Family Historian User Group

Nick

I've upgraded FH to version 7 with no problems at all, it all went very quick and easy. Now just have to learn how to use the new features etc.

But it has been a different story with AS, first I tried to upgrade my present version to V7 everything appeared it install correctly and no error messages etc. But when I try to open AS all I get is the HD light indicating there is disk action and after 20 mins still nothing happens. I then uninstalled AS and tried again from scratch and still the same problem. I'm now at a loss to know where to go next.

for info: running FH & AS on Windows 7 (32bit) and yes I did download the 32 bit version of AS.

Any ideas on what the problem may be

Firstly I didn't really envisage anyone would still be using Windows 7 as it no longer gets security update and therefore should not be being used (unless you're paying Microsoft big money for extended support).

Do you have .Net 4.8 installed?

This is explained on the download page here: https://fhug.org.uk/kb/link/ancestral-sources/

Hi Nick,

Yes I do have .Net 4.8 installed, its version 4.8.03761.

I tried a further three times at installing AS7 but still no luck in getting it to open up. Surely I cannot be the only person in the world that is using windows 7 with FH & AS?

Even on my Linux desktop running VM with windows 7, AS will appear to install fine but not run.

Any further suggestions please.

Thanks Rick. I've dusted off an old Windows 7 32 bit VM and I get an error too (it might also explain issues reported by a user who failed to run it on Mac). I'll start investigating this when I get a chance over the next day or so. Please can you send me an email (nick at ancestralsources dot com) so once I have a potential solution I could send you an install to try?

Thanks

Nick

I've just downloaded AS7 and can't get it to open; I'm using Win10. All I get is a whole series of boxes saying that it can't access a settings file; no references to .NET in the error messages.
I've uninstalled the earlier version of AS, and done a 'Restart' of the computer, and re-installed AS7, but same result.
Any suggestions welcomed.

@NickWalker,

I've just installed AS7 (32-bit) on MacOS (Big Sur) + Crossover 20.0.2 and everything seems fine for me.

Process used:
- Create new Wine Prefix set as Windows 7.
- Installed Microsoft.Net Framework 4.8 (a lengthy process with several 'staged restarts' prompted by the installation process).
- Installed AS7 (32-bit) and working fine so far using the Sample FH7 Datafile.

Haven't tried FH7 in Crossover yet, because of the new trial registration process. Didn't want to 'waste' a Full Registration just for a short, and possibly unproductive trial!

stuartd wrote: ↑

09 Dec 2020 21:23

I've just downloaded AS7 and can't get it to open; I'm using Win10. All I get is a whole series of boxes saying that it can't access a settings file; no references to .NET in the error messages.
I've uninstalled the earlier version of AS, and done a 'Restart' of the computer, and re-installed AS7, but same result.
Any suggestions welcomed.

Hi Stuart. I assume you're installing the 64 bit version? When you install AS7 try right-clicking on the installer and then choose 'Run as Administrator'. If after that you continue to get message boxes please can you let me know the first error you get?

mjashby wrote: ↑

09 Dec 2020 21:54

I've just installed AS7 (32-bit) on MacOS (Big Sur) + Crossover 20.0.2 and everything seems fine for me.

Hi Mervyn

I hope you're well and thanks for the feedback. Does the rich-text side of things seem to be working OK? e.g. try adding someone to the census grid and then clicking Auto and choosing the [R] (richtext) template. Does it let you resize columns in the source text table?

Thanks

Nick

NickWalker wrote: ↑

09 Dec 2020 22:13

Hi Stuart. I assume you're installing the 64 bit version? When you install AS7 try right-clicking on the installer and then choose 'Run as Administrator'. If after that you continue to get message boxes please can you let me know the first error you get?

Nick,
Yes I installed the 64-bit version, and started AS with 'Run as Administrator', with the same result every time. The first error message reads :
Error: Saving auto-text templates. Changes to auto-text templates were not saved. Error: Access to path is denied.. Settings File: 'C:\Users\Microsoft\Windows\Documents\Ancestral Sources\Settings\Auto-text.xml

That seems a very odd folder for AS to be trying to save your settings to - that doesn't look right at all:
C:\Users\Microsoft\Windows\Documents\Ancestral Sources\Settings\Auto-text.xml

When first run, Ancestral Sources asks Windows where your document folder is and uses that but I don't believe that c:\users\microsoft\windows is where your documents folder would be. So I think either something is wrong with your WIndows setup or when you've previously used AS the path to the settings folders was changed in options to an incorrect path. The way to resolve this would be to clear the current settings path in the registry, but I won't be able to talk you through that until this evening when I'm home (unless someone like Mike Tate is happy to do that).

