* FH CD Creation problem

[HilaryBroadbent]

I have generated a CD using the wizard in FH, and the preview works fine.

When it is burnt to a CD and put back into the PC, I get the Run.exe window, click on it but then nothing happens. I can hear the disc spinning up for a while and then it stops without loading up the browser.

If I do the open files option instead of Run, I can see all the files and by double clicking on one it loads up and works OK.

I have tried with a couple of CDs but they both behave the same way. Any suggestions?

I am using Firefox ver. 23.0.1, Windows 7 64 bit and FH ver. 5.0.9

Hilary

[tatewise]

Does your CD have the correct file structure?
There should only be a few files in the CD drive root:
autorun.inf
start.html
load.exe
fh.ico

Most files should be in a data sub-folder, including index.html, which if opened with double-click should reproduce the preview.

Try double-clicking any of the first three files in the CD drive root.
What happens?

Try using a pen-drive memory stick instead of a CD until you get it working.
It is quicker and avoids wasting CD's.

BTW I have the same Firefox, Windows, FH setup.

[HilaryBroadbent]

Thank you for the info about a pen drive, it is very useful.

When I double click on
start.html or load.exe
I get the home page each time
When I double click on index.html
I get the index
but when I double click autorun, it opens notepad, which shows
open=load.exe
icon=fh.ico

[tatewise]

Autorun is notorious and is often disabled.

However, opening index.html should display the home page as for start.html and load.exe.

The Type for index.html and start.html should be the same, e.g Firefox HTML Document.

What happens if you right-click once on index.html and choose Open with and select Firefox?

You could try the procedure at how_to:make_family_tree:cd_problem_fixes_for_windows#reset_browser_defaults|: Reset Browser Defaults.

[HilaryBroadbent]

When I right click and open with Firefox, it does display the home page. And now when I double click it, it also opens on the home page.

I had done the reset browser defaults before I posted after looking through past posts on the subject, but maybe I've done something different now.

If autorun doesn't work, shall I have to send instructions with the cd on how to open it?

[tatewise]

Yes, always send instructions with CD, DVD, pen drive, E-mail attachments, etc, because other PC have a habit of behaving differently from yours, especially if a different version of Windows or an iMac, using a different browser, or with different applications installed.

A good idea is to include a README.TXT or README.PDF file on the CD, DVD, pen drive, that contains the instructions, as well as a printed copy.

Also try to use public portable file formats such as HTML, CSS, PDF, RTF, TXT, JPG, PNG, CSV rather than proprietary formats such as DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPS, etc.

[HilaryBroadbent]

Thank you for your help - it has been extremely useful

Hilary