After many months of postponing it, this week, I finally started using a new Windows 7 Professional PC for actual development (which is 90% still done in Delphi 7 with some of these programs still using the Borland IDAPI to access Paradox files). The previous development pc was still an XP-one.
Every thing works except for one thing: somehow the settings of the IDAPI and BdeAdmin configuration files are messed up or they are read/written in different locations. To be more precise, it looks like two configuration files are active.
It must have something to do with rights or settings being read/written in the wrong folder or registry setting, but after searching for it for a couple of hours, I give up.
Anyone had any problems with this, before ? And if so, hopefully, has any one solved this problem ?
Thx for any thoughts/solutions ...
My guess is it has something to do with the fact that Vista and Windows 7 don't allow programs to change files under the C:\Program Files folder. They create a copy of those changed files in a virtual store, the process is known as virtualization. The copies end up in the hidden appdata folder of the user account and can be found in the Local\VirtualStore\Program Files folder. The structure in that folder reflects the one in the actual Program Files folder.
Programs that access their files in the Program Files folder using a "hardcoded" path, will always get the original - unchanged - file contents.
Solution: running the apps in a virtual XP system or upgrading the apps is probably your best bet.
You could try to run the apps elevated. That is: right click them and choose Run as Administrator. Please note that it isn't enough to be logged in as an administrator. Even administrators run all processes unelevated by default. Instead of right-clicking, you can also create a shortcut and set the Run as administrator for the shortcut - the checkbox for this is on the compatibility tab of the properties dialog. No guarantees though that this will alleviate the problem.
Since IIRC D7 setup allows you to configure paths in multiple ways, maybe simply do a reinstall outside "program files"?
Afaik this solves several vista/w7 problems.
Related
This is a weird one. I've now installed Delphi 5, updated to service pack 1, on my brand new Windows 7 64-bit machine. It seems to function well enough, but when I start it up an error message comes up telling me that the system cannot rename Delphi32.$$$ to Delphi32.dro. I thought "Okay" and went in to rename it manually, only to find that there was no Delphi32.$$$ but there, large as life, was a Delphi32.dro ...
I'm logged on to an administrator-level account, so I figure it isn't a permissions issue.
I'm willing to live with this slight annoyance, but I am worried that it is symptomatic of some deeper problem.
Has anyone else encountered this?
This is a user permissions issue.
Even running as an administrative user, Windows 7 puts some limits on where applications can write. C:\Program Files, (AKA %PROGRAMFILES%) is off-limits except to applications explicitly started using "Run as Administrator", even if you're running under an account with Admin privileges.
More recent versions of Delphi properly handle running from the restricted folders, but D5 was outdated long before Win7 was released and therefore does all sorts of things that aren't proper now. It writes to its own Bin and Lib folders, for instance, and stores the default Projects folder for your own projects there as well.
The easiest solution is to uninstall Delphi 5, and reinstall in a location outside the %PROGRAMFILES% directory structure, such as C:\Delphi5 or C:\Borland\Delphi5. Installing in a different root level folder resolves these issues.
Actually, the easiest solution is to upgrade to a more recent Delphi version, but I'll presume that isn't an option. :-)
This might also help with Delphi 5:
http://blog.dummzeuch.de/2013/11/11/delphi-6-on-windows-8-1/
Ken White's Answer sums it up nicely.
Installing Delphi in a folder other than "Program Files" can threaten and infect Delphi files, and malware can easily infect your Delphi files
(this is a serious threat).
My suggestion is to install a sandbox (or a program virtualization) such as Sandboxie-Plus and Run Delphi from it, you can force Delphi to always run from the sandbox, just be careful your project files are stored inside the sandbox, so you have to manually move them out of the sandbox (for when you want to publish it)
I have two PCs both with XE2. I thought that I had installed identically on both but have problems installing 3rd party packages on one while the other is just fine.
I want the same on both anyway. The easist would probably just to "migrate" the working set-up by moving in into my Dropbox folder. Can I do that? If so, how?
If not, can I (easilly) backup my registry settings on one machine and then import them on the other?
I suppose I could just sort out the problem on the one PC, but am not having much luck so far. I would rather invest the time in only having one Delphi setup. And since I am moving lots of other stuff to DropBox anyway ...
The tool for this is now built into Delphi XE8 and higher.
It's found here:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Embarcadero\Studio\20.0\bin\migrationtool.exe
Online documentation:
http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/Rio/en/Settings_Migration_Tool
Install CnPack wizards from http://www.cnpack.org
From the CnPack toolbar select IDE Config Backup/Restore (image below) and save this file somewhere safe
Copy the components to the second delphi machine . Keep the exact same directory structure.
