"Verify Installation" unreliable

from Stardock Forums

Impulse's "Verify Installation" function seems to fail spuriously for several of my Object Desktop applications. It reported bad installs for DeskScapes, DesktopX, IconPackager, ObjectBar, RightClick, and WindowBlinds. I know that at least one report is bogus, and two more are very suspicious. All three are easily reproducible here.

First, IconPackager fails to verify if I change the "Repair Shell Icons" settings at all. If I change it back to the original settings, Impulse verifies it as OK again. I'm pretty sure that's a bug.

Next, RightClick verifies OK right after installation. However, simply running the program once is enough to trigger a bad verify. All I need to do is start it, stop it, and run Verify Installation. This happens both on my home computer (Vista Ultimate 32) and my work computer (Windows XP SP2).

Finally, DeskScapes fails to verify entirely. I've reinstalled it a couple times now, and Impulse immediately reports a bad install, even before I run it. I also tried downloading to archive and installing from that, but Impulse said that the archive was bad. I'm not sure whether this is a problem with DeskScapes, Impulse, or both.

I haven't found what triggers the bad install in the other three apps, but they seemed to work fine before I thought to verify them. This isn't a huge problem, as I can generally work around it, but unfortunately it means that I can't trust the Verify feature.

6,303 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Is anyone else running into this or able to reproduce it? It's getting to be more of a problem than I originally thought -- a couple of apps fail to verify right after installation, and others soon after. Trying to get MyColors/Theme Manager set up has been especially problematic. When I installed Theme Manager first, MyColors failed to verify, but it seems to work OK in the other order. If I download and install the Think Green theme, MyColors fails to verify, and vice versa. (I think that's because Think Green is included in MyColors, but if so then why have the download available?)

I narrowed down the RightClick problem a little more: It seems OK right until I open and close the configuration dialog, then it fails to install. Impulse then asks to install a small update (same version number), but it still fails to verify even after updating. Impulse keeps offering updates (all the same version number, of varying sizes), but verification always fails.

I'm also having trouble restoring from archives (see https://forums.stardock.com/340320), which makes for slow going when trying to diagnose & work around these problems.

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Make sure to disable Windows Defender and/or any other security apps during installation. Security apps and firewalls can be turned back on immediately after installation completes.

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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Thanks for the reminder. It didn't fix the problem, but I did get more information! I was finally able to install and verify DeskScapes. Unfortunately, it crashed my system after just a couple minutes. I don't know whether that's a problem with the install, the app, or my system.

RightClick is behaving the same way it always has: It verifies OK immediately after installation, but Impulse reports a bad install as soon as I configure or quit the program. I downloaded it once with Windows Firewall & ESET NOD32, twice without. All three .impulse files are the same length, albeit with different contents (probably because of encryption). For reference:

RightClick1.25.009_08.05.2008.impulse: 2,652,509 bytes

DeskScapes2.50.069_12.10.2008.impulse: 46,025,600 bytes

Any other suggestions?

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

hmmm.....Might be best to start from scratch.........Uninstall the apps, then Impulse > Reboot > run ccleaner > reinstall impulse > reinstall each app one at a time > verify install > reboot > next app > verify install > reboot..........

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

The issues with RightClick and IconPackager that you described are accurate, and we have reproduced the same internally.  I haven't had issues with DeskScapes like you describe, and as Lantec said it may be time to try from scratch.

Verification is basically just hashing all the files that are installed for a particular app and comparing the hashes against the known good list.  in the case of some applicatons (like RightClick) where the list contains config files or anything that is chnaged after install (which repairing shell icons will change) verification will fail.  This does not necessairly mean the app is installed incorrectly.  Verification really works for you when you have an application that is having issues, to be used as a way to be sure at least the app itself is installed correctly.

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Aha, that makes sense! Thanks for the explanation. After some more experimentation, I've found that the verification issues fall into three general groups:

1. Apps that include variable files in the static install list, as you just described.

2. Apps with conflicting installations. The theme-related apps seem prone to this.

3. Legitimate problems. I suspect that there was a problem with my early DeskScapes downloads; my last attempt installed OK. (Unfortunately, it had other problems.)

Thanks!

Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I had some problems with Theme manager, so when i did a format/reinstall of vista, i only installed MyColors and Windowblinds, and skipped thememanager, and i have had very few problems with the exception of Soundpackager (removed)

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

I finally figured out why DeskScapes kept failing verification: Impulse installs the default Dreams in <UserDocuments>/Stardock/Dreams and expects to find them there when verifying. However, if you're running a standard (non-admin) account, then you need to elevate or switch to an admin account for installation, and the Dreams get installed in the admin's Documents folder instead of your standard account. Thus, Impulse can't find them (and neither can DeskScapes if you try to use it). I found that copying the default Dreams into my own account fixed the problem.

I ran into a similar issue trying to use IconPackager: It needs admin rights to do some of its work, but that also results in the admin account getting some of the icons instead of the standard user.

Thanks to everyone for help with debugging this.

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

Most of our applications will require admin privledges for the changes they need to make.  If you are running as a standard user on the system, these sorts of issues will arise