Setup.exe hangs - Copying Files, please stand by

[rgrosz78]

I created a trivial VB6 program for a friend about 3 years ago. I used the Package and Deployment Wizard to create the setup package.

Recently we reinstalled Windows XP on her laptop. We reinstalled all the software that she used before, but this program will NOT install.

After running my setup.exe, we see a screen that says "Install" at the top, and "Copying Files, please stand by" in the main window. It seems to hang, and mostly locks up Windows - but I can shut down Windows. After I restart, I get messages about how the setup program was deleted, and did not finish completely.

It also tells me about the ST6UNST.001 file in the C:\Windows directory. After looking at this log file, it appears that the setup program crashed shortly after the "bootstrap" section.

I have Googled to try to find the cause of this problem. So far, I have not found anything conclusive.

============================================================
Contents of file: ST6UNST.001
============================================================

%% PLEASE DO NOT MODIFY OR DELETE THIS FILE! %%
%% This file contains information about the installation of an application. %%
%% It will be used to automatically remove all application components from your computer
if you choose to do so. %%


NOTE: Beginning of the bootstrapper section

CONFIG: Title: "xyzzy"

ACTION: RegKey: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion", "SharedDLLs"

ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\VB6STKIT.DLL"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)

ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\COMCAT.DLL"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)

ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\STDOLE2.TLB"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)

ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ASYCFILT.DLL"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)

ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\OLEPRO32.DLL"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)

ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\OLEAUT32.DLL"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)

ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\MSVBVM60.DLL"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)

ACTION: DllSelfRegister: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\COMCAT.DLL"

ACTION: TLBRegister: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\STDOLE2.TLB"

ACTION: DllSelfRegister: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\OLEPRO32.DLL"

ACTION: DllSelfRegister: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\OLEAUT32.DLL"

ACTION: DllSelfRegister: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\MSVBVM60.DLL"

NOTE: End of the bootstrapper section

[Nightwalker83]

The features used in your program may have be removed from the newer versions of those files! Do you include the exact version you created the program with in the setup file or use the version that is already on the user's system?

[si_the_geek]

Thread moved to the 'Application Deployment' forum, which is where questions about installing/distributing your software belong

(thanks for letting us know Nightwalker83 )

[dilettante]

FIX: Application Setup Errors While Displaying "Copying Files, Please Stand By"

May be an old, old issue fixed back in 1999. Update VB6 to Service Pack 6 and recompile and repackage.

[rgrosz78]

FIX: Application Setup Errors While Displaying "Copying Files, Please Stand By"

I found this link in my initial web searches, and reviewed the suggested fixes - none of these solved the problem. I did not actually get any specific error message when the setup program hung.

May be an old, old issue fixed back in 1999. Update VB6 to Service Pack 6 and recompile and repackage.

I checked the files I used, and I did make that update back in 2000.

[dilettante]

The point is to make sure you have SP6 installed. Many things were fixed over the years, several of them relating to PDW Setups.

Do your setups for other programs work on this machine? Have you tried running the setup as an administrator?

This just isn't a problem we see reported very often. There must be something unusual at work here. Perhaps looking at your setup.lst will reveal something, people often try to deploy non-deployable items though usually the symptoms look different from these.

[rgrosz78]

The point is to make sure you have SP6 installed. Many things were fixed over the years, several of them relating to PDW Setups.

Yes, I have always kept my VB6 system up to date.

Do your setups for other programs work on this machine?

This is a friend's computer. I tried to install three different VB6 programs (two I wrote, and one I did not write). The first program that I installed successfully was a much fancier setup done using WISE:
http://www.softwarepolish.com/vb/jcopy.htm

Both of the setup packages that failed were created using the Package and Deployment Wizard.

Have you tried running the setup as an administrator?

No, I did not try that. I am out of town, and won't be able to try this for several days.

This just isn't a problem we see reported very often. There must be something unusual at work here. Perhaps looking at your setup.lst will reveal something, people often try to deploy non-deployable items though usually the symptoms look different from these.

I have attached a ZIP with the actual project files and setup.lst.

[dilettante]

[email protected],$(WinSysPath),,$(Shared),8/4/04 7:00:00 AM,81920,2.81.1117.0

That is not a deployable file. XP already has it anyway, but if you were to deploy it you must do it by deploying MDAC_TYP.EXE.

INFO: Deploy database applications with the Package and Deployment Wizard (PDW)

The PDW does not distribute mdac_typ unless there is a specific reference to an ADO Library (any version) in the project.

You can also add mdac_typ.exe manually by clicking Add in the Included Files dialog box when you run the Package and Deployment Wizard. The wizard uses the MDAC_Typ.exe file in the ...\Wizards\PDWizard\Redist folder.

You can just delete that ADO typelib from your list of items to package.


There is also no need to deploy the VB6 runtime components to Windows XP, though you might want to if the user has something besides XP SP3 which already has the latest ones.

File1=@Windows XP notes.mdb,$(AppPath),,,12/27/06 2:49:27 PM,167936,0.0.0.0

You'll be in for a world of hurt if you do this and you ever need to deploy this program to anything later than XP. Later versions of Windows resist attempts to put R/W data files into protected filesystem locations like $(AppPath).

Unless the file is strictly opened read-only it should be deployed to either a per-user location or a per-computer location that is read/write.

A good proportion of the questions we see here relate to this topic alone. Doing this properly requires a more sophisticated installer technology or a customized version of Setup1.exe.

[dilettante]

When I try packaging your project with the PDW it includes MDAC_TYP.EXE automatically. I have no idea how you ended up without it and with that typelib.

Maybe delete your Windows XP Notes.PDM and repackage from scratch?

[Nightwalker83]

Yes, I have always kept my VB6 system up to date.

This is a friend's computer.

Is your friend's computer up to date? If not tell her to update the files.

[rgrosz78]

Is your friend's computer up to date? If not tell her to update the files.

Hmmmm .... Not quite sure about the meaning of "up to date" for the end user's computer. We did a clean install of Windows XP, and installed 100+ critical updates.

[rgrosz78]

When I try packaging your project with the PDW it includes MDAC_TYP.EXE automatically. I have no idea how you ended up without it and with that typelib.

Maybe delete your Windows XP Notes.PDM and repackage from scratch?

I will try that when I get back to the office.

[Nightwalker83]

Hmmmm .... Not quite sure about the meaning of "up to date" for the end user's computer. We did a clean install of Windows XP, and installed 100+ critical updates.

You probably need to install the non-critical updates as well.

[rgrosz78]

You probably need to install the non-critical updates as well.

I just installed the updates Microsoft sent "down the pipe"

[rgrosz78]

My friend's PC became so unstable that we decided it was time to reinstall Windows - after only two months!! I reinstalled Windows XP on her laptop this week. This time around, I knew what to expect, so I captured several backup images along the way.

After lengthy analysis, the conclusion is that Norton Antivirus 2010 is the culprit. I tried turning off every option available, but the "plain vanilla" VB6 programs would not install. The setup bootstrap program hung and locked up the computer EVERY time.

I went back to the image I had created prior to installing Norton Antivirus 2010. Then I could install both of the VB6 programs with no difficulty. I think there must be some "one in a thousand" conflict between the Norton Antivirus 2010 and the Windows XP installation that was created by the Recovery partition on her Toshiba L300 laptop.

We certainly had no similar problems two years ago when we did the initial installations of these identical VB6 programs. Back then she had Norton Antivirus 2008 installed on the laptop.

She is now using Microsoft Security Essentials on the new Windows XP installation. I have tested it on some other laptops, and it does an adequate job.