I store my components as follows this helps backing up, moving etc., but you can use your own structure
D:\components_bds\DCU
D:\components_bds\BPL
D:\components_bds\ComponentsThemselves
Use the restore config file from CnPack to restore your components on the new machine
This is also useful if your testing components that you plan to remove later and keeping a backup of your installation incase something goes wrong you can save time with new delphi installation if hard drive dies. Keep a copy on flashdrive or somewhere safe
You may compare/diff the config file created by cnPack using a tool like Beyond Compare and see what the differences are to find out why third party components give problems on one of the machines. It may be a Delphi registry/installation problem or a problem in the paths of the thirdparty components. Components need to be installed in an order perhaps it did not find the needed dcu or dll it depends on.
I don't know of any way to do so with DropBox. Here's an old post I made (related to Delphi 7, but with correction of registry keys still applicable) in the CodeGear newsgroups; hopefully it will help.
(It probably goes without saying, but back up the existing registry settings on the destination machine before starting by using RegEdit and exporting them, just in case. You'll at least be able to get back to the point you're at now if something goes wrong by deleting the imported entries and then importing the saved ones.)
You can't, without some difficulty anyway. (Especially if you have
third party components installed, as they may have placed files in the
%SYSTEM% folder you may not know about.)
You may be able to (for going from the old computer to the new
computer running the same exact version of Windows!) by exporting the
registry keys under HKCU\Software\Embarcadero and
HKLM\Software\Embarcadero from the old machine, and then after
installing Delphi on the new machine (in the exact same folder
location) importing that registry file.
Many of the compiler, linker, and other settings are configured on a
per-project basis, and should transfer over when you move your source
code to the new machine.
Third-party components are a problem, as I mentioned above. You may be
able to get away with using the registry export/import if you copy
each third-party component set from the old computer into exactly
the same location on the new machine before importing the registry
file. You'll probably have to track down some .BPL files that end up
in the $(BDS)\Bin and possibly other folders under the $(BDS)
tree; the IDE will tell you about missing stuff when you try and start
it. Make sure you answer "Yes " when asked if you want to try and load
it again next time!
Most of my development is hobby stuff or wannabe releases. Instead of dying trying to move my XE2 Pro from my Dell Inspiron N7110 Win 7 machine to my new Win 10 SSD machine, I'm seriously thinking of switching to Lazarus. I've used Lazarus 2.x with Indy 10, ZeosLib, and Firebird and successfully created a working distributed internet system. I also created Lazarus version of my XE2 Blackjack program. When compared to XE2, Lazarus (IMO) has only two weakness and neither are deal breakers for me. BTW, I have successfully duplicated Lazarus (with all installed components) from one machine to another simply by copying and pasting the Lazarus directory and it works. Try that with Delphi.
Sam
I have made a simple installer application in Delphi, nothing fancy. Basically I include files into the Exe, and then extract them to a user specified path.
I stumbled across a problem however, and I have noticed this works with ANY Windows Executable, it does not matter if it is an installer or not.
If an Exe is named, or contains the following words in the filename, "Setup", "Build", "Install" and maybe others, then.. whenever the Application is run and closed, Windows pops up a Product Compatibility Assistant dialog, saying the Application may not have installed correctly.
This is a problem, as even though the Files from my installer have actually extracted, and in my eyes the installer has done its job, Windows is complaining about it.
The only idea I have regarding this, is that Windows must check the filename of the Applications when executed, and in this case has identified it as an Installer. Windows must of then set a flag or something on the System, my Installer must then update this flag to say that the installation was a success?
Windows does not complain about this when debugging from the IDE, so it cannot be code related, it must be the OS - this only happens when launching the Application from Windows, not Delphi.
You can try this easily, either create an Application or rename one as Setup.exe, Run it and then close it - wait a few seconds and the Product Compatibility Assistant Dialog will show.
I don't know where to start investigating how to stop this dialog, or where a setting may be to tell Windows the Installer was completed correctly.
Appreciate your thoughts and solutions thanks.
If I recall correctly, this happens when your install app does not include an application manifest. When UAC was introduced, MS introduced a heuristic detection for installers and shows the UAC elevation dialog. The heuristic checks for names like setup.exe, install.exe. The simple solution is to include an application manifest. If it is an installer you probably want to use the requireAdministrator setting.
The feature is known as Installer Detection and is discussed here.
For what it is worth, I would always build an installer with a dedicated install tool like InnoSetup for example.
As David pointed out, MS uses some fuzzy logic to try to guess if the program is an installer. I wouldn't rely on this, as this is only for supporting legacy installer applications.
All new applications should have a manifest file, specifying whether it requires elevated privileges.
