Probably more a Windows problem, but asking here in case someone has encountered it before. This is likely the failed upgrade to Win 10 v. 2004.

After reverting my Windows 10 2004 to 1909, I have three DXLab apps that will not open. They are
DXKeeper
Spot Collector
WinWabler

When I attempt to start any of those, a small window with the title "Windows Installer" opens showing a message "Preparing to install". The window remains in that state until the "Cancel" button is clicked, at which point the message says "Cancelling", but the window remains hour-glassed until stopped using "End Task". The Window gives no indication of what "Installer" it is running, and just allowing it to continue does not result in change of any kind.

All three apps do the same thing, regardless if they are started using the desktop shortcut or the app in the file folder. At the time this is happening, Task Manager shows the selected app actually running (ie- DXKeeper.exe (32 bit)), although the app never opens. Commander and DXView open as they should. I do not have PropView or PathFinder installed as I do not use them.

Do these apps sound like good candidates for removal and reinstall using the "Move to another PC" guidelines, or has someone run across this before and know of a fix?

Tnx es 73
Dave - K1DJE

+ AA6YQ comments below

Probably more a Windows problem, but asking here in case someone has encountered it before. This is likely the failed upgrade to Win 10 v. 2004.

After reverting my Windows 10 2004 to 1909, I have three DXLab apps that will not open. They are DXKeeper Spot Collector WinWabler

When I attempt to start any of those, a small window with the title "Windows Installer" opens showing a message "Preparing to install". The window remains in that state until the "Cancel" button is clicked, at which point the message says "Cancelling", but the window remains hour-glassed until stopped using "End Task". The Window gives no indication of what "Installer" it is running, and just allowing it to continue does not result in change of any kind.

All three apps do the same thing, regardless if they are started using the desktop shortcut or the app in the file folder. At the time this is happening, Task Manager shows the selected app actually running (ie- DXKeeper.exe (32 bit)), although the app never opens. Commander and DXView open as they should. I do not have PropView or PathFinder installed as I do not use them.

Do these apps sound like good candidates for removal and reinstall using the "Move to another PC" guidelines, or has someone run across this before and know of a fix?

+ I would take 2 steps before doing that:

1. reboot Windows into "Safe Mode with Networking", and then try running those three application; any change in behavior?

2. if there's no change in behavior after booting into "Safe Mode with Networking", engage Microsoft Support and ask them what's going on.

73,

Dave, AA6YQ

On 6/18/2020 3:13 PM, Dave AA6YQ wrote:

+ AA6YQ comments below

Probably more a Windows problem, but asking here in case someone has encountered it before. This is likely the failed upgrade to Win 10 v. 2004.

After reverting my Windows 10 2004 to 1909, I have three DXLab apps that will not open. They are DXKeeper Spot Collector WinWabler

When I attempt to start any of those, a small window with the title "Windows Installer" opens showing a message "Preparing to install". The window remains in that state until the "Cancel" button is clicked, at which point the message says "Cancelling", but the window remains hour-glassed until stopped using "End Task". The Window gives no indication of what "Installer" it is running, and just allowing it to continue does not result in change of any kind.

All three apps do the same thing, regardless if they are started using the desktop shortcut or the app in the file folder. At the time this is happening, Task Manager shows the selected app actually running (ie- DXKeeper.exe (32 bit)), although the app never opens. Commander and DXView open as they should. I do not have PropView or PathFinder installed as I do not use them.

Do these apps sound like good candidates for removal and reinstall using the "Move to another PC" guidelines, or has someone run across this before and know of a fix?

+ I would take 2 steps before doing that:

1. reboot Windows into "Safe Mode with Networking", and then try running those three application; any change in behavior?

2. if there's no change in behavior after booting into "Safe Mode with Networking", engage Microsoft Support and ask them what's going on.

73,

Dave, AA6YQ

Well, that's three hours of my life I'll never get back. Was lucky enough to get right in to "Live Chat" on MS Help. The tech was friendly and courteous, and within an hour he had turned my PC into a brick. Couldn't open any .exe files and couldn't even run the Run command. Could only open shortcuts with URL links (not the browsers directly). After two more hours of his experiments, I suggested replacing the Registry with a backup I had made Sunday. That worked, somewhat. I can now open all but the three DXLab files that were the original problem.

But I don't feel bad. The last thing he told me, right before I disconnected him, was that it would be "fixed by tomorrow". When asked how the "fix" would get to my PC, he told me "It's the Windows bug". Perfectly clear!

Now I have to decide whether to try to rebuild my hard drive from A Macrium Reflect image file, or see what "fix" MS comes up with.

73

Dave - K1DJE

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+ AA6YQ comments below

Well, that's three hours of my life I'll never get back. Was lucky enough to get right in to "Live Chat" on MS Help. The tech was friendly and courteous, and within an hour he had turned my PC into a brick.
Couldn't open any .exe files and couldn't even run the Run command.
Could only open shortcuts with URL links (not the browsers directly).
After two more hours of his experiments, I suggested replacing the Registry with a backup I had made Sunday. That worked, somewhat. I can now open all but the three DXLab files that were the original problem.

But I don't feel bad. The last thing he told me, right before I disconnected him, was that it would be "fixed by tomorrow". When asked how the "fix" would get to my PC, he told me "It's the Windows bug".
Perfectly clear!

+ The very sad lesson here is to disable automatic Windows 10 updates.

73,

Dave, AA6YQ

On Thu, Jun 18, 2020 at 03:27 PM, Dave Corio wrote:

Now I have to decide whether to try to rebuild my hard drive from A Macrium Reflect image file, or see what "fix" MS comes up with.

Dave, you might want to try dropping to an elevated command prompt and run:
SFC /SCANNOW

It's possible you have a corrupted Windows file and this will find and fix those.? I also had to back out of the 2004 upgrade on two different computers due to multiple problems and that is one thing I did to try to make sure everything was back to v1909 levels.

Joe W4WT

开云体育

??? Thanks for the reply Joe. That was one of the processes the MS tech tried. The scan said it found errors and fixed them, but it didn't fix the problem. Probably can't hurt to do it again. Worse case, it fails and I have to use the disk image.

Tnx es 73

Dave - K1DJE

On Thu, Jun 18, 2020 at 03:27 PM, Dave Corio wrote:

Now I have to decide whether to try to rebuild my hard drive from A Macrium Reflect image file, or see what "fix" MS comes up with.

Dave, you might want to try dropping to an elevated command prompt and run:
SFC /SCANNOW

It's possible you have a corrupted Windows file and this will find and fix those.? I also had to back out of the 2004 upgrade on two different computers due to multiple problems and that is one thing I did to try to make sure everything was back to v1909 levels.

Joe W4WT

Think I replied privately by mistake.

Tnx for the info, Joe. The tech had me run that yesterday, and while it did find errors, and supposedly fixed them, it didn't solve the original problem. Just ran it again with the same results. I know it isn't the answer, but I uninstalled one of the apps that doesn't work, reinstalled it and loaded the personal files (per "Move to another PC) and it still didn't work. Either tonight or tomorrow I'll reload the disk image from Tuesday - made right before the 2004 upgrade. Hopefully will fix the problem and I won't lose much data.

Tnx es 73
Dave - K1DJE