Using an OCX packed with Thinstall on Vista

[esposito]

Hello, a few days ago I saw Thinstall installed on a computer of a company I now and then work for and I wanted to test it.

In particular, I wanted to see if it was true that you can embed an OCX in your VB6 application and then distribute the packed exe, that will run without installation.

So, for testing purposes, I created a VB6 executable just containing an MSChart control, created the exe and launched Thinstall.

In Thinstall, I followed the exact procedure that should have allowed me to get the result I was looking for. After importing the VB6 executable into Thinstall, I right-clicked on the OCX and selected "Record Registry script now."

In the online help, you can read, "By recording a registry script, Thinstall permits virtual registration. That is, the OCX/DLL appears to already registered on the user's computer without needing any system registry changes."

Finally, I pasted the resulting exe packed with Thinstall on a PC running under Windows Vista and I got an error message telling me I did not have permission to use that component.

What am I missing? Is Thinstall incompatible with Vista?

Any help will be appreciated.

[Erroneous]

There is an issue wherein some ocx can't be registered in vista. Anyway, have you tried manuallly registering the ocx? or download softwares from

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/...ster-ocx.shtml

[mike2]

Tried running the output program as an administrator (Right click executable -> Run as Administrator)

[esposito]

There is an issue wherein some ocx can't be registered in vista. Anyway, have you tried manuallly registering the ocx? or download softwares from

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/...ster-ocx.shtml

Thanks for your reply. I have full administrator privileges on the machine running under Vista.

I don't want to try to register the OCX manually simply because I want to make sure that the Thinstall packed exe can really perform a virtual registration.

The software I would like to develop should run from a shared folder and, for this reason, I would like to avoid any installation or registration on the client machines.

The Thinstall online help says it should allow you to do so, but I am beginning to have my doubts about it. By the way, the version I used was 2.501.

[RobDog888]

Since its a third party program/control, it may have to be upgraded to a version that works on Vista if they have one.

[ggeldorp]

Hi,

I'm a support engineer working for Thinstall. Google was kind enough to tell me about your post :-)
Thinstall 2 is not compatible with Vista, our new Thinstall Virtualization Studio is. If the company you work for has a valid support contract the upgrade is free.

Best regards, Gé van Geldorp.

[esposito]

Hi,

I'm a support engineer working for Thinstall. Google was kind enough to tell me about your post :-)
Thinstall 2 is not compatible with Vista, our new Thinstall Virtualization Studio is. If the company you work for has a valid support contract the upgrade is free.

Best regards, Gé van Geldorp.

Thank you very much. I'll tell them right away.

I have taken a quick look at your Web site and I noticed that Thinstall 3.0 presents some major changes in the way it is organized in comparison with its previous versions.

In particular, I watched the demo presentation and I saw that now you have to follow the three-phase procedure (pre-scan, install and post-scan) to come up with a standalone package.

What about the previous (very user-friendly) environment that allowed you to select an exe and then do a runtime analysis? Is it still present?

Even though it didn't work under Vista, I was impressed by how easy and quick it was to use it.

Thanks again.

[ggeldorp]

The target audience for Thinstall 3 is a little bit different than that for Thinstall 2. Thinstall 3 is more targeted towards enabling easier deployment of software packages in an enterprise environment, while Thinstall 2 was more targeted towards ISVs. This shift in focus shows up in the tools, we think the pre-scan/install/post-scan is very user friendly too, but for a somewhat different audience. We've received some feedback from ISVs who'd rather see a Thinstall 2-type toolset. At the moment we don't offer that exact same toolset in Thinstall 3.

[esposito]

The target audience for Thinstall 3 is a little bit different than that for Thinstall 2. Thinstall 3 is more targeted towards enabling easier deployment of software packages in an enterprise environment, while Thinstall 2 was more targeted towards ISVs. This shift in focus shows up in the tools, we think the pre-scan/install/post-scan is very user friendly too, but for a somewhat different audience. We've received some feedback from ISVs who'd rather see a Thinstall 2-type toolset. At the moment we don't offer that exact same toolset in Thinstall 3.

Thanks again for your reply.

If I am not mistaken, Thinstall 3.0 obliges you to work on two different machines, one of which must have a clean installation of the operating system.

As I could see in your demo presentation, everytime you want to create a standalone package out of a .NET application, you have to install the framework on the clean machine and then the application, so that Thinstall 3.0 can detect the changes made to that machine.

Now, installing the framework takes you more than 40 minutes, and then you will have to disinstall it to make your machine ready for the next Thinstall packaging. You will agree with me on the fact that, in comparison with the toolset you had in Thinstall 2.0, this new procedure is tremendously more time consuming.

Besides, the resulting standalone .NET package you get is at least three/four times as big as the one you could get with the previous version of Thinstall.

For these reasons, I really hope that, sooner or later, you will come up with a new (or additional) version of Thinstall provided with the "old" and quick toolset targeting the ISV audience.

All the best.

[ggeldorp]

I think we're getting a bit off-topic for this forum. Perhaps it would be better to continue via email? The forum rules I agreed to yesterday when I signed on for this forum explicitly forbid me to put my email address here, but if you go to my profile you should find a "Send a message via email" link there.

[Goren]

Thinstall full version costs $4495! It's really expensive I think!

[Goren]

Our team used BoxedApp Packer - much cheaper alternative with the functionality

[Big Pig]

Thinstall full version costs $4495! It's really expensive I think!

for virtualization and creating portable application, I tried 5 or 6 programs. None of the cost did not exceed $ 300.: Еек:: Еек:: Еек:
$4495:
in this program contains superpower?