Installing a Print driver and Access denied

[Dave Symes]

A fine kettle of fish I have...
I'm wonderin if anyone here has some pointers.
Win XP SP-3 and up to date.

I'm installing as Administrator.

Updating the last couple of versions of PDFCreator have left me with an
installed PDFCreator app, but no driver is installed, and the install ends
with an errors log.

Notable point in that being... "No printer will be installed." a bit lower
down the log file.

****************************
Install printerport:
Portname : pdfcmon
Result: Success

InstallMonitor:
Monitorname : pdfcmon
Environment : Windows NT x86
Result: Success

Install printerdriver for Win2kXP2k3 (32bit):
Drivername : PDFCreator
Environment : Windows NT x86
Result: Error 5 = Access is denied

InstallPrinter:
Printername: PDFCreator
Drivername : PDFCreator
Portname : pdfcmon
Result: Error 1797 = The printer driver is unknown


*****************************

I've tried a large number of things too numerous to mention, but the
notable ones are:

After the drive fail install attempt, to add a PDFC printer manually, and
pointing it at the GS (Ghostscript) driver .inf file.

This proceeds for a while then aborts again with "Access denied"

Manually, made a number of files in Sys32\spool read/write, etc etc.

Try something different...

Installed CutePDF writer, again, after a long wait the driver will not
install, same problem, Access denied.

There are four Printer that show as installed:
Epson Stylus Photo 915
HP LaserJet P2055dn series PCL Lan.
Microsoft XPS document writer
Snagit 10

FWIW. Other apps can still be installed without problem.

It's only the apps with printer driver install requirements that fail.

Any thoughts please?

Thanks
Dave

--

Dave Triffid

[Chris Hughes]

In message <5275731...@triffid.co.uk>

Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

> A fine kettle of fish I have...
> I'm wonderin if anyone here has some pointers.
> Win XP SP-3 and up to date.

> I'm installing as Administrator.

> Updating the last couple of versions of PDFCreator have left me with an
> installed PDFCreator app, but no driver is installed, and the install ends
> with an errors log.

> Notable point in that being... "No printer will be installed." a bit lower
> down the log file.

[snip]

> Installed CutePDF writer, again, after a long wait the driver will not
> install, same problem, Access denied.

> There are four Printer that show as installed:
> Epson Stylus Photo 915
> HP LaserJet P2055dn series PCL Lan.
> Microsoft XPS document writer
> Snagit 10

> FWIW. Other apps can still be installed without problem.

> It's only the apps with printer driver install requirements that fail.

> Any thoughts please?

Just a wild thought, but you could try turning off the anti-virus
and/or firewall in case its blocking the install into a protected
area, locked against changes. Once installed obviously turn the
security back on.



--
Chris Hughes
Come to the Wakefield Show - 28th April 2012
http://www.wakefieldshow.org.uk

[Alan Dawes]

In article <5275731...@triffid.co.uk>,

Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:
> Updating the last couple of versions of PDFCreator have left me with an
> installed PDFCreator app, but no driver is installed, and the install
> ends with an errors log.

Have you tried installing it in safe mode (usually hold down F8 when you
turn on and then select safe mode)?

Alan

--
alan....@argonet.co.uk
alan....@riscos.org
Using an Acorn RiscPC

[Dave Symes]

In article <90de7975...@o2.co.uk>,

Chris Hughes <ne...@noonehere.co.uk> wrote:
> In message <5275731...@triffid.co.uk>
> Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

[Snippy]

> > FWIW. Other apps can still be installed without problem.

> > It's only the apps with printer driver install requirements that fail.

> > Any thoughts please?

> Just a wild thought, but you could try turning off the anti-virus
> and/or firewall in case its blocking the install into a protected
> area, locked against changes. Once installed obviously turn the
> security back on.

Thanks for the thought, but already been there done that with both.

Still no install and Access denied.

[Dave Symes]

In article <52758b0cf5...@argonet.co.uk>,

Alan Dawes <alan....@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <5275731...@triffid.co.uk>,
> Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:
> > Updating the last couple of versions of PDFCreator have left me with an
> > installed PDFCreator app, but no driver is installed, and the install
> > ends with an errors log.

> Have you tried installing it in safe mode (usually hold down F8 when you
> turn on and then select safe mode)?

