

Kelsenellenelvian, 6.4 is a very nice release. The themes work better (no more missing example in Manual). I went back to the Evil_Vista. It looks good but still has the red x in a rectangle at the top center. I forgot to replace your 7z.exe (32 bit) with mine and did my install test (just extract) and it did not work. I corrected it by copying my 7z.exe (64 bit) over the top of yours. Thanks for your hard work...............John

Kelsenellenelvian, Thanks for the image hosting link. Please look at the screen shot you posted concerning my topic. It has the same problem as the one I posted. All the Configuration screen shots I have seen on this forum and your website are the same. I do, indeed, have a wide screen (1440:900), but I don't think it is causing a problem. Remember that I said it was a 'minor format problem' Enjoy.............John

jcarle, Why not replace the old one on your website with this one? Thanks.........John

Kelsenellenelvian, I just tested the 64-bit version of 7z.exe and it worked fine. I suspect that the 32-bit version would have worked also since nLite has a old (4.42) version of 32-bit 7z.exe and it works fine for me. Thanks again for your help......................John

Sorry, Kelsenellenelvian I was not clear on the buttons I meant. The buttons you showed are just fine on the left. I put an outline on the Picture Details position and size pull downs (not really buttons), and attached it here. BTW, how do you get your picture to appear in the forum without attaching it? When I click on Insert Image, it wants a URL - I assume a hosting site. Thanks ......................John

I DLed and extracted the latest Beta archive and noticed that it contained a copy of 7z.exe. It is an older version (4.42) and was originally 7zd.exe (7-Zip Standalone Console Decompressor). I don't understand what is different about this special version, but there is a later version (4.57) of 7-Zip available which should be faster and yield better ratios. I also assume this is a 32 bit version. I am running XP x64 and nLite seems to work fine (although I have not been able to test my disc due to no hardware yet and no available virtual environment). Would it be better (faster) to use the 64 bit version of 7-Zip on my system? Thanks for any insight......John

Thanks, Kelsenellenelvian for your reply. I modified the .hta and have access to the taskbar - great. I attach a picture of the Configuration window, although all the samples I have found here and on your web site have the same minor shift. I used the pull down and it added '%extract% src dst' to my Cmd line. Is this then executed at install time? Can I execute it at configuration time? Thanks again..................John

On the bottom of the Configuration window the labels on the size and position of the PNG are shifted to the left. Is there a way (or a theme) to expose the taskbar below the WPI window? How do I invoke the extraction (7z.exe) to test if my substitution of the 64 bit .exe is working? Is it used at configuration time or only during install? Thanks............John

Kelsenellenelvian, I have been experimenting more with WPI and having fun, but I have some questions. I think I have the basics working on configuration. I was able to hang it up by playing with the Windows taskbar when I had USSF open. When only WPI.hta is running my entire screen is taken up by it and I don't have access to the taskbar. When I open USSF (which seems to work fine), the taskbar returns at the bottom. I clicked on the USSF button and the taskbar and the USSF window disappeared. Left or right click anywhere on your screen got no action, only a beep. Even EXIT did nothing but beep. I could open the task manager via ctrl-alt-delete. I ended USSF but that did not help. I was able to determine that mshta.exe was running the wpi.hta and I ended it getting my machine back. I have wondered from the start if I could go back to Windows (Explorer for instance) without exiting WPI. I also hope there is a way to recover from my hang condition although I am quick to admit I should not have been playing about. My config file looks fine after configuring two applications. USSF found the silent switches for both. I have a better understanding and like the way WPI works. I can't find a free virtual environment to test a disc, so I'll have to wait till AMD gets their game going in the quad world. Thanks for your program and help....................John

Ikari, I am running out of ideas. I think the Process Explorer results indicate that no other process holds the file handle. Have you looked at your System log to see if any errors are logged around the time of your posted error? Is there plenty of available space on your E drive? Good luck..........John

Ikari, What is your E drive? You’re not trying to write to your original Windows CD, are you? John

Ikari, I don't have Processor Explorer on this machine, so this is from memory: Open Processor Explorer Click on Find Handle (at the top) Paste or type in the complete file name Hit enter or click the button. Do you have Comodo Firewall? If so, look at your pending files for the offending file name. Enjoy....John

