Vista 64bit rpeventing file copy

[Tony Vrolyk]

I sell a program that I wrote in Access and have had a couple customers with
64 bit versions of Windows Vista where if I send them an updated file, via
email or download, it appears as though the file has copied over the old
version but when they run the program it is still the old version of the
program. Is there some underlying copy protection that is preventing me from
copying over the file yet does not report any error or security warning?

Here are a couple details
* The original install program installs the Access runtime, my program and
related system files. The program itself is made up of two files. one Access
MDE (like a read-only Access file that contains all the coding) and a
database file.
* I then sent them an update which consists of a zip file that contains a
new MDE. They are to copy that over their existing MDE in order to use the
new version.
* In one instance I was able to remote into the customer's PC and do the
file copy it myself. I can see the file copy, the file size and date appear
to be correct for the new version but when I would run it it would run the
old code. Ths PC was an HP laptop if that makes any difference

This is driving me batty. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks
Tony

 

[Tony Vrolyk]

Ok here is an interesting twist. was going to remote into another
customer's PC but asked that she turn off UAC before hand. She did that
restarting and and tested my program even before we connected and it worked
as expected. She tested and turned UAC back on, restarted and then tried the
program again and it seemed to revert back to the old version.

This is very weird

FYI my program is installed under C:\Program Files (x86)\My Program...

Tony

 

[Richard Urban]

Ok here is an interesting twist. was going to remote into another
customer's PC but asked that she turn off UAC before hand. She did that
restarting and and tested my program even before we connected and it
worked as expected. She tested and turned UAC back on, restarted and then
tried the program again and it seemed to revert back to the old version.

This is very weird

FYI my program is installed under C:\Program Files (x86)\My Program...

Tony

You didn't install the data base file in that same folder, did you?

 

[Tom Allen]

I sell a program that I wrote in Access and have had a couple customers
with 64 bit versions of Windows Vista where if I send them an updated
file, via email or download, it appears as though the file has copied
over the old version but when they run the program it is still the old
version of the program. Is there some underlying copy protection that
is preventing me from copying over the file yet does not report any
error or security warning?

Here are a couple details
* The original install program installs the Access runtime, my program
and related system files. The program itself is made up of two files.
one Access MDE (like a read-only Access file that contains all the
coding) and a database file.
* I then sent them an update which consists of a zip file that
contains a new MDE. They are to copy that over their existing MDE in
order to use the new version.
* In one instance I was able to remote into the customer's PC and do
the file copy it myself. I can see the file copy, the file size and
date appear to be correct for the new version but when I would run it
it would run the old code. Ths PC was an HP laptop if that makes any
difference

This is driving me batty. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks
Tony

Is there some special action your users take to 'copy that over their
existing' file ? A simple unzip and delete(?)/copy will just update a
directory entry and leave the original file as free disk space. How do
they launch the program ? If program startup is by double-click the
existence of the old file shouldn't matter but it's not unknown for a
scheduler/job-queue (something cunning of your own making ? ) to hold a
disk location. Any relevance at all ? - I'm guessing really.

Tom

 

[FromTheRafters]

Read up on Windows Resource Protection (WRP) to determine if your file
is being "protected". Userland users may experience silent protection
whereas as an administrator they might get an error message (<--clue).

 

[Guest]

On Explorer's toolbarinthe folderis therea button "Compatability Files"?

 

[Tony Vrolyk]

This seems the most promising direction. I did some quick looking up and MDE
files are one that is protected. I don't understand why Windows would
consider my app a protected file but it seems to fit the pattern. The
solution according to what I found it to create my updates as bona fide
installers and not just a simple file-copy.

I will test this out. Thanks for the help.

Tony

 

[Guest]

No it doesn't. It has to come with windows to be protected. Your symptoms
are to do with compatibility files.

 

[FromTheRafters]

Check to see if your "new code" is being saved into a virtualized
"Program Files" within the user's profile.

See this also,

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927387

 

[Tony Vrolyk]

This looks really promising. I will test this one out.

Thanks
Tony