ISSUE: Installing from Archives & Subscription

This is still true, if you have archives you can still restore them.

This is the issue is that the archives are not restoring.  Can you please reply to that support ticket (simply replying will reopen it, the 'closed' status is simply for our own administration) indicating this, and if possible with a link to the archive so we can attempt to restore it here.  Dropbox, or any other file hosting service should do.

Hi Shirley,

Thanks for your reply.  Yes, the primary issue is that my archives will not restore, however, that complication created a secondary issue of concern, in that I was prevented from updating my programs while my subscription was still intact.  Typically, I'd have been on top of this on a regular basis, but given serious medical issues, my life has been anything but 'typical' for some time.  When I finally mustered the strength and tried to reinstall on 2/6/11 it didn't work, so I tried again briefly on the 2/7.  Again, no success no matter what.  Early on 2/8 (like 330-4am) I decided to try again and stay up until I succeeded.  Well, after almost 24 hours (minus time I needed to rest) I finally gave up around 5am of 2/9 with only Impulse reinstalled. 

In the process of all this, I searched thru 3 large hard drives for extensive notes kept regarding everything pertaining to installing/reinstalling Stardock, plus searched various email archives for anything that might help.  The supreme irony is that during all this searching, reading, and trying everything under the sun, I inadvertently came across my last receipt, only to find that my subscription had literally expired – days after I began trying to reinstall my Stardock apps.  If reinstallion had been anything like normal software, I'd have easily succeeded on the 6th, and then immediately updated and archived the latest versions of my software. This was particularly galling after days of fruitless effort, and that's when I penned a long email to Support, detailing the entirety of the problem(s).

As to your suggestions, prior to posting here I'd already replied to the Tech Advisor (Matt), who essentially stated my only solution was to renew.  (Perhaps he didn't even read my entire email to understand that my apps were, in fact, archived?)  My reply to him should be under the same Support Ticket, I imagine.  As to "posting a link to my Archive," I'm unfamiliar with Dropbox or similar services.  Are these free, and would I upload everything I have backed up to them?  I'll Google "Dropbox" to see what the story is, but if you have anything else that can expedite this in the meantime, I'd be most appreciative.  Thanks again.

Shirley,

I installed Dropbox, set up a Shared Folder, and placed all my backup programs in there.  (I also put a READ ME note there for you, regarding another program I found.)

To grant you access to a Shared folder, Dropbox said I need your email address, which I don't have.  I then moved all files to the Public folder, but now find that their "Copy Public Link" only works per file, and there are 16 files in that folder.  One would think a link could be generated to the main folder, but that command doesn't even appear until you checkmark one single file.  Apparently, I'd have to do 16 of those.

I tried copying the link to one file, then pasted it to Notepad and deleted everything after the main folder - but the link won't work that way.  So, do you want me to post 16 different links to each individual file, or is there another solution to this?  I seriously cannot believe I've spent the better part of yet another day on this, and am no further ahead. 

Tusk1 -

Shirley is off for the rest of today and will return tomorrow morning. You may be able to zip all files into one and put that zipped file into your Public Folder.

Shirley will see this post and will most likely offer an email to enter into your DropBox sharing.

Shirley,

Having now read further about how Dropbox works, it's just as I suspected, you can only link to a single file - not to a folder.

So, here's a link to just one of the 15 program files now in Dropbox:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21167255/BACKUP/Object%20Desktop%20Launchpad2.00.025_11.17.2008.impulse  

And here's the READ ME file mentioned in my last post:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21167255/BACKUP/READ%20ME_for%20Shirley%20-%20Support.txt

I'll check back in a while to see if you've replied, and see where we go from here.

Hankers,

Thanks for the heads up.  Having gone this far, I guess I'll try zipping everything as you suggest. I simply cannot believe the amount of time and energy this has consumed, and for one of the least expensive or complex programs I own.  One would think they were protecting Fort Knox, given all the hoops one must jump through.  To say that this has left me drained and irritated is a gross understatement.

That said, thanks again.

Tusk1 -

It would be better if you sent any links  from your DropBox to Shirley in a Private Message.  Just click on the name Shirley and select 'Private Message Shirley'.

Here's the latest.  Since it appeared that individual links to multiple files in Dropbox wasn't going to work, I fired up WinRAR, which I haven't used in nearly two years.  I then copied to my archived BACKUP folder, a program found in a different folder, titled "ObjectDesk2008.exe," though the file was created in 2009, right around the time I renewed.  Note:  All the other archive files have Impulse extensions. 