> Alan

Need to Tap on my F8 otherwise it doesn't play the game.

Thanks for the though Alan, been there and done that a couple of times,
using The Administrator profile, then My Administrator profile, SafeMode
with and without Networking.

The install process completes, but still no printer installed.

Thanks
Dave

FWIW. I have another old computer also running XP SP-3 and that
install/updates PDFCreator without any problems.
D.

--

Dave Triffid

[Alan Dawes]

In article <5275a00...@triffid.co.uk>,

Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <52758b0cf5...@argonet.co.uk>,
> Alan Dawes <alan....@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> > In article <5275731...@triffid.co.uk>,
> > Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:
> > > Updating the last couple of versions of PDFCreator have left me with
> > > an installed PDFCreator app, but no driver is installed, and the
> > > install ends with an errors log.

> > Have you tried installing it in safe mode (usually hold down F8 when
> > you turn on and then select safe mode)?

> Thanks for the though Alan, been there and done that a couple of times,
> using The Administrator profile, then My Administrator profile, SafeMode
> with and without Networking.

> The install process completes, but still no printer installed.

Googling for "PDFCreator problem installing" comes up with other people
with the same problem when upgrading to new version on XP eg see:
http://www.pdfforge.org/forum/help/7809-problem-installing-pdfcreator-123

It looks like you may have to completely uninstal PDFCreator and then
reinstal it. If that doesn't work then uninstal and reinstal the older
version. There is a reference
http://www.pdfforge.org/content/setup-error-pdfcreator-already-installed
"To solve these problems, there is a setup parameter /ForceInstall which
will ignore this setting, which should solve all these troubles." but it's
not clear if this option is available in the XP version.

Good luck

[Dave Symes]

In article <5275f13efb...@argonet.co.uk>,

Alan Dawes <alan....@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <5275a00...@triffid.co.uk>,
> Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:
> > In article <52758b0cf5...@argonet.co.uk>,
> > Alan Dawes <alan....@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> > > In article <5275731...@triffid.co.uk>,
> > > Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:
> > > > Updating the last couple of versions of PDFCreator have left me with
> > > > an installed PDFCreator app, but no driver is installed, and the
> > > > install ends with an errors log.

> > > Have you tried installing it in safe mode (usually hold down F8 when
> > > you turn on and then select safe mode)?


> > Thanks for the though Alan, been there and done that a couple of
> > times, using The Administrator profile, then My Administrator profile,
> > SafeMode with and without Networking.

> > The install process completes, but still no printer installed.

> Googling for "PDFCreator problem installing" comes up with other people
> with the same problem when upgrading to new version on XP eg see:
> http://www.pdfforge.org/forum/help/7809-problem-installing-pdfcreator-123

Indeedy, I'm a member of the PDFCreator forum (Arturox), there was no
answer to the above.

> It looks like you may have to completely uninstal PDFCreator and then
> reinstal it. If that doesn't work then uninstal and reinstal the older
> version. There is a reference
> http://www.pdfforge.org/content/setup-error-pdfcreator-already-installed
> "To solve these problems, there is a setup parameter /ForceInstall which
> will ignore this setting, which should solve all these troubles." but
> it's not clear if this option is available in the XP version.

> Good luck
> Alan

Thanks for the input Alan.
Unfortunately, both those problems are not quite the same as mine, in that
PDFCreator itself installs and can be run.
It's just that the later part of the install, the bit that installs the GS
Printer driver (It get most of the way through that bit) is prevented from
completing the task by some access exception. Access Denied.

It appears as far as I can see, it's being prevented from saving something
to a file somewhere because of an access violation.

All beyond my knowledge base, particularly as even attempting an install
from Safemode The Administrator account also fails at that last hurdle.

That's not my administrator account BTW, but the System Safemode
Administrator Account.

FFS How can the SafeMode Administrator be denied Access.

It's at time like this the old Grumpmeister want to get out and throw the
bloody thing out of the window.

What I'd like to know is, what it is being denied access to?

FWIW. A couple of days ago...I'd also done complete uninstalls and gone
back to various earlier versions of PDFC including one from June 2010

Thanks
Dave

PS: I have posted my problem to the PDFCreator forum, but like a lot of
problems posted there, don't do any breath holding.

I'll try out the /Forceinstall later when I have that beast running.

