HOURS, if not DAYS, to install WB6
Thursday, October 18, 2007 by network3d | Discussion: WindowBlinds
It takes HOURS, if not DAYS, to upgrade or re-install WB6. Why does it take HOURS to move and copy files?
I am seriously considering the worth of WB6 due to the painful and laborious nature of the current installation .
It's just AWFUL and BAD.
Reply #2 Thursday, October 18, 2007 7:34 PM
Reply #3 Thursday, October 18, 2007 7:37 PM
Reply #4 Thursday, October 18, 2007 8:10 PM
Reply #5 Thursday, October 18, 2007 8:10 PM
Could you give us specifics of what happened? Were you upgrading or reinstalling? Did anything hang? Was this the stand alone or through SDC? What version of Windows do you use?
Reply #6 Thursday, October 18, 2007 8:20 PM
On the second system, it has now been over FIVE hours, and again, over 60 dialog boxes are opened, and it is absurd for WB6 to be this slow in installing.
System 1: Windows XP SP2, 2GB RAM, upgrading from WB5 to WB5
System 2: Windows Vista Ultimate, 4GB RAM, upgrading WB5 to WB6.
There is something seriously wrong with either the upgrading or installing method.
Auto-archive is unchecked.
The upgrades were started via SDC, after SDC was upgraded.
I only have about 100 skins, so I just don't understand why it is so whacked out, it's not just one system.
Reply #7 Thursday, October 18, 2007 8:42 PM
Windows Task Manager shows HUNDREDS of task, named either "Calculating time remaining" or "0 seconds remaining". This is so absurd, because I have no more than a 100 skins installed. How was this not observed on other systems?
It is not just one system that is having this problem. So far, any system that I upgrade from WB5 to WB6 via SDC, exhibits the same awfully bad behavior.
Is the fix to just uninstall WindowBlinds and say that it has jumped the shark with this version, and wait for something better?
Reply #8 Thursday, October 18, 2007 8:56 PM
It'll work out.
Reply #9 Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:11 PM
On the second system, it has now been over FIVE hours, and again, over 60 dialog boxes are opened, and it is absurd for WB6 to be this slow in installing.
As Zubaz said.. This is the 2nd post I've seen with that problem.
Something borked somewhere. Should have only been one box. Even a buttload of skins shouldn't take more than 30min depending on the system. I've only got 512mb of ram and it only took about 10-15 min for about 150 skins.
In which manner via SDC? There's options. Straight upgrade over what you got. Download WB 6 straight to archive 1st?
I used the download to archive. once archived, i uninstalled 5, rebooted, restored the 6 archive.
Reply #10 Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:11 PM
WWW Link
Reply #11 Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:18 PM
Reply #12 Friday, October 19, 2007 4:49 AM
Reply #14 Friday, October 19, 2007 7:07 AM
I like to think I'm a little tech-savvy, but this unit of measurement is new to me. Just how many is a 'buttload'?
Reply #15 Friday, October 19, 2007 7:16 AM
Generally dependent on the speaker. In some cases "alot" in other cases "massive quantities" assumed to be more or less equivalent with a "shitload"

Reply #17 Friday, October 19, 2007 3:44 PM
Im going to try this method - after spending 3 hours upgrading to WB 6 via Stardock Central - I left the download unattended at 85 percent done and returned 30 minutes later to see " Installation Failed " due to connection timing out and I gather the download was not on a resume server.