Nick,

My initial test with Crossover (Wine) test was with AS7 and FH6 data; and everything was still working as I expected. Have not done the full FH7 update on a Windows Virtual Machine so will now be able to access and test the Crossover AS7 installation more fully on FH7 data. Will try to report back later today.

Mervyn

Nick,
A slight typo in my previous posting, there shouldn't have been a slash between Microsoft and Windows, i.e. the correct path reads :
C:\Users\Microsoft Windows\Documents\Ancestral Sources\Settings\Auto-text.xml
Not sure if that makes any difference anyway....
Prior to the upgrade to FH7 and AS7 Ancestral Sources was working fine; I don't recall doing any manual changes to where anything was stored in AS. My normal practice is to accept whatever paths the software suggests, as I think that ought to be what it was designed to work with.

Ditto on this issue under Windows 7 x64 - same issue; perfect normal routine, app will not start at all. .net libs installed. It installs and runs perfectly on Win10, just not Win7.

lastejas wrote: ↑

09 Dec 2020 11:13

Nick

...But it has been a different story with AS, first I tried to upgrade my present version to V7 everything appeared it install correctly and no error messages etc. But when I try to open AS all I get is the HD light indicating there is disk action and after 20 mins still nothing happens. I then uninstalled AS and tried again from scratch and still the same problem. I'm now at a loss to know where to go next.

Hi Nick

I too am having difficulty opening AS7. I too am using Windows 7 (64 bit) with newly installed Microsoft .NET framework 4.8.8.03761.

It appeared to install well (no error messages). However on attempting to open it I get "Ancestral Sources has stopped working" with the following problem signature:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: CLR20r3
Problem Signature 01: Ancestral Sources.exe
Problem Signature 02: 7.0.11.0
Problem Signature 03: 5fce530e
Problem Signature 04: System.Drawing
Problem Signature 05: 4.8.3761.0
Problem Signature 06: 5c9c7001
Problem Signature 07: 5b6
Problem Signature 08: 6f
Problem Signature 09: System.InvalidOperationException
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Locale ID: 2057
Additional Information 1: 2c0e
Additional Information 2: 2c0e438121089d42eab6cd113996078c
Additional Information 3: 41c1
Additional Information 4: 41c1c6433c1e01486f3b13f217dc10c3

Any light you can throw on this would be most gratefully received.


Shinglma1

Please can you try this (32 bit) download and see if this fixes the issue with running AS 7 in Windows 7?

Ancestral Sources 32 bit (v7.0.12)

The one thing I've noticed is that tables within the rich text editor don't seem to be able to have their columns resized in Windows 7. I think this must be a limitation of the rich text dll (library file) in Windows 7 that has been updated in later Windows versions.

Thanks Nick have upgraded my AS to 64 bit. No problems just a warning about the change in census image description but nothing to worry about

Victor

I've updated the current downloads for AS (available on the knowledge base and also in the article. I'm not going to particulary advertise this or push it out to current users of AS v7 because the only thing it does is fix the issue with installing on Windows 7.

stuartd wrote: ↑

10 Dec 2020 11:13

Nick,
A slight typo in my previous posting, there shouldn't have been a slash between Microsoft and Windows, i.e. the correct path reads :
C:\Users\Microsoft Windows\Documents\Ancestral Sources\Settings\Auto-text.xml
Not sure if that makes any difference anyway....
Prior to the upgrade to FH7 and AS7 Ancestral Sources was working fine; I don't recall doing any manual changes to where anything was stored in AS. My normal practice is to accept whatever paths the software suggests, as I think that ought to be what it was designed to work with.

The problem is the error message you reported is saying that Ancestral Sources can't write data into your documents folder, it doesn't have permission. You're running the program and therefore AS should have the same permissions as you and I would expect you could write to your own documents!