D.

--

Dave Triffid

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

> What I'd like to know is, what it is being denied access to?

An "access violation" might be a memory access issue (ie the installer
program is trying to read/write RAM belonging to another process), in which
case it's a programming error and nothing to do with whether you're running
as an Admin user or not.

Or it might be the sort of thing that does depend on the user level.

It's not clear which of these you mean.

Does Dr Watson produce a dump?

Does anything show in the machine's Eventlog files?


It's possible you'd need to have - in XP terms - the Security log active,
which it probably isn't unless you've already turned it on. I did this at:
Admin Tools -> Local Security Policy -> Local Policies -> Audit, where I
turned on auditing for Success/Failure of:

- account logons (domain control so I won't see this?)
- logon events (on local boxes, but needs setting above on too/)
- object access (user access to SACL-controlled device, keys etc)
- policy changes
- process tracking (pgm activation, process end, dup handles ...)
- system events (system restarts, shutdowns, sys security changes)

--
Jeremy C B Nicoll - my opinions are my own.

Email sent to my from-address will be deleted. Instead, please reply
to newsre...@wingsandbeaks.org.uk replacing "aaa" by "284".

[Dave Symes]

In article <mpro.m1g1ih...@wingsandbeaks.org.uk.invalid>,
Jeremy Nicoll - news posts <jn.nntp....@wingsandbeaks.org.uk>
wrote:

> Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

> > What I'd like to know is, what it is being denied access to?

> An "access violation" might be a memory access issue (ie the installer
> program is trying to read/write RAM belonging to another process), in
> which case it's a programming error and nothing to do with whether
> you're running as an Admin user or not.

> Or it might be the sort of thing that does depend on the user level.

> It's not clear which of these you mean.

> Does Dr Watson produce a dump?

Not really as From XP and on, Dr Watson has been superceeded by the event
thingies. (apparently).
However it can still be called, but doesn't find any problem.

> Does anything show in the machine's Eventlog files?


> It's possible you'd need to have - in XP terms - the Security log
> active, which it probably isn't unless you've already turned it on. I
> did this at: Admin Tools -> Local Security Policy -> Local Policies ->
> Audit, where I turned on auditing for Success/Failure of:

> - account logons (domain control so I won't see this?)
> - logon events (on local boxes, but needs setting above on too/)
> - object access (user access to SACL-controlled device, keys etc)
> - policy changes
> - process tracking (pgm activation, process end, dup handles ...)
> - system events (system restarts, shutdowns, sys security changes)

Ah well Jeremy, I'm a scrutinizer of the machines event files, and during
this debacle, I've even been taking a note of the time I've started the
install attempt until it's failed conclusion, then examining various of
the logs, but nothing presents.

Thanks for the thoughts, appreciated.

Dave

--

Dave Triffid

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

>In article <mpro.m1g1ih...@wingsandbeaks.org.uk.invalid>,
> Jeremy Nicoll - news posts <jn.nntp....@wingsandbeaks.org.uk>
>wrote:

>> Does Dr Watson produce a dump?
>
> Not really as From XP and on, Dr Watson has been superceeded by the event
> thingies. (apparently). However it can still be called, but doesn't find
> any problem.

How odd. I see that wikipedia says the same. But I've got XP Pro SP3 on 3
machines here and they all have Dr Watson installed.

The sort of 'crash duump' that windows took and in theory Dr W allowed one
to look inside meant little to me, but there was also a .log file produced
with summary info in plain text. It at least would show if the problem was
a program execution (RAM Access violation) one or something else.


Googling shows some people have successfully installed Dr Watson on Vista
and perhaps other systems.


The article at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_Reports_and_Solutions
talks about a newer mechanism. Are you seeing this sort of error report
when the problem happens?


What does the installer logfile say? Or is there no log? I see from
looking at the URLs provided previously that this product uses an Inno
installer. If rather than just double-clicking the installer you create a
shortcut to it, then edit the shortcut and alter

...path to installer.exe

to

...path to installer.exe "/LOG"

then it should create a log file as it runs. It may already have done...
They'd be in the %TEMP% folder.

[Robin Hounsome]

In article <5275731...@triffid.co.uk>,
Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

> I'm installing as Administrator.

> This proceeds for a while then aborts again with "Access denied"

This may be a red herring...