When trying to RAR all these files into one, the EXE program wouldn't even show up or be recognized no matter what.  I RAR'd the whole mess anyway, only to then find it had deleted the EXE file - and not only from my BACKUP folder, but from where I'd copied it from originally!  Though it's been a while, it sure seems I've RAR'd .exe files in the past, but why it would delete the file I can't begin to account for. 

Luckily, it was copied to Dropbox on my C drive earlier today, so I didn't lose it entirely. I made an 'insurance copy' of this file to another location, and then Zipped it by itself this time, which appears to have worked for some reason. Finally, after deleting everything I'd put in Dropbox earlier, I moved the RAR and Zip files in there.   A little while ago they were still uploading, saying "2 hours left," tho now it says 1 hour.  (The two files are appx 432MB total).

If I could drink, I'd get drunk about now.  I can't believe this is any way to do business, and I spent 25+ years in advertising & marketing.

Hankers, thanks for the tip re sending a PM to Shirley. as I've rarely if ever used this forum so was unaware of that function.

so i can find this again

question: I had archived the previous version of WB and moved the file to my external hard drive before I reformatted. I loaded up impulse and moved the archived copy back into the appropriate directory but when I attempted to reinstall, it didn't. should it have?

Oddly enough, the "Download and Archive" function of Impulse and the "Archive" (after installation) are different.

Please advise - any suggestions, opinions, and dumb looks are appreciated.

"dumb look"

Did you reinstall or upgrade the OS? I wonder if it sees W7 and W7 SP1 as the same OS?

So, to be clear, if you want to keep an archive which works with either XP, Vista or 7 you should use the "Download & Archive" method? Or will that still be limited to the OS you download with?

Download and Archive will make an OS independant archive.  Archiving normally an installed application, or having archives made on update, will be OS specific, in the sense that it will only contain files installed on your system.

What happens when you try to restore the archives?  Do you get any error messages?

Hey Shirley,

Nope - none. In fact Impulse seems to believe that the restore happened successfully, but WindowBlinds most certainly is not available to me. I have an open ticket #KIM-369014, however the progress there has been really slow. Anthony has suggested that my archive is corrupt, but I am sure it is not.

I wonder if something in my registry settings is foo-barred. I am going into my 3rd week of not having WB and it is very painful to me. Any help is greatly appreciated.

HOLY COW - I have 2 accounts here on wincustomize - I never knew that.

Whatever was posted by Einstein47 - that is really me, Einstein. - - - - Sorry for the confusion.

P.S. I'v heard of split personalities, but this is rediculous.

....and an old/early member, too...;)

Duplicate accounts can often be where issues arise with Product installs and serials, etc as it's important that registered email accs relate to the install...;)

^ You can unify your accounts here:

https://www.stardock.com/support/registrations/

But back to my problem. Is there a difference between restoring from archive and doing just an install (other than the restore is supposed to be available after the subscription expires?) I'm concerned that after I get paid and renew my subscription, that I still won't be able to get WB working. Oh - Woe is me!

I'm having the same problem - I'm unable to restore WB from any of my archives.  I have a ticket in with support as well.  Support requested I share one of my archives via DropBox so they could look at it, which I did, but I've not heard anything since except for a couple of emails telling me the ticket has been closed since I haven't responded within 48 hours and asking me to reply if I want the ticket re-opened, which I've of course done.  Not sure if the DropBox sharing 'worked' as it asks for an email address to share with and the only one I have is support@stardock.com.  I've not received any sort of confirmation that they got it.

As an aside, the 48 hour reply requirement to keep a ticket open seems a very unreasonable expectation.

Wow - that is better than me - support just told me that my archive must be corrupt and closed the call. (Without even examining the archive file). I'm trying to be patient - I'm trying to be patient (Tell me again why I should renew my subscription?) Please, someone help me relax before I go postal on the community.

I haven't heard anything from support since my last reply to 're-activate' the ticket on 3/4.

12 days now & still no response to my request to 're-activate' my ticket.

I received a different impulse file to try to restore from. Although now I get the WB Config window, I still can't apply any skins. I'm thinking the auto-archive functionality on Impulse has issues. But then again, I also tried an impulse file from my home computer that didn't work. Hmmmm.

Now, I need to find out why I can't get WB to load. This should be another fun adventure in navigating the support channels.

Make that 19 days.