Installing Adobe Reader 8.0 On Vista

I’ve had to install Adobe Reader 8 on a few Vista machines and always run into an issue. After downloading AdbeRdr80_en_US.exe from adobe.com and running it, you get a dialog asking you to confirm that you really want to run it. If you allow it to run, it’ll expand the files correctly and then launch the actual Setup.exe file to install the app itself. Unfortunately, running it may result in either of the following errors:

1 - "The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if the Windows Installer is not installed correctly. Contact your support personnel for assistance."

or

2 - An error regarding the temp directory being inaccesible, out of space, or other unlikely problem.

To get around this, run the AdbeRdr80_en_US.exe app and wait for it to finish expanding the installer files. You’ll know it’s done when you see the Setup.exe dialog:

Leave the dialog alone for now. Instead, navigate to “C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\LocalLow\Netopsystems\temp\Adobe Reader 8.0” and run AcroRead.msi directly. It should allow you to install everything fine. Afterwards, you can hit cancel or whatever to dismiss the original dialog. Note that when you dismiss the dialog (whether to cancel or run to failure or success) it’ll remove the files in the temp directory.

Hope this helps.
2/5/2007 1:01:43 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [3]  

Local Vista Launches Coming Soon

You can find yours here.

I’ll be speaking on Office 2007 development at the Seattle launch. If you happen to be there, please stop by and say hello. Sadly, there will be no robots in my session...for the first time in a long time

1/8/2007 11:17:18 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [0]  

The Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Rules!

I used to install OEM software for things like burning CDs and DVDs from ISOs downloaded from MSDN. Now I'm smarter and use the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit. It provides command line utilities for stuff like this, plus a whole lot more. Even if you just use it as a quick & easy way to burn CDs and DVDs, it's worth a download. I've been using it on Vista and everything I've tried (a small subset) has worked fine.

12/31/2006 4:05:01 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [0]  

RTM Version Of Vista Credential Provider Samples Is Live

I built the first version of these guys, which was a fun (albeit very challenging!) project. During the development process, we’re all used to having bugs that occur, especially when using a platform you’re not completely familiar with. Unfortunately for me, my bugs often resulted in locking myself out of the dev machine. At the time, you couldn't really use Vista in a VPC, so all the lessons were learned on really time-consuming hardware installs and certainly taken to heart

If you’re going to build credential providers, the tips & tricks section should save you some time.

My favorite part:

During the process of credential provider development, there is a good possibility that you might mess up the credential providers, possibly even crashing LogonUI.

Don’t Panic.

Typically, you can reboot Windows in safe mode (repeatedly tap F8 during early boot for the menu to do this). From safe mode you should be able to log in using the normal password provider, at which point you can unregister the offending credential provider.

It might not seem that funny to anyone else, but I remember writing that at around 4AM after finally figuring out how to get back into a test machine after locking myself out the day before.

12/30/2006 2:49:32 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [0]  

What A Copout

Time named "You" the person of the year for 2006. I didn't read the Time article itself, but I expect that was phoned in as well.

Don't get me wrong, I think blogging and video sharing sites are great, but this was a poor idea. When you consider the impact of everything that's going on in the middle east, the situation in Darfur, the actions of leaders in Iran and North Korea, and the political environment in the US, it's amazing that "You" are the person of the year for recording yourself getting wiffle-batted in the groin and posting it to a Web site.

Way to go, You!

Before I forget, here are the early favorites for Time's Person Of The Year for 2007:

• Clippy, the Office paperclip
• The #2 pencil
• "Deal Or No Deal"
• Option 3 on the Bank Of America customer service line
• Me (not the "me" who is writing this, but the "me" who is reading this)

If I missed any of the nominees, please let me know in the comments.

12/16/2006 11:55:09 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [1]  

SharpLogic Mention In Digital Trends
We got mentioned in their article on the launch of Microsoft Robotics Studio. Now all we need to do is to get our name fixed (or change it?)
12/13/2006 3:35:09 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [1]  

I Suppose It's Not *Technically* Rocket Science

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15958667/

NASA wants Discovery back from its 12-day mission by New Year’s Eve because shuttle computers are not designed to make the change from the 365th day of the old year to the first day of the new year while in flight.

11/29/2006 5:28:57 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [0]  

Fantasy Dev Team

I love Bug Bash. Check out this week's:

11/20/2006 11:07:42 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [0]