I've had a similar experience re-installing some HP printer drivers.

It wasn't enough to be logged on as administrator. I had to take ownership
of some files from the original install which failed to be removed and
then reboot the machine before I could delete the files. Once this was
done the new version installed without a hitch.

HTH

Robin

--
Remote - http://www.hounsome.org.uk
TV display software for the Iyonix

[Dave Symes]

In article <5276289...@hounsome.org.uk>,

Robin Hounsome <ro...@hounsome.org.uk> wrote:
> In article <5275731...@triffid.co.uk>,
> Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

> > I'm installing as Administrator.

> > This proceeds for a while then aborts again with "Access denied"


> This may be a red herring...

> I've had a similar experience re-installing some HP printer drivers.

> It wasn't enough to be logged on as administrator. I had to take
> ownership of some files from the original install which failed to be
> removed and then reboot the machine before I could delete the files.
> Once this was done the new version installed without a hitch.

> HTH

> Robin

Interesting, as I do have some HP drivers installed, maybe they are
blocking the thing.

No problem on Win 7, but how do I take ownership in XP.

[Dave Symes]

In article <mpro.m1gjb2...@wingsandbeaks.org.uk.invalid>,

Jeremy Nicoll - news posts <jn.nntp....@wingsandbeaks.org.uk>
wrote:

[Snippy]

> The article at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_Reports_and_Solutions
> talks about a newer mechanism. Are you seeing this sort of error report
> when the problem happens?


> What does the installer logfile say? Or is there no log? I see from
> looking at the URLs provided previously that this product uses an Inno
> installer. If rather than just double-clicking the installer you create a
> shortcut to it, then edit the shortcut and alter

> ...path to installer.exe

> to
> ...path to installer.exe "/LOG"

> then it should create a log file as it runs. It may already have done...
> They'd be in the %TEMP% folder.

The PDFCreator installer created a log file within the App dir in Proggy
Files.

I quoted a few lines of it some days ago.

Dave

--

Dave Triffid

[Robin Hounsome]

In article <52762ca...@triffid.co.uk>,

Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <5276289...@hounsome.org.uk>,
> Robin Hounsome <ro...@hounsome.org.uk> wrote:
> > In article <5275731...@triffid.co.uk>,
> > Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

> > > I'm installing as Administrator.

> > > This proceeds for a while then aborts again with "Access denied"


> > This may be a red herring...

> > I've had a similar experience re-installing some HP printer drivers.

> > It wasn't enough to be logged on as administrator. I had to take
> > ownership of some files from the original install which failed to be
> > removed and then reboot the machine before I could delete the files.
> > Once this was done the new version installed without a hitch.

> > HTH

> > Robin

> Interesting, as I do have some HP drivers installed, maybe they are
> blocking the thing.

> No problem on Win 7, but how do I take ownership in XP.

More of a red herring than I first thought. The take ownership option on
XP only becomes available once the machine is joined to a domain, which in
turn implies XP Pro.

Back to the drawing board!

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

>The PDFCreator installer created a log file within the App dir in Proggy
>Files.
>
>I quoted a few lines of it some days ago.

Sorry didn't see it, but I've googled it. I've also been googling the
"Error 5" and "Error 1797" error messages. As they're both issued by
Windows rather than the installer there's lots of hits (assuming they're the
same for that reason and not coincidentally the same error number &
message).

For the 5, the access denied message may have something to do with a
'service' not running.

For the 1797 I found a hit where someone was failing to install something on
a Win 7 64 bit machine, though it had worked on a 32 bit one.

I also saw some examples where people manually installed printer drivers
even though the software-driven install did not work.

Also one where someone found it all worked ok after they'd deleted a printer
driver they'd previosuly installed but no longer had a matching printer for.

[Dave Symes]

In article <mpro.m1i2lj...@wingsandbeaks.org.uk.invalid>,

Jeremy Nicoll - news posts <jn.nntp....@wingsandbeaks.org.uk>
wrote:

> Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

> >The PDFCreator installer created a log file within the App dir in Proggy
> >Files.
> >
> >I quoted a few lines of it some days ago.

> Sorry didn't see it, but I've googled it. I've also been googling the
> "Error 5" and "Error 1797" error messages. As they're both issued by
> Windows rather than the installer there's lots of hits (assuming they're
> the same for that reason and not coincidentally the same error number &
> message).