Ikari, Have you tried using Process Explorer to see what process is holding the handle on the file? I had a similar problem (XP x64) and found that the file was on the Comodo FW 'Pending Files' list. Removing the file from the list fixed the problem but also the problem often went away by simply quitting and restarting nLite (1.4.1). I am not familiar with the MS error reporting terminology, but if I read it literally, it seems to be some kind of I/O error. Good luck.........John

Kelsenellenelvian and zorphnog, Thanks to both for your responses. I will look no further at VMware Server Free. Right now it looks like I am SOL for a free solution to test my nLite-ed XP x64 disc (I do have an XP x64 host). Thanks to both of you................John

Thanks much, Kelsenellenelvian. I think I will just give my 64 bit version of 7-Zip a try. Thanks............John

Kelsenellenelvian, I know this is not the forum for asking this question, but since you commented in this thread about VMware and I have gotten no response on other forums - I posted this and hope you can help me ( I'm not trying to hijack this thread.) Thanks much.............John

Kelsenellenelvian, thanks much for your reply. Sorry you had a bad experience with x64 - mine has been great. Since x64 is based on Server 2003, it is more stable and tougher than XP. I have tortured mine a few times and expected to need to start from scratch but x64 hung right in there. I was looking into the possibility of replacing your 32 bit version of 7-Zip with my 64 bit version. I looked at the 7z folder in the WPI Tools folder. I found the 7z.exe and the Codecs and Formats folders. These folders contain a bunch of dll files. The version of these files was 4.42. I DLed 4.42 and found the same structure. The 4.57 and 4.56 (both 32 and 64 bit) have a different folder structure and no Codecs and Formats folders. Are these folders really needed? Can I simply delete them and replace your 7z.exe file with mine? I also have some basic questions I can't seem to find the answers for: 1. I DLed the Tools archive but you don't say what to do with it. What should I do with it? I assume I should not replace the Tools folder in the WPI folder (would wipe out 7z among others). Should I add the contents to the WPI/Tools folder? 2. I assume the high level qualifier must be XP to use %wpipath%. Can I change the definition of %wpipath% to match my high level qualifier? 3. Your sample folder layout does not show all the contents of the WPI folder I DLed. I assume I should copy the entire WPI folder into my Folder containing my CD contents and include the $OEM$. Thanks again for your help...................John

Kelsenellenelvian, I have DLed and run WPI on my XP x64 system and have the following observations: Your folder contains 7z.exe (version 4.56(Beta)). I assume it is the 32 bit version. I have 4.57, 64 bit version installed on my system. My 7z.exe file is about 263kB and yours is about 144kB. Looks like they are quite different. Will yours work on my system? - don't know when it is used but have not done anything yet to invoke compression. I DLed and tried two themes. All themes but the original (Glossy) would not show the 'small tutorial' in the manual - all blank after the title. The Evil_Vista theme displays a rectangle in a rectangle with a red X in the top middle. I also tried Classic and Spoof_euDock. Of course, I don't know if these problems are caused by trying to run your application on my 64 bit OS or not. When I looked at the FAQs on your website, I found several links that are dead. I guess few or no one is interested in running WPI on XP x64. I cannot ask you to make available a 64 bit version for me, because I don't anticipate a heavy use. I enjoy learning about WPI and considering its use in building a boot disc. It looks like a great tool and I would very likely use it if were good-to-go on x64. Thanks for all your efforts. If it matters, I have a 1440x900 resolution monitor. John

After realizing that Virtual PC and VirtualBox do not support XP x64 guests, I have looked at VMware Server Free for a testing environment for an nLite built disc. Looking at the VMware website, it looks like even their free product is aimed at companies. They ask many question before allowing download about my company (none, I'm retired). Is it possible for an individual to use the free SW in the home? Are there any testing solutions for both the host and guest OSs being Win XP x64? I hope someone can shine some light on this area. If anyone has experience with VMware Servrer Free, I would appreciate their opinions and advice. Thanks much........John

Kelsenellenelvian, thanks for your reply. I had hoped that some people had tried WPI under XP x64. I'm not too crazy about being the first. Since I did not know if WPI was supported, I did not look much at its capabilities but I see that there are registry tweaks. Since the x64 registry is somewhat different from the 32 bit one, I wonder if there is a potential problem. I'll do some more studying and probably install WPI and try it. Thanks for your help.................John