Vista - Very odd Vista upgrade problem. Permissions issue?

08-Mar-2007, From Ellery (at) StarBus (dot) com

I have tried hard to find answers to some niggling Vista-upgrade
issues. Certain things are very hard to Google. Any help would be
appreciated.

I suspect that all issues are traceable to the same underlying
problem; perhaps a permissions issue - but I cannot prove it. I have
nothing to go on. Nil!

Hardware/OS: Dell Inspiron i9400 Core Duo.
New drive: Fresh Install of XP
then Vista Business Upgrade
Logged in as "Super" Admin

1. When I boot up, Vista forgets my wallpaer. The screen is just
black. Yet, the instant I click Personalize > Desktop Background, it
snaps to my favored photo. I don't even need to click it and APPLY the
settings.

2. Windows also forgets my Icon Size (yet it retains my custom Icon
Spacing). So I go choose it again, and guess what?

Personalize > Color & Appearance > Open Classic
Appearance Properties > Advanced > Item: Icon

...Here the behavior is SLIGHTLY different. I can see my custom
setting (24 pixels), but I must change it to something else (so that
the APPLY button becomes active), then change back, and finally click
APPLY.

3. I cannot install a very few popular programs - like the new VISTA
version of Norton AV 2007. I have spent HOURS on the phone with
Symantec - elevated all the way to their developers. At about 15%, I
get the install error code 9999.171. This indicates that there is are
remnants of Symantec products on my system that must be removed before
installing. But this is simply not the case. The same error occurred
from the very start and I have even run a special utility to remove
ANY REFERENCE to Symantec products from the Registry.

Same error even when creating a NEW admin login and with no security
aps at all - not even a firewall or heightened IE security/privacy
setting.

4. Another failed program may help diagnose the issue, because it is a
simple Win 98 photo viewer: VuePrint by Ed Hamrick. It requires no
installation and the developer confirms that scores of happy users
continue to use it under Vista.

HOW IT IS SUPPSED TO WORK
-------------------------
VuePrint is simply a set of 4 files exe/ini/gid/hlp that do not
require installation. (Of course the old HLP file format requires a
resource which can be copied from Win XP). The files are supposed to
be placed into the Windows Folder. But in case of a permissions issue,
I have tried placing them in their own folder and adding the folder to
the environment-path.

THE SYMPTOM
-----------
When I launch VuePrint (for example by double clicking an
associated JPG file), I can see the process in Task Manager
("vuepro32.exe" for each time that I attepmt to launch), but I can
find no other evidence of an application. Nothing opens and the file
is not marked as accessed. Again, the developer indicates that other
users have no problems with this "self contained" utility

1. what happens if you use a standard background instead of your favorite photo. might be a compatible problem.
2.yep vista is known to have problem with things that change dpi settings.
3.norton is not really vista compatible regardless what they say. try avast for virus problems.
4. right click on the exe and select to run in a different compatible mode, maybe win 98 in this case.

mikeyhsd@sport.rr.commikeyhsd@sport.rr.com

<Google@StarBus.com> wrote in message news:1173393756.115209.74920@h3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
08-Mar-2007, From Ellery (at) StarBus (dot) com

I have tried hard to find answers to some niggling Vista-upgrade
issues. Certain things are very hard to Google. Any help would be
appreciated.

I suspect that all issues are traceable to the same underlying
problem; perhaps a permissions issue - but I cannot prove it. I have
nothing to go on. Nil!

Hardware/OS: Dell Inspiron i9400 Core Duo.
New drive: Fresh Install of XP
then Vista Business Upgrade
Logged in as "Super" Admin

1. When I boot up, Vista forgets my wallpaer. The screen is just
black. Yet, the instant I click Personalize > Desktop Background, it
snaps to my favored photo. I don't even need to click it and APPLY the
settings.

2. Windows also forgets my Icon Size (yet it retains my custom Icon
Spacing). So I go choose it again, and guess what?

Personalize > Color & Appearance > Open Classic
Appearance Properties > Advanced > Item: Icon

...Here the behavior is SLIGHTLY different. I can see my custom
setting (24 pixels), but I must change it to something else (so that
the APPLY button becomes active), then change back, and finally click
APPLY.

3. I cannot install a very few popular programs - like the new VISTA
version of Norton AV 2007. I have spent HOURS on the phone with
Symantec - elevated all the way to their developers. At about 15%, I
get the install error code 9999.171. This indicates that there is are
remnants of Symantec products on my system that must be removed before
installing. But this is simply not the case. The same error occurred
from the very start and I have even run a special utility to remove
ANY REFERENCE to Symantec products from the Registry.

Same error even when creating a NEW admin login and with no security
aps at all - not even a firewall or heightened IE security/privacy
setting.

4. Another failed program may help diagnose the issue, because it is a
simple Win 98 photo viewer: VuePrint by Ed Hamrick. It requires no
installation and the developer confirms that scores of happy users
continue to use it under Vista.

HOW IT IS SUPPSED TO WORK
-------------------------
VuePrint is simply a set of 4 files exe/ini/gid/hlp that do not
require installation. (Of course the old HLP file format requires a
resource which can be copied from Win XP). The files are supposed to
be placed into the Windows Folder. But in case of a permissions issue,
I have tried placing them in their own folder and adding the folder to
the environment-path.

THE SYMPTOM
-----------
When I launch VuePrint (for example by double clicking an
associated JPG file), I can see the process in Task Manager
("vuepro32.exe" for each time that I attepmt to launch), but I can
find no other evidence of an application. Nothing opens and the file
is not marked as accessed. Again, the developer indicates that other
users have no problems with this "self contained" utility

09-Mar-2007, From Ellery (at) StarBus (dot) com

Good suggestions - and thank you.
Alas, none of these suggestions help in my case...

1. Standard background works. By my wallpaper has worked with XP for 5
years (standard JPG image). Don't want to go back.

On the other hand you helped me to think of another angle -- I
will try moving the image into the folder that contains the standard
images. Again, I suspect a permissions issue.

2. I didn't change a global dpi setting (actually, that works fine). I
just changed the icon size. Too bad if this means I have to do it
every single time. Try viewing icons with a space of 24 while the icon
is 32 or 64!

3. Norton is not Vista compatible? Clearly, this is correct. But for
how long can they survive as a legacy utility?

4. Already tried compatibility modes. Didn't help

Again, Thanks. Additional suggestions are appreciated.