starting vb app starts windows installer. Why?

[shmiller]

Hi,
I am working on a standard VB6 project. I am running windows 2000 and have no problems when I am logged on as myself. When I log on to my machine with a different domain account and try to open the VB project or run the VB executable, the windows installer pops up and tries to install office 2000. It says the resource it needs to install is unavailable. If I click the cancel button, it just starts over and tries to install office again.

Anybody have any ideas why this would happen?

Oh, I already have office 2000 installed on my machine, but I installed it while logged on as myself.

 

[Ladyhawk]

I have had this problem. Is this after you have installed the application on the machine using Installer or is this a development machine? Ladyhawk.
** ASP/VB/Java Programmer **

 

[shmiller]

No, it's on my own dev machine. I'm not using the installer. It just popped up.
Here's why I needed to test this:

Sometimes users will be using this app from their own machine, and sometimes it will be on a shared machine that is logged in with a multi-user domain account. I need to check the user name when the app starts because we will be handling security differently depending on whether it's used with an individual or multi-user account.

So the only thing I did differently when this problem occurred is that I used one of the multi-user accounts to log on to my machine instead of my own account. I did find that if I keep hitting the cancel button about 5 or 6 times when the installer comes up, it finally goes away and my app starts up OK. It's just an annoying problem.

Thanks

 

[Ladyhawk]

Windows 2000 introduces the concept of advertisement icons (probably not the proper name) but basically they allow you to install only a small part of an application. Then when the user clicks on the icon, the rest of the application installs proper.

How are you launching the app? From an icon or from VB? Ladyhawk.
** ASP/VB/Java Programmer **

 

[shmiller]

I was launching it from the icon. Either the .exe or the .vbp file. Same problem. But I didn't install anything. It's just a vb project. I built this app on my machine and all I did was make the .exe file.

And when I open it on my machine logged in as myself it's fine. When I open it on the same machine logged in with a multi-user account the windows installer runs.

Why would there be a difference when it's the same machine?

And it's not trying to install my app. It's trying to install MS Office Professional, even though it's already installed. So I still have no idea why. I have never seen anything like that.

 

[Ladyhawk]

You may want to delete the icon and recreate it. I don't exactly know why but it seems to be a bug in Win2000. Ladyhawk.
** ASP/VB/Java Programmer **

 

[shmiller]

I can't delete it. When I said icon, i didn't mean shortcut. It's just the executable or project file. I don't think that has anything to do with it. It doesn't matter how I run it. Thanks anyway though.

Anyone else have ideas?

 

[AndyDuke]

By installing Office 2000 under your own login ID I suspect that many of teh features of Office will only be available to that user (probably the way that the registry was updated). You could either uninstall Office 2000 from your user and reinstall it as Administrator or let the installer install the componants that it wants under the new user ID (in this case it may be just updating the registry and not loading any new functionality onto the machine).

Andy.

 

[shmiller]

That makes some sense, and I could just let it install what it wants. The problem is that most of our plant is standardized on Office 97 and for the PC's that will be running this app, we don't want to have to install, nor do we have licenses for, Office 2000.

I still don't understand why running a VB app would make windows think it needs to install Office 2000. As far as I can tell, I don't have any references or components in my app that have anything to do with MS Office.

I think I will try putting my executable on another machine that doesn't have Office 2000 on it, log on with the multi-user account and see if it tries to install Office when I run it.

I'm still listening if anyone has any more ideas.

 

[shmiller]

OK, I tried putting my app on a different machine and it worked fine there no matter what user I logged on as. I also tried running it from the VB IDE on my machine logged on with a multi-user account and as soon as I opened up the VB IDE, I got the installer trying to install Office 2000.

So it turns out it is a machine specific issue related to my installation of VB 6 and has nothing to do with my app.

So I'm still curious about it but it is no longer an important issue.

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm still subscribed to this thread so if anyone knows why running VB 6 under a different login would try to install Office, let me know.

 

[BobWman]

To resolve this problem you just have to open any of the office applications. As soon as you run them one time, the problem will go away. Unfortunately, you have to do this for each user - this causes a registration that causes the annoying screen to stop popping up when your app is run. If you deploy to several users, they probably won't see the problem - unless they have never run any of the office apps.

 

[shmiller]

Thanks BobWman, that was exactly right.