JWood
26th March 2005 05:57 UTC

Install Error
I'm new to this but, with the help of the HM NIS Editor, I was quickly able to get an installation program that works great!

Unfortunately, one tester I have gets an error code at the end of the installation. The program appears to have been fully installed, but the following error appears:

>>>>>
Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library

Runtime Error!

Program: <my Exe>

This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. Please contact the application's support team for more information.

[OK]
<<<<<

I have no idea where to start to address this. Can anyone give me any pointers?

Thanks.

Jonathan

kichik
26th March 2005 10:39 UTC

NSIS itself doesn't use Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library, so it must be an error from a DLL you're trying to register. Make sure you're not distributing any DLLs that shouldn't be redistributed, like DLLs from the system directory.

JWood
27th March 2005 02:40 UTC

Installation Error
Thanks. However, my application contains no DLLs that get registered. All included DLLs export standard C functions and are renamed to have a different extension than DLL. And I'm not distributing any files that I didn't create. My application uses Visual C++ but I do not use asserts to handle run-time errors.

I created a standard script using the HM NIS Editor and really don't understand the script language. The only change I made was to comment out the following line:

;!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_LICENSE "..\..\..\..\path\to\licence\YourSoftwareLicence.txt"

Because I have no license file. Everything else was created by the Wizards that come with the editor

Everything is working beautifully except for this error on one tester's system. I'm still at a loss.

Anders
27th March 2005 04:30 UTC

could the error be in one of the dll's used by windows (comctl32,advapi32 etc.)

kichik
27th March 2005 17:21 UTC

It's possible the user has some program which has hooked a DLL into the NSIS installer. Ask the user to provide a Dr. Watson log. It should contain a list of all loaded DLLs and some more information about the location of the crash.

JWood
29th March 2005 02:57 UTC

I've now received a report of what could be the same error from another tester (he wasn't able to be as specific as the first tester). Both users are using Windows 2000 SP4. My tester's comments include the following:

"The error only happens when I choose to run setup from my
power user account, running setup as the administrator. If I run setup as my normal self, no error occurs. If I run set from the administrator account, no error occurs.

When the error happens, the install does not complete successfully. What is missing is the desktop shortcut and Start menu additions."

He says he doesn't have much in the way of debugging help. I'm not even sure what is needed for a Dr Watson log. Does anyone have any more ideas?

Again, I'm not distributing any files I didn't create. The executables consist of one EXE and several DLLs renamed with CYX and CYT extensions. Nothing needs to be registered.

Thanks!

kichik
29th March 2005 18:34 UTC

See the following MSDN article for information on setting up and working with Dr. Watson:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d..._overview.mspx

Serflaten
29th March 2005 22:24 UTC

I am the tester seeing JWood's problem, and the MSDN articles appear to be the same information found in Windows Help. There it states:

------
When a program error occurs in Windows, the system searches for a program error handler. A program error handler deals with errors as they arise during the running of a program. If the system does not find a program error handler, the system verifies that the program is not currently being debugged and considers the error to be unhandled. The system then processes unhandled errors by looking in Registry Editor for a program error debugger
------


Since I see no entry for this in the Dr. Watson log, I have to assume the error is handled, possibly throwing up the 'unusual' error message.


Dr. Watson is set up to be the debugger in the registry, that entry looks like:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AeDebug]
"Auto"="1"
"Debugger"="drwtsn32 -p %ld -e %ld -g"
"UserDebuggerHotKey"=dword:00000000

I am thinking a couple big clues include:

- The error only happens when setup is run as the Admin. from my Power User account. (Opposed to running from current account which runs OK)
- When the error occurs, all the shortcuts are not present. In a normal installation, the shortcuts appear on screen before the exe.

I did not see this mentioned; the error occurs after pressing Finish on the final screen of Setup. The Task Manager shows setup has been removed and <JWood's exe> has been added to its list just prior to the error message. Other than missing shortcuts, all else seems to be in place, the program runs normally....

One other bit o' information. The final screen has a check box asking to launch the program (checked by default). If I uncheck that box (when running as Admin from PwrUser account), I see no error message, nor do I see any shortcuts installed.

kichik
29th March 2005 22:33 UTC

Wait wait wait... Does <my Exe> refer to the program itself or the installer? If it's the program itself, JWood should know better than me how to debug his program. The fact the shortcuts are missing is probably a whole different problem.

Serflaten
29th March 2005 22:40 UTC

Originally posted by Anders
could the error be in one of the dll's used by windows (comctl32,advapi32 etc.)

Serflaten
29th March 2005 22:48 UTC

Originally posted by Serflaten
... all else seems to be in place, the program runs normally....

kichik
31st March 2005 19:46 UTC

Looking at the source code for CRT, it seems like the message is generated by abort. According to MSDN, when compiled in debug mode, abort will give an option to debug the application. Dr. Watson or any other debugger can then step in.

JWood
3rd April 2005 22:25 UTC

Originally posted by kichik
Looking at the source code for CRT, it seems like the message is generated by abort. According to MSDN, when compiled in debug mode, abort will give an option to debug the application. Dr. Watson or any other debugger can then step in.

kichik
5th April 2005 18:13 UTC

Serflaten said:

I did not see this mentioned; the error occurs after pressing Finish on the final screen of Setup. The Task Manager shows setup has been removed and <JWood's exe> has been added to its list just prior to the error message. Other than missing shortcuts, all else seems to be in place, the program runs normally....

JWood
5th April 2005 19:34 UTC

Originally posted by kichik
It's <JWood's exe> that crashes according to him, not the installer.

kichik
5th April 2005 20:49 UTC

Your program runs because you've asked for it to run. In the script attached to the other thread, you have MUI_FINISHPAGE_RUN defined. Serflaten also said:

One other bit o' information. The final screen has a check box asking to launch the program (checked by default). If I uncheck that box (when running as Admin from PwrUser account), I see no error message, nor do I see any shortcuts installed.

JWood
5th April 2005 20:57 UTC

Ah... I'm sorry. I missed that.

I'm not sure that clears things up, however. First off, the program runs normally after installation is complete. Why would it only fail when being run from the final Installation page?

Also, doesn't the installer create the desktop shortcut prior to showing the final page? How would a crash then prevent the shortcut from being installed?

Thanks.

kichik
5th April 2005 21:10 UTC

Why would it only fail when being run from the final Installation page?

Richard Tamir
20th May 2007 09:39 UTC

THE PROBLEM:
Install Error
I'm new to this but, with the help of the HM NIS Editor, I was quickly able to get an installation program that works great!

Unfortunately, one tester I have gets an error code at the end of the installation. The program appears to have been fully installed, but the following error appears:

>>>>>
Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library

Runtime Error!

Program: <my Exe>

This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. Please contact the application's support team for more information.

[OK]
<<<<<

I have no idea where to start to address this. Can anyone give me any pointers?

Thanks.

Jonathan

THE SOLUTION:
I spent quite some time on this, even finding that a system restore did not fix it. Here's the trick that works:
1. uninstall winamp
2. create a new directory that will receive your new winamp install files; perhaps call it "winampvideo".
3. since winamp does not delete all files, move anything left after the uninstall to the new directory.
4. install winamp to the new directory.
5. VOILA!! It shall work.
6. don't ask me why, I just fooled around enough to find a way to get it to function.
7. BTW: many other programs around the internet are getting the same message, and no one has found the cause of the fault, to my knowledge.

RichardTamirATyahoo.com