If an application has a manifest file that includes the requestedExecutionLevel directive, then Windows does not attempt Installer Detection.
Any program that is detected as an installer program but does not add a registry entry to the Add Remove Programs section of the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall) will get the message "This program might not have installed correctly".
i can use the copyfile(); function to copy a file to c:/windows/system32 on windows xp but then i use the function on windows 7 i cant copy it:o the file wont come there....
i had the same problem with writing and reading registery but fixed it by declaring a WOW key $0100 ...
i think the problem is uac but not sure.. could somebody explain me that:D?
That is indeed because of UAC. It is called File/Folder or Registry Virtualization. It is done for legacy applications who don't yet respect the new UAC rules (e.g. not writing in system folders unless you are an administrator).
By creating a manifest file you switch off this virtualization. See here. This can be a seperate file or be embedded into the exe. Newer Delphi versions already generate executables containing such a manifest and have requestedExecutionLevel set to asInvoker. This normally does not allow writing in those locations, unless users specifically run your program as an administrator. Setting it to requireAdministrator does allow writing in those locations, but also means users have to confirm they want to run your program as an administrator.
It's indeed UAC that's preventing you from copying files to the system32 folder. You have to ask yourself why you want to copy files there. A normal application should never copy files to the system32 folder.
Sometimes during install you might want to copy dll's there, but even that is legacy behaviour. Should you really want to copy files there, you should request Elevation at the start of the application.
Why are you copying files there? It should be treatead as the OS private directory. Unless you're installing a driver or the like, you should never write there. In XP you can only because you're running with Administrator privileges, try to use a plain user and you can't as well (since at least 2000, if not in NT already), but it will give you an error because it won't redirect the write. Unless you have a truly good reason to write there, I'd suggest to redesign your application to write in the proper place, instead of trying to find a way to write there. Anyway, it will fail anytime the user don't have the privileges and can't perform an elevation.
We have a Delphi program whose task is like a service program. It watches a particular folder for a certain period, and it works great on Windows XP and 2003, but on Windows 2008r2 64bit, when it wants to create an automatic folder, it will show this message:
The ... folder does not exist. The file may have been moved or deleted.
This message causes the program to halt, which is not good; it should not be interrupted.
What can I do about this?
P.S.: I really don't have any idea whether to post my problem in Stack Overflow or Server Fault, so I've guessed it should be here.
It's likely the VirtualStore, if you're trying to store beneath Program Files (either one). See my writeup:
http://www.clipboardextender.com/off-topic/vista-program-files-hide-and-seek
You've left out the ... folder name. While that's understandable, it wouldn't happen to have anything to do with program files (which on x64 will be split in 2 directories) would it?
Windows Server 2008 is able to use 'virtual' file pathes. That means: 'what you see is not what you get'. The Windows Explorer just shows you the 'display' name. Check the file path with cmd.exe, if the path you are trying to use does realy exist.
The reason is of cause the File Virtualization (see for example http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb756960.aspx and http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2007.06.uac.aspx).
Because we on stackoverflow.com and not on serverfault.com I want add to all other answers that you can use Wow64DisableWow64FsRedirection, Wow64RevertWow64FsRedirection and Wow64EnableWow64FsRedirection functions (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365743.aspx) to control the File Virtualization in your program. An example of the usage of this functions in C# you can find here http://www.pinvoke.net/default.aspx/kernel32.wow64disablewow64fsredirection.
You'll need to tell us the exact path and how do you go about constructing it. It can be as simple as the app not using env variable expansion but assuming that user's folders are where they were before.
Path virtualization (there are 2 kids actually) that people mentioned will hit you only if your app is trying to mess with system folders.
More puzzling problem will hit you if you are not expanding env vars like APPDATA, LOCALAPPDATA etc. and not expecting that there's more of them on Win7 and 2k8. Not only that default paths of user's files changed but some of them can also be on network shares - for the same user. So if you were running based on expectation that all user's stuff will be at definite paths under say %USERPROFILE% you can get hit by several surprises. Also notice %ProgramData% .
Fastest way to find out - open cmd.exe, run set and if you see some paths that you are constructing in alternative ways, take notice that you need to start expanding env vars for them. Then open cmd.exe as a 32-bit app and check set again. You can also pick them up via Process Explorer from some running 32-bit or 64-bit app.
Switching your app to 64-bit build will resolve most of virtualization issues but not the env var expansion. Also if your app is touching system folders you need to request elevated run from the code or even better make the manifest and declare it there. Then OS will yell at user up front if his UAC is on and your app will avoid that 2nd virtualization. BTW, virtualization is controllable via group policies so it might be present on some boxes and missing on others.