[RESOLVED] Help With Family Tree Maker Software

Before anyone makes a comment, we've already contacted Ancestry.com about this. ;)

I'm working on a Dell Inspirion 1525 with Windows Vista 32b OS. From the way I understood it, Family Tree Maker 2009 was already working on the laptop. During the upgrade process to FMT 2010, Windows just decided that it wasn't going to load either of the programs anymore, instead opting to return an error window that says "FMT 2010 has stopped working" which, as we all know, is one of those highly vauge Microsoft errors that take hours of time to figure out.

Anywho, I've tried every which way to Wednesday to get this program to work. I know this sounds silly but I don't think I've ever come across this issue before EVER. First I tried uninstalling the programs. That won't work. Uninstalling them through the Control Panel returns an error saying the program probably didn't uninstall properly and Windows wants to use the default settings. So I went with that and that still didn't solve the problem. So I tried removing another program just to see if it was exclusive and sure enough it is. So then I tried manually uninstalling it by whacking the program files and the registry values (yes I know how to do this). After that I disabled the UAC, shut down any security programs, and even cold booted. Attempted a reinstall after that and guess what? It still didn't work.

Being the helpful people they are, Ancestry.com has little to no working knowledge of this issue nor any immediate fix.

So if anyone has any bright ideas, I'd love to hear them. Thanks!

Where did you download the software from? I went to http://www.ancestry.com/ but couldn't find the FMT 2010 software...

The software wasn't downloaded. It was actually purchased. I have the software box and everything.

No the reason why I asked was to check if the 2010 had any specifications which might not work with vista... but since I couldn't find something on that site so was wondering how did you get the software...

Nah it has a nice big "Compatible with Windows Vista" label right on both sides and the front of the box. And I checked the help directory at Ancestry.com and they have some fixes for certain errors for the applications but not for the one I'm looking for.

Try re-installing 2009 once again without the update or have you already tried that?

Yeah I've tried that. The weird thing is that this is the only software on this computer that has an issue. All of the other software can be installed/uninstalled perfectly fine. Windows won't stop any of the other programs from running at all. Maybe I'm missing something there?

Ok. I know you have already manually cleant the registry but try it with professional softwares like ccleaner or tune up utilities... and then try and install the software again...

Yep. Already tried that too. CCleaner definitely picks up some registry faults after removal but Windows still recognizes it as an installed program and it still won't run.

I've been searching about this issue all up and down the internet and apparently I'm not the only one who's coming up with a problem with this software. Other users are complaining of similar issues or issues regarding sloppy performance of the program, Ancestry Tech Support not responding in a timely manner, etc...

Searching Windows Vista high and low, I've found the error log for the application. It complains about the CLR20r3 with a signature of a System.BadImageFormatException which if I'm not mistaken refers to an invalid DLL or executable file.

Total long shot here but what would you think on a restore or system repair?

Sounds like your .net framework is corrupted.

But first try system restore. If that doesn't work then uninstall .net framework completely (via Add/Remove Programs), then run Aaron Stebner's .net Framework cleanup tool from HERE and then reinstall the .net framework and the service pack.

Now check...

ancestry.com is not the creator of that software. They license ftm to include subscriptions in their packaging. My wife has used it for years. I haven't tried 2010 yet, but i haven't had any issues installing 2009 on vista. I would try a roll-back or even a fresh OS install. 2009 and above use the .net framework. It's possible you need to do a microsoft update because it may require a feature in a service pack you haven't installed.

Irregardless if they created the software or not, they manage the technical support for the software so they should be made aware of these kinds of issues. This isn't the first compalint they've received about the 2010 software either.

I just decided to do a format and restore, install updates including SP2, and then reinstall the 2009 software. Works like a charm now.

The thing that I didn't understand was that before the F&R the computer had all updates up to SP2 installed, I uninstalled and reinstalled the dotNet Framework with MSE 3.0 as it's a requirement for the 2010 software, and it still wasn't functioning properly. And if the dotNet Framework was truly corrupt, wouldn't it have affected other programs on the computer since most of what was running on there at the time depended upon the framework to run? All of the Windows Components were functioning properly as were other programs with the exception of the FTM sotware. I still don't understand what happened there. Thanks for all your help guys.

no windows components use the framework. Most programs use .net 1.0 or 1.1 as it is the most common denominator. 2010 is heavily themed and possibly uses some calls that require a newer framework. I had an issue with 2.0 once. It wasn't fully compiled and installed services to compile the framework during idle time of the system, which i don't ever have, due to media software. I had to research how to force the compile.

That's lovely. Let's ship out a product that's half-compiled.

See I thought Windows components depended upon the dotNet Framework. Seems almost pointless to have if it just hangs out without doing much.

think of it as a giant run-time. Programs may depend on versions of it like they do certain versions of directx. Windows doesn't require any of it but programs on windows do.