> For the 5, the access denied message may have something to do with a
> 'service' not running.

We've obviously been doing similar searches Jeremy

Thanks for the thought, but checked a couple of days ago what services
were and were not running, all MS services were, one or two specific app
relate services I'd turned off, but I turned 'em back on anyway (Nothing
to do with printing BTW)

> For the 1797 I found a hit where someone was failing to install
> something on a Win 7 64 bit machine, though it had worked on a 32 bit
> one.

> I also saw some examples where people manually installed printer drivers
> even though the software-driven install did not work.

Indeedy, I've tried that trick a number of times, but at the final hurdle
if fails with the usual...

> Also one where someone found it all worked ok after they'd deleted a
> printer driver they'd previosuly installed but no longer had a matching
> printer for.

Mmnnn! I've just checked, and there doesn't seem to be any drivers left
from previous printers.

Thanks for your thoughts Jeremy, appreciated.

Dave

I've put the last install attempt Logfile at.

http://www.triffid.co.uk/dstuff/SetupLog.txt

D.

I see there's now a 1-3-2 version available, Hangonamo... I'll try that.

Nope! same problem.
D.

--

Dave Triffid

[Chris Hughes]

In message <5276a19...@triffid.co.uk>

Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

> In article <mpro.m1i2lj...@wingsandbeaks.org.uk.invalid>,
> Jeremy Nicoll - news posts <jn.nntp....@wingsandbeaks.org.uk>
> wrote:
>> Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

[snip]

>> Also one where someone found it all worked ok after they'd deleted a
>> printer driver they'd previosuly installed but no longer had a matching
>> printer for.

> Mmnnn! I've just checked, and there doesn't seem to be any drivers left
> from previous printers.

Looking at your logfile you have a printer driver for EPSON Stylus
Photo 925 installed but no printer.

But you do have the EPSON Stylus Photo 915 as a printer and driver.

I also notice you still have pdfcmon still running as a monitor before
it installs the new PDFCreator. The log file seems to indicate a
problem with this when you come to install the pdfcmon as a
printerport.

Have you tried uninstalling PDFCreator and then using CCleaner to
clean out the registry a couple of times and then reinstallin PDF
Creator

[Dave Symes]

In article <6907ad76...@o2.co.uk>,

Chris Hughes <ne...@noonehere.co.uk> wrote:
> In message <5276a19...@triffid.co.uk>
> Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

> > In article <mpro.m1i2lj...@wingsandbeaks.org.uk.invalid>,
> > Jeremy Nicoll - news posts <jn.nntp....@wingsandbeaks.org.uk>
> > wrote:
> >> Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

> [snip]

> >> Also one where someone found it all worked ok after they'd deleted a
> >> printer driver they'd previosuly installed but no longer had a
> >> matching printer for.

> > Mmnnn! I've just checked, and there doesn't seem to be any drivers
> > left from previous printers.

> Looking at your logfile you have a printer driver for EPSON Stylus
> Photo 925 installed but no printer.

Ah yes, there was once, but I removed it from Control Panel-Printers and
Faxes ages ago.

Interesting thought then, how do I uninstall a printer driver that doesn't
appear anywhere?

Any ideas to save me some time?

> But you do have the EPSON Stylus Photo 915 as a printer and driver.

Yes that exists, I use it for colour photo printing.

> I also notice you still have pdfcmon still running as a monitor before
> it installs the new PDFCreator. The log file seems to indicate a
> problem with this when you come to install the pdfcmon as a
> printerport.

That's an interesting one, even though I have uninstalled PDFCreator, and
done a CCleaner run through, I never could delete that port.

Suggestions appreciated?

> Have you tried uninstalling PDFCreator and then using CCleaner to
> clean out the registry a couple of times and then reinstallin PDF
> Creator

Done it a few single times in the past week.

But after work, later I'll have a new view at your suggestions, and do
multiple runs of CCleaner.

Thanks for the input, appreciated.

Dave

Someone of note, has entered my thread on the PDFCreator Forum, who also
wanted to have a butchers at the logfile, to that's another positive.
D.

--

Dave Triffid

[Dave Symes]

On 27 Mar, da...@triffid.co.uk wrote:
[Snippy]

> Interesting thought then, how do I uninstall a printer driver that
> doesn't appear anywhere?

