Any workaround ideas for this weird situation (Windows)?

[A.M. Gold]

Hi everyone,

I just bought and downloaded CineSymphony LITE and I'm having one of those installer hell experiences.

It defaults to putting the samples on the C: drive but my C: drive is nearly full and I can't even get enough space cleared to use it temporarily for this 2.3 gig file. I HAVE to put it on another drive. However, when I go through the process in the installer to install to a different drive, it opens the following Win XP dialog (and PLEASE no attacks for not being on 7 or 8 yet, that shouldn't be relevant because the installer runs so it shouldn't be giving me a useless dialog).



You'll notice this isn't the Browse for Folder dialog, which is what it should be, it's asking for a FILE. Obviously I can't install something to a file, I have to install it to a folder. I tried hitting "open" after clicking an empty file and got nothing. It wants a file or nothing.

OR...am I wrong? Can I create some kind of file just to give this frigging dialog something to "open"? If so, what file type, how to name it, and how to create it? Any other workarounds?

I emailed CineSamples but it's after business hours. Hopefully they'll get back to me tomorrow but I'm not even sure they'll have a solution because their installer doesn't seem to be written properly. I can't access the Kontakt instrument files directly using Kontakt 5 (tried that) because they are encrypted.

TIA for any ideas,
Dave

[Greenstorm33]

Did you try to select a folder (single click it), then click open? This can work depending on how the file picker is set up. Or maybe there's a spot where you can just type in a path?

[planetearth]

You've probably already tried this on your own by now, but even if you do install it where it wants to go by default, can you move the library later? Many ROMplers and sample libraries allow this after the installation; you just have to launch the ROMpler/sample player and have it re-index the library in the new location.

Steve

[A.M. Gold]

I literally don't have the 2.3 gigs available on my C: drive. I desperatetly need to replace it but I just haven't had the time to deal with swapping system drives. I keep putting off everything in order to do it all at once (system drive, Win 7, 64 bit upgrade, more RAM).

Edit: disregard below---I found the place where the folders were accidentally moved to.

But now I have a NEW problem. In my frustration jerking around with that dialog box I accidentally swept over something with my mouse and Windows started moving it. Stupidly, I just closed the dialog box instead of hitting cancel. Now the ENTIRE folder that file was in is GONE (and it had something like 6 gigs of files in it).

But I don't think it's actually gone, Windows just doesn't see it now. The drive still shows about the same amount of space used as before. I can get all those files back because I have them backed up but I need to get rid of the old folder if it's really there or it's going to eat up a bunch of drive space.

Any suggestions on what to do about THIS problem???

[A.M. Gold]

Did you try to select a folder (single click it), then click open? This can work depending on how the file picker is set up. Or maybe there's a spot where you can just type in a path?

No, it just opens the folder and then it wants me to open a file inside the empty folder.

Really having a hard time believing this is happening. Just...surreal.

I find myself wondering why developers don't catch these kinds of obvious problems in testing.

As far as typing something in, the only place this dialog accepts that is in the file window. I tried pasting a folder path in there and hitting open and got nothing. I also tried just choosing a file inside another folder (happened to be the installer itself) and the dialog closed but then the installer process just sat there and did nothing.

[planetearth]

I literally don't have the 2.3 gigs available on my C: drive. I desperatetly need to replace it but I just haven't had the time to deal with swapping system drives. I keep putting off everything in order to do it all at once (system drive, Win 7, 64 bit upgrade, more RAM).

Edit: disregard below---I found the place where the folders were accidentally moved to.

But now I have a NEW problem. In my frustration jerking around with that dialog box I accidentally swept over something with my mouse and Windows started moving it. Stupidly, I just closed the dialog box instead of hitting cancel. Now the ENTIRE folder that file was in is GONE (and it had something like 6 gigs of files in it).

But I don't think it's actually gone, Windows just doesn't see it now. The drive still shows about the same amount of space used as before. I can get all those files back because I have them backed up but I need to get rid of the old folder if it's really there or it's going to eat up a bunch of drive space.

Any suggestions on what to do about THIS problem???