So assuming you've done the following and it has made no difference:
1) Downloaded AS and then right-clicked the installer and then clicked on Run as Administrator
2) Also tried (just in case) right clicking AS once it's installed and again Run as Administrator

Try renaming the folder called 'Ancestral Sources' in your documents to 'Ancestral Sources.old' and see if that makes a difference.

Then my next suggestion is that it may be being blocked by some anti-virus/security software on your computer. I think some AV software requires you to unblock software or confirm you trust it or similar.

@stuartd : Can you use Windows File Explorer and save any file to that 'documents' folder:
C:\Users\Microsoft Windows\Documents\
and the settings folder:
C:\Users\Microsoft Windows\Documents\Ancestral Sources\Settings\

Is that your usual My Documents folder?
i.e. Do you sign in to the account Microsoft Windows?

tatewise wrote: ↑

10 Dec 2020 20:34

@stuartd : Can you use Windows File Explorer and save any file to that 'documents' folder:
C:\Users\Microsoft Windows\Documents\
and the settings folder:
C:\Users\Microsoft Windows\Documents\Ancestral Sources\Settings\

Is that your usual My Documents folder?
i.e. Do you sign in to the account Microsoft Windows?

Mike and Nick,
To backtrack a bit...
I Uninstalled AS, then deleted any files/folders that were left behind (including the folder ...Ancestral Sources...).
I then did a fresh download and install of AS7, thinking this would be a "clean" install unaffected by any previous AS versions.
I then right-clicked to Run as Administrator, and got exactly the same results.
I also manually altered the properties of the folder Ancestral Sources to remove the partial Read Only status that was set - but this does seem to be re-setting itself which is beyond my IT knowledge.
I don't "sign in" to any "account" when I use the PC.
To be honest, I'm coming to the conclusion that the simplest answer is to just not bother with AS any more...

Ignore the Read-only item in folder Properties as it fools everybody.

Are you saying that AS has recreated the Ancestral Sources folder and its sub-folders that you deleted?
If so then AS should have write access permission.

Is C:\Users\Microsoft Windows\Documents where any documents saved to your default Documents are stored?

Where is your ...\Documentys\Family Historian Projects folder?
Is it C:\Users\Microsoft Windows\Documents\Family Historian Projects

It would be a shame to give up on AS. We can solve this, we just need to figure out what's happening on your PC. You've mentioned a couple of times that you've run AS as administrator, but have you run the installer as administrator when installing it?

Mike and Nick,
Yes, AS must have recreated the AS folders after I had deleted them, and in the same place.
I do use the standard Documents folder for all my files and FH projects sit within a folder within that.
I don't use a thrid-party anti-virus, just Windows Defender.
I don't think that I ran the Installer as Administrator, so will give that a go.
My current PC was new last year, as part of my upgrading to Win10; I have reloaded a number of older programs (some very old!) and encountered no issues.
Whatever this problem is, it is unique to AS.
I'll delete all the AS folders again and then run the installer as Administrator and see if that makes any difference.

Edited :
Have run the installer as Administrator; still won't open but a slightly different error message - current log file folder does not exist ... new one will be created. I click OK and then another error is reported saying that it couldn't find C:\Users\Microsoft Windows\Documents\Ancestral Sources, as before.
I checked in Documents and the Ancestral Sources folder had not been created this time, not there nor anywhere else so far as I can see.

Nick and I are certainly struggling to understand what the problem is.
The symptoms are now rather different as AS cannot even create the \Ancestral Sources\ folder which reinforces there is something amiss with C:\Users\Microsoft Windows\Documents.

Sorry to be persistent but can you double-check and confirm that your FH current Projects are all sitting in:
C:\Users\Microsoft Windows\Documents\Family Historian Projects
not just the Documents\Family Historian part but the full path from C:\ drive onward especially \Microsoft Windows\.

Mike,
The full address for the FH Projects folder is :
C:\Users\Microsoft Windows\Documents\CURRENT\GENEALOGY\FHprojects
It is a long-standing folder structure that I've used through a number of versions of both FH and AS, up to and including my latest PC with Win10; and no problems encountered.
There was no problem downloading, installing, and using FH7 a couple of days ago.
I have a number of other 'niche' software packages of various vintages which also present no problems with either Win10 or my folder structure.
In my experience, the problem is unique to the latest version of AS.