> Any ideas to save me some time?

Don't bother with that one I've remembered.

I removed the Epson driver, and tidied up the ports, so will do CCleaner
later

[Dave Symes]

On 27 Mar, da...@triffid.co.uk wrote:

> In article <6907ad76...@o2.co.uk>,
> Chris Hughes <ne...@noonehere.co.uk> wrote:
> > In message <5276a19...@triffid.co.uk>
> > Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

[Snippy]

> > I also notice you still have pdfcmon still running as a monitor before
> > it installs the new PDFCreator. The log file seems to indicate a
> > problem with this when you come to install the pdfcmon as a
> > printerport.

> That's an interesting one, even though I have uninstalled PDFCreator, and
> done a CCleaner run through, I never could delete that port.

However, after uninstalling PDFCreator pdfcmon goes.

> > Have you tried uninstalling PDFCreator and then using CCleaner to
> > clean out the registry a couple of times and then reinstallin PDF
> > Creator

Yes, just uninstalled PDFCreator, Ran CCleaner twice, removed some
PDFCreator stuff, checked no spurious ports exist.

Rebooted the computer and did an install of 1-3-2

Same old...

Dave

--

Dave Triffid

[Chris Hughes]

In message <52771f0...@triffid.co.uk>

Well I now know not to install this software!

I'll use DoPDF instead I think.

[Dave Symes]

In article <768a1f77...@o2.co.uk>,

Chris Hughes <ne...@noonehere.co.uk> wrote:
> In message <52771f0...@triffid.co.uk>
> Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

[Snippy]

> > Yes, just uninstalled PDFCreator, Ran CCleaner twice, removed some
> > PDFCreator stuff, checked no spurious ports exist.

> > Rebooted the computer and did an install of 1-3-2

> Well I now know not to install this software!

> I'll use DoPDF instead I think.

If only it was that simple Chris, it's got to be something up with that
machine, I have another older Win PC also using XP SP-3 and that installs
PDFCreator without a moan.

The Laptop running under Win 7 also has PDFCreator installed, and without
any problems.

Over the many years I've been using it, (PDFC) until this point in time,
and on this machine it was okay.

Finally, on the problem machine, as I noted before, even CutePDF writer
won't complete its install, same problem.

And, believe it or not, DoPDF installs the files, even configures a Port
to use, and despite no error messages being generated, *doesn't* install
the Printer Driver.

Pwarp! and Sh alpha9 tee

Dave

--

Dave Triffid

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

>And, believe it or not, DoPDF installs the files, even configures a Port
>to use, and despite no error messages being generated, *doesn't* install
>the Printer Driver.

Can you install any printer drivers? Maybe the list of installed drivers,
however that's held, is corrupt?

[Dave Symes]

In article <mpro.m1kppg...@wingsandbeaks.org.uk.invalid>,

Jeremy Nicoll - news posts <jn.nntp....@wingsandbeaks.org.uk>
wrote:

> Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

> >And, believe it or not, DoPDF installs the files, even configures a Port
> >to use, and despite no error messages being generated, *doesn't* install
> >the Printer Driver.

> Can you install any printer drivers? Maybe the list of installed
> drivers, however that's held, is corrupt?

As a test, over last weekend as administrator, I tried to install the HP
universal PostScript driver for the physical printer we have, it went
through the processes and didn't error out, but *no* HP PS driver was
installed.(Installed okay on the Win 7 Laptop BTW).

Additionally, I have Snagit (Screen etc grabber) installed, as part of the
process it also installs a virtual printer driver.
So I uninstalled it, then later installed it from scratch again.
It did indeed fully install including its virtual printer driver.


Bwaaaa!

I'll give it a bit longer to see if anything surfaces from the PDFC
Forums, but I guess a make or break test would be uninstall all the
printers, reboot and attempt a reinstall again.

Though I'm a bit relectant ATM to go that far as the Network driver for
the HP P2055dn was a problem to install.
But that could well have been part of the same PDFC problem, which IIRC
does pre-date the new printer.

Mmnnn! I've just had a thought... Pause while I attempt the HP fix method
used to get the HP network driver installed last time... For this
Universal PS driver.