Log File:
-- [Application] ----------------------------------------------------
Name: Stardock Central
Path: C:\Program Files\Stardock\SDCentral
Version: 2.48.485, build: 160
-- [System Information] ---------------------------------------------
Platform: Microsoft Windows Windows XP, 5.1.2600 Service Pack 1
Display: Intel(r) 82810 Graphics Controller
Driver Version: 5.1.2001.0
System Dir: C:\WINDOWS\System32
Time / Date: 15:49:37 -- Tuesday, October 16, 2007
-- [Installing] -----------------------------------------------------
Server: http://sdc1.stardock.com
Server Dir: public
Network Id: odnt
Name: WindowBlinds 6
App Id: wb6
Installed: False
Version: 5.90[b].027
Type: beta
Reg Key: WindowBlinds
Install Dir: C:\Program Files\Stardock\Object Desktop\WindowBlinds
Exe: wbconfig.exe
Last Updated: 08/07/2007
-- [Account] --------------------------------------------------------
First Name: karen
Last Name:
Email:
-- [Installation] ---------------------------------------------------
Download: C:\Program Files\Stardock\SDCentral\data\public\wb6\beta\wb6.xml 1
Load: C:\Program Files\Stardock\SDCentral\data\public\wb6\beta\wb6.xml 1
Download: C:\Program Files\Stardock\SDCentral\temp\wb6.sdc 0 | Attempt: 1 | -30 Connection timed out
Download: C:\Program Files\Stardock\SDCentral\temp\wb6.sdc 0 | Attempt: 2 | -30 Connection timed out
Download: C:\Program Files\Stardock\SDCentral\temp\wb6.sdc 0 | Attempt: 3 | -30 Connection timed out
Server: Using other server http://sdc2.stardock.com
Download: C:\Program Files\Stardock\SDCentral\temp\wb6.sdc 0 | Attempt: 1 | -30 Connection timed out
Download: C:\Program Files\Stardock\SDCentral\temp\wb6.sdc 0 | Attempt: 2 | -30 Connection timed out
Download: C:\Program Files\Stardock\SDCentral\temp\wb6.sdc 0 | Attempt: 3 | -30 Connection timed out
Result: Installation failed (32)
Reply #18 Saturday, October 20, 2007 12:58 PM
After using Windowblinds6 for about a week or two I've noticed the following problems - with this installation on my machine:
(1) Every time I apply a skin in the normal manner (thru the WBconfig window) it creates a new instance of Screen.exe in the running processes under the username "SYSTEM". If I change skins 10 times then I have 10 instances of Screen.exe running, etc.. Even if I only change some settings on a skin that is already applied - I click the 'apply my changes' button, get the 'Please Wait' w/ the screen blur and we've got another new instance of Screen.exe running. You get the picture. These don't go away (unload) by themselves after unloading Windowblinds - I have to go into TaskManager and kill each instance manually. (And yes I know about W32/Sdbot-ACO. That's not the problem here - I checked to be sure)
(2) With Windowblinds (WBconfig.exe) unloaded via the usual manner (right-click systray icon - unload) I can't access the 'Appearance' tab in Display Properties. When I click the tab I get a RunDLL Error (An exception occurred while trying to run "Shell32.dll, Control_RunDLL desk.cpl,,0"). This problem doesn't go away w/ a restart of Windows. If Windowblinds is not set to run and load at startup, then I can't access the 'Appearance' tab.
(3)With certain skins applied, the Windowblinds Configuration window is 'corrupted' - the display is positioned too high in the window making it almost impossible to access the 'X' close button in the top right corner of the configuration window.
Sorry for being so long-winded but I hope this info will be of assistance to someone. I suspect the above mentioned problems are specific to my machine/install and are not due to the software itself. I love WB6 and will continue to use it in spite of the problems I have with it ( but I may do an uninstall/reinstall thru SDC this weekend to see if that helps). Kudos to Mr. Neil Banfield and the team for the new version - thank you.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.0 (build 36 x86)
WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC
WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC
Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.
(Plug and Play Monitor) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX
Wblind.dll 2007/10/08 13:04:20
Wbsrv.dll 2007/10/04 17:58:04
Wbconfig.exe 2007/10/04 17:58:33
Wbload.exe 2007/09/27 17:47:44
Wbhelp.dll 2004/09/18 17:37:07
Wbui.dll 2007/09/24 19:08:06
Tray.dll 2007/09/12 17:58:21
Screen.exe 2007/10/04 17:58:24
Reply #19 Saturday, October 20, 2007 2:11 PM
- right click on WB6
- choose: Archive Application > Download and Archive
when done, uninstall previous - reboot - restore the Archive you just downloaded
Reply #20 Monday, October 22, 2007 11:12 AM
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Reply #1 Thursday, October 18, 2007 7:21 PM
Please give more information, what kind of internet connection do you have?
Are you trying to download from the web site or are you using SDC?
Have you contacted Stardock to identify this problem?
Have you looked through the forums for people haveing downloading problems and see if there was a solution?