Normally, in Windows Explorer, you can just EDIT | UNDO MOVE or something similar. Have you tried that?

Steve

[A.M. Gold]

Steve, see my edited post, I found the files. thanks, though.

[arkmabat]

Free up 4 gigs if you can. Windows starts acting funny with no free space anyway.

[A.M. Gold]

Impossible unless I can get rid of fidbox.dat, which was left over by a virus scanner I no longer use (and it is literally 4 gigs). I've read 27 threads about how to get rid of it and they are all describing what looks like hell on earth.

It would almost be just as easy to replace the drive. Need to do that anyway but I really don't want to sit around waiting to use this $300 orchestra library until I can get to that big project, which won't be before spring.

Still can't believe this is happening. Seems so obvious---how did they miss this? How do you look at an installer configuration and program it to ask the person to install to a file?

[planetearth]

Impossible unless I can get rid of fidbox.dat, which was left over by a virus scanner I no longer use (and it is literally 4 gigs). I've read 27 threads about how to get rid of it and they are all describing what looks like hell on earth.

It would almost be just as easy to replace the drive. Need to do that anyway but I really don't want to sit around waiting to use this $300 orchestra library until I can get to that big project, which won't be before spring.

Still can't believe this is happening. Seems so obvious---how did they miss this? How do you look at an installer configuration and program it to ask the person to install to a file?

Ubuntu Linux offers a free download of the operating system. You burn the .ISO image to a DVD (using free software, or something you probably already have on your computer), boot to it, and take it for a "test-run". It won't change any files on your computer, but with it, you can delete any files that are locked while Windows is running.

Steve

[A.M. Gold]

Interesting, thanks. I'll look into that.

I'm expecting the worst so I'm trying to figure out how to at least move 2 gigs of files off my C drive long enough to install this and then move it. I can tell Kontakt to search for a different sample file location and resave all the Kontakt instruments so I should be able to move the library successfully after putting it on C to start.

The trick is going to be finding 2 gigs I can actually move but I have a tool (WinDirStat) that scans drives and tells you exactly what's on them and how much space they take up so that should help.

This is particularly galling since for all the many years I've been using samples it's always been standard procedure NOT to put your sample libraries on your system drive. This is no trivial issue in the context of this kind of product when they made it impossible to avoid doing that.

This is the third time I've drifted into ranting but I just wish developers would pay closer attention to some of the critical things they do. It really seems like they are acting like distracted drivers sometimes. I've been through this kind of thing before and it's not fun, particularly when you have just spent a big chunk of money.

[Greenstorm33]

If the issue with that .dat file is just that it's locked and can't be deleted, you could try the free Unlocker utility. It's always worked well for me and it'd probably be simpler than messing with Linux.

edit: if you try it, don't use any of the links under the "Recommended before download" bullet - the real download is the next bullet down

[A.M. Gold]

Chrome says "this file is malicious".

[Greenstorm33]

Chrome says "this file is malicious".

Huh, sorry about that. The cnet download page says this:

Editors' Note: Unlocker includes optional bundled software that may trigger alerts from security software. Unlocker has been tested for malware by the CNET Download.com team and meets our security requirements.

Maybe that's what's triggering it. It's been a while since I actually installed the software, so I'd forgotten it had this type of installer. You should be able to opt out of all the extraneous stuff, but maybe it would be best not to risk it.

edit2: just reinstalled myself and it didn't seem too bad. Just one bloatware program that you have to actively opt out of, and Bitdefender A/V didn't complain about the anything.

edit: okay, from reading the reviews, it sounds like it either just flat out installs malware/bloatware programs or, more likely, it is pretty tricky to work around installing them. This was almost certainly not the case when I downloaded the program several years ago.

[A.M. Gold]

Ok, cool. I'll try with Firefox.

AFAIK fidbox.dat just starts regenerating again like some kind of mutant horror movie creature but it may at least buy me some time.

I'm being goaded more and more into redoing my whole system but it's going to be a huge project and I'm not looking forward to it. I'll also lose all my UAD-1 plug-ins (not 64 bit supported and I don't think bridging will work because I think it's a driver issue) because there is no way I'm getting a UAD-2 card.