Well that as interesting, again, went through the process, got to the
final hurdle but didn't install the Universal driver, because...
Access Denied.

Dave

Maybe I should start from scratch and just do a Format Install of Windows.

Oer!
D.

--

Dave Triffid

[Dave Symes]

I'm still messing around and googling extensively, but still no solution.

I did download and run a HP diagnostic tool, but that really was a waste
of space.

Now an associated problem.

Remembering I have XP Home SP-3 *not* XP Pro.

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\PDFCreator

This PDFCreator directory has a perpetual Access Denied on it, and nothing
I can do will get me access to it.

It cannot be opened, written to, renamed, moved or deleted.

I've tried a number of solutions, including an app I have which processes
through a designated set of dirs and makes them all writable, everything
except this one.

I've spent hours, and I do mean hours online searching for a solution, but
all solutions lead to answers for XP Pro,so are no use because XPHome
doesn't have a particular filer configuration entry that exist in Pro.

PDFCreator has been correctly uninstalled.
Any helpful thoughts chaps?

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

> ... XPHome doesn't have a particular filer configuration entry that exist
> in Pro.

Which is what?

[Dave Symes]

In article <mpro.m1q603...@wingsandbeaks.org.uk.invalid>,

Jeremy Nicoll - news posts <jn.nntp....@wingsandbeaks.org.uk>
wrote:

> Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

> > ... XPHome doesn't have a particular filer configuration entry that
> > exist in Pro.

> Which is what?

In Win Explorer-Tools-Folder Options-View there is in XP Pro (apparently)
an entry to switch off simple file sharing, this doesn't exist in XP Home.

However Jeremy, the errant file has now been removed by a small app called
"Unlocker" and even though it reported it could not find a lock tag on the
PDFC dir, there's a menu to do other things to errant files, one of which
is DELETE.

So that's that problem solved, I've also found an app called "WhoLockMe"
which is supposed to be able to report what if any app or system process
has locked up a file or Dir.

It's Saturday AM and I'm going to be a bit busy with work stuff for an
hour or so... Joys of running own business and paperwork at weekends :-)
but I'll get back to that computer stuff later.

Cheers
Dave

--

Dave Triffid

[Dave Symes]

On 31 Mar, da...@triffid.co.uk wrote:
> In article <mpro.m1q603...@wingsandbeaks.org.uk.invalid>,
> Jeremy Nicoll - news posts <jn.nntp....@wingsandbeaks.org.uk>
> wrote:
> > Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

> > > ... XPHome doesn't have a particular filer configuration entry that
> > > exist in Pro.

> > Which is what?

> In Win Explorer-Tools-Folder Options-View there is in XP Pro
> (apparently) an entry to switch off simple file sharing, this doesn't
> exist in XP Home.

> However Jeremy, the errant file has now been removed by a small app
> called "Unlocker" and even though it reported it could not find a lock
> tag on the PDFC dir, there's a menu to do other things to errant files,
> one of which is DELETE.

> So that's that problem solved, I've also found an app called "WhoLockMe"
> which is supposed to be able to report what if any app or system process
> has locked up a file or Dir.

WhoLockDir appears to only run CLI., and ATM I really can't be bothered as
the errant file has gone.

Anyway, the situation is now slightly changed.

PDFCreator installs as before, but still will *not* install the driver,
but thereafter exist cleanly with the message about an install problem,
but no "Access Denied"

FWIW. As before, neither will any other virtual Printer install.

I'm going to have one last bash at this lot over the weekend, but unless I
sort it now, or someone else suggest a solution... I've wasted enough of
my time over the past two week so I'll just forget it, and when I need to
create PDFs move the file to another machine that PDFC does install on.

D.

--

Dave Triffid

[Dave Symes]

On 31 Mar, da...@triffid.co.uk wrote:

[Snippy]

I've been googling and bashing my brains out on this one for two weeks
now, and am no closer to a solution than before.

So to summarise...

It's not a specific PDFCreator problem, as I've attempted manually to
install a lot of real and virtual printers, but not one of them will
complete the driver install, NOT one.

The four printers I had installed prior to the problem (Two virtual and
two real) are still there and working correctly, but nothing else can be
added.

There are no problems installing other, none print related apps.

I have no idea what system event/file/process is blocking that last bit of
the install, but I sure wish someone did.

