Family Historian User Group

Hi,

My PC has recently failed on which I had FH V5 running under Windows XP. I am now in possession of a PC running windows 8, and am unable to install FH. I am attempting to install V4 to V5 upgrade and have both the keys for V4 and V5. When I run the installation program I get as far as entering the V4 Licence Name and V4 key but as soon as I enter anything in the Key field the 'BACK' 'NEXT' 'CANCEL' keys freeze as does the computer and it requires power down to recover.

If I put in just the Licence name and select next, it correctly shows an error, but just one single character entered into the key field and it freezes. Nothing else is running (except the myriad of underlying windows processes).

The installation program is not corrupt as I have tried it on both an XP and Windows 7 machine and it works on both.

I am at a loss of where to go from here.

Simon



ID:6611

Right-click the setup.exe (or whatever the install program is called!) and try 'Run as Administrator' - see if that makes the difference.

I didn't have this problem on either of my Windows 8 computers.

Do you have a separate anti-virus solution or are just relying on the Windows Defender anti-virus that is built in? If you have a separate product try disabling that before installing.

Nick,

I am installing as Administrator, I have just tried with anti virus and firewall off, but no difference. Any character in the key field and the buttons freeze and hang up the computer.

Simon

Even though you are an Administrator it still seems to need you to use Run as Administrator on the installation (setup.exe or whatever it's called).

Also try installing in Safe Mode.

See How to (Re-)install Family Historian - Installation Errors.

Another thread had the same problem and Safe Mode solved it.
See V5 Install issues Windows 8-64bit.

You may already know this but it wasn't clear in your reply but there is a difference between being logged in as an administrator and right-clicking and choosing Run as Administrator. To be honest it probably won't help but it is worth a try and it does sometimes make a difference, though not necessarily with Family Historian.

Another user seemed to have success using Safe mode in another recent thread.

[Edit: I see Mike and I were typing similar messages at the same time!]

Sorry yes I did try to 'run as administrator' which failed.

Finally managed to find the convoluted way to get into safe mode on this pc, but the installation froze in the same way. Again had to press the off button to get out again.

Simon

I assume that all the suggestions were tried together.
i.e. Safe Mode, plus Anti-Virus & Firewall off, plus Run as Administrator.

In which case I advise that you contact Calico Pie Family Historian support at support@family-historian.co.uk as per http://www.family-historian.co.uk/suppo ... t-overview.

Yes I tried all these in safe mode (the firewall and anti virus were off in safe mode).

I have just emailed support.

many thanks for your responses.

Regards
Simon

Hi Simon

We don't appear to have had an email from you this morning. Could you try it again please? (support@family-historian.co.uk). Thank you.

Simon Orde
Calico Pie

Simon,

That's odd my sent box shows message sent at 10:31 last night. I selected email from the web site so the email address was correct. I've tested that it wasn't a problem with windows 8 and my email by sending a message to someone else which they received. I've re-sent it and sent box timed at 17:06. Here's hoping.

Simon

NotStuart said:
Hi,

My PC has recently failed on which I had FH V5 running under Windows XP. I am now in possession of a PC running windows 8, and am unable to install FH. I am attempting to install V4 to V5 upgrade and have both the keys for V4 and V5. When I run the installation program I get as far as entering the V4 Licence Name and V4 key but as soon as I enter anything in the Key field the 'BACK' 'NEXT' 'CANCEL' keys freeze as does the computer and it requires power down to recover.

If I put in just the Licence name and select next, it correctly shows an error, but just one single character entered into the key field and it freezes. Nothing else is running (except the myriad of underlying windows processes).

The installation program is not corrupt as I have tried it on both an XP and Windows 7 machine and it works on both.

I am at a loss of where to go from here.

Simon

Hi Simon,

Did you ever get a solution to this? I have the same problem.

Rose

Rose, have you checked through all the preceding advice, and are your symptoms EXACTLY the same i.e. the keys freeze?

If you have the key freeze problem on Windows 8 and have a CD install if you contact support@family-historian.co.uk I believe they have a download to patch the problem.

All sounding EXACTLY the same - have emailed support, so fingers crossed.

Rose,

Did you get your installation problems fixed. The Calico Pie support passed my problem to their installation developer and I was sent various diagnostic installers to run so that they could narrow down where the freeze occured. Eventually the fault was pinpointed and I was given a special installer which worked on my PC. Windows 8 must perform differently on different hardware configurations, but I don't know what the final findings were .

I have to say that the support was top notch,I was very impressed with the speed of response to my initial contact, and to the results of the test programs that I ran for them.

Simon