Family Historian User Group

Hi, Having upgraded? to Vista I seem to be caught in the trap of having to install Family Historian V 2.0 before installing the version 3 upgrade. Is there any way around this at present please? Many thanks

ID:2187

You could try contacting Calico direct to see if they have a solution for you.

I understand later 2.1 versions are fine, it's only the 2.0 and early 2.1 disks, which were made long before Vista which are the problem.

I think Calico Pie should clarify the situation regarding Windows Vista and the various versions of FH. Maybe when Simon next visits here he could add to this post so everybody can see it.

It says on the Family Historian website that FH version 3 is compatible with Vista. I have version 3 but I have it as a 2.07 CD plus a version 3 upgrade CD. If I had known I might not be able to load version 2.0 under Vista I might have chosen to buy a full version 3 instead of the upgrade. That would have been annoying but not as annoying as having to now buy a full version 3 after I already purchased the upgrade.

So can we have some clarification from Calicoe Pie please. Is there a problem? Which versions of FH are involved? Is it a problem with Vista 64 bit, Vista 32 bit or both?

If there is a problem will Calico Pie make available a fix?

Gerry McAllister

You will be glad to hear that we have now fixed this problem.

Essentially the problem was that very early editions of Family Historian used a 3rd party installation program that was a 16-bit program. Please note: the installation program is quite separate from Family Historian itself. F.H. is and always has been a 32-bit program. But initially the installation program we used was 16-bit. And as you may or may not know, 16-bit programs do not run under the 64-bit version of Windows Vista, or the 64-bit version of Windows XP.

The relevant Family Historian editions are these 3:

• FH version 2.0.7
• FH version 2.1.6
• FH version 2.1.8 - IF the copyright date on the CD is 2003,2004

Around the start of 2005 we switched to a better, 32-bit installer, produced by a different company. Later editions of 2.1.8 (ones where the copyright message goes beyond 2004) and all subsequent versions of Family Historian use the new 32-bit installer, so do not have the problem.

Incidentally, in case anyone is wondering, 32-bit programs (which probably account for more than 99% of the Windows programs out there) run fine under 64-bit versions of Windows.

So, for those who are affected, how have we solved the problem? We have created 3 new downloadable installation programs which we call “CD-backed Installers”. All 3 of them will install version 2.1.8 on your PC. But they will only work if you have inserted the correct version 2 installation CD into your CD drive during the installation. So don’t throw away those old version 2 CDs! You need them if you want to install or reinstall now or in the future.

You can download the CD-backed installers from this web-page:

http://www.family-historian.co.uk/cdbackedinstallers

Incidentally, some people have sometimes had problems because they used a version of Windows that should support 16-bit programs, but for one reason or another, their 16-bit subsystem is not working. The same solution will work for them too.

To sum up then, you can now install and run ALL versions of Family Historian (not just version 3 but all editions of version 2 too) under ALL versions of Vista and XP, including the 64-bit ones.

Simon,
Thanks -  that is excellent news. Glad to hear you haven't abandoned us early adopters of Family Historian. I haven't yet acquired my Vista PC so cannot try the download but nice to know that  problem has been removed.

Hi, Many thanks for the files, I have now upgraded from 2.1.8 to 3.0 and then 3.1.1. I found that on 3.0 diagrams did not show at all or very slowly. They work OK on 3.1.1 but when altering the diagram options the pop-up box takes a few minutes before it disappears and the alterations take place. However I am very grateful to be back with Family Historian once more! Many thanks for the excellent work!