Even changed the Read/Write/unlock access to the Sys32\Spool directory,
but that didn't change anything.

Having been through a sea of googling, and MS support documents, I still
have no idea.

Well, the only thing I've discovered in the two weeks, it's not
specifically a PDFCreator problem.

D.

--

Dave Triffid

[Dave Symes]

Right, it is now just over three weeks...

I had become quite ****** off with the whole business and had mostly given
up...

Anyway, while I started out in an orderly fashion, once I was past my pay
grade, so-to-speak, it was just a case of try something...
Suck-it-and-see...

This AM I did another "s-i-a-s" operation and wohay! it worked, I now
have PDFCreator 1-3-2 fully installed, including the print driver.

What did I do that worked; Good question?

As I'm running XP Home SP-3 on the problem machine, there are tools
missing that are in XP Pro but not XP Home.

So I downloaded Reset.Zip extracted "Reset.cmd" and ran it. (Resets the
Registry).

It took a while to do the reset and some repairs, I then re-booted the
computer and attempted a PDFCreator install.

It was completely successful and I now have a fully functioning PDFCreator.

Later, when the shopping and other stuff is done, I'll have a play at
installing a driver for a real hardware printer.

Dave

--

Dave Triffid

[Dave Symes]

On 07 Apr, da...@triffid.co.uk wrote:

> Later, when the shopping and other stuff is done, I'll have a play at
> installing a driver for a real hardware printer.

> Dave

Yup! the real hardware printer driver also installed okay, so both real
and virtual drivers available now.

Dave

--

Dave Triffid

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

> So I downloaded Reset.Zip extracted "Reset.cmd" and ran it. (Resets the
> Registry).

Downloaded from where? Googling "reset registry" provides a lot of hits
which run tools that completely remove user-software settings from teh
resgistry. I'm sure you won't have doen that, but someone reading your
account here might try to replicate what you did and choose the wrong
reset...

Is the process as described at:
http://www.windowsreference.com/security/reset-the-entire-registry-permissions-to-defaults/

because if it is, I would hope that you first used the SubInAcl command to
query the state of the things you were about to reset...

[Dave Symes]

In article <mpro.m23utj...@wingsandbeaks.org.uk.invalid>,

Jeremy Nicoll - news posts <jn.nntp....@wingsandbeaks.org.uk>
wrote:

> Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

> > So I downloaded Reset.Zip extracted "Reset.cmd" and ran it. (Resets
> > the Registry).

> Downloaded from where? Googling "reset registry" provides a lot of hits
> which run tools that completely remove user-software settings from teh
> resgistry. I'm sure you won't have doen that, but someone reading your
> account here might try to replicate what you did and choose the wrong
> reset...

> Is the process as described at:
> http://www.windowsreference.com/security/reset-the-entire-registry-permissions-to-defaults/

> because if it is, I would hope that you first used the SubInAcl command
> to query the state of the things you were about to reset...

Jeremy,
I started out three weeks ago in an orderly fashion, making a note of
everything I was doing as I tried to resolve the problem, including error
messages etc.

When I got past a certain point, around just under the two weeks, I pretty
much gave up getting it sorted. (By this time order had gone out the
window, and it was always a case of try something... Suck-it-and-see).

By this time there was a lot of stuff laying around the computer
innards... all sorts of things/tools installed, sometimes uninstalled
even...

Over this weekend, I was getting close to doing a System install disk
Install/repair but I thought I have one last bash at the sodding thing.

I'd done total backup (Acronis) on Thursday) including a new separate
Registry backup in preparation for the above work...

So one last hit... I found the Reset.cmd file which I think is part of a
tool kit for XP Pro, but not available to Home users, among some stuff I'd
been playing with earlier....

I have no idea when I was previously messing with the installer of that,
but after looking at the commands I decided yes do it.

The command file contains the following...

cd /d "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Resource Kits\Tools"
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f
/grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f
/grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f
/grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=administrators=f
/grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %windir%\*.* /grant=administrators=f
/grant=system=f
secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\repair\secsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb
/verbose


After running it and the subsequent reboot, I only had one app complain.
It's a know uppity app anyway, and after re-applying the Install key
string, it now behaves.

Bottom line, It worked, I now have both the virtual and real printer
drivers installed.

Dave

--

Dave Triffid