Newbie Question - \"cannot update system file\" on install

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SteveBo
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2007 8:57 pm

Newbie Question - \"cannot update system file\" on install

Post by SteveBo »

Hi I'm using IA Studio 6.6. My developer/build computer is running Windows XP. I was using a very old version of Installshield. My installs were working fine under XP but did not work under Vista. I upgraded to IA and I love the installer. So many things I need to do are much easier with IA.

I am having one problem. I used IA's dynamic scan feature to determine what files to include in my project. When I run my install program on a Vista machine it works great. But when I run on an XP machine I get the following message: "The windows installer service cannot update the system file C:\\windows\\system32\\msctfime.ime because the file is protected by windows. You may need to update your operating system for this program to work correctly."

After that message the install would continue and the program would operate fine. Since I don't think I really needed that file anyway I just removed it from the install. Then I got the same message with the file: winspool.drv. Again I removed that file from the install. Then again with wdmaud.drv. Now I am getting the same message with comcat.dll

But I do need this file. I have always included it in my previous installs with Installshield and have never had any trouble with it.

Any ideas on how I should handle this?

Thanks,
Steve
Gizm0
Posts: 339
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2005 8:47 pm

Post by Gizm0 »

It looks like the Import feature detected some system files. You can safely remove those files, as they exist on ANY XP machine.
Panagiotis Kefalidis
Software Design Team Lead
\"In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure\"
Install[b]Aware[/b] Software Corporation
SteveBo
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2007 8:57 pm

Post by SteveBo »

Hi. Sorry for the late response.

I went and deleted those dlls and kept getting the same error with other dlls. I kept deleting them one at a time. In all there were 15 dlls that I removed (one build at a time).

What happens if some of those dlls happend to be in use on my machine but are not there on all XP machines?

There must be a better way than to have to remove one dll and rebuild / retest and then to delete the next offending dll. This project is done now (I hope) but I have others would like to speed up the process. Any ideas?

Also why does this problem not happen with Vista (or on XP with my previous installer)?

Any help you could offer would be appreciated.

Steve
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