WB5 Select Data Source

I have forwarded the issue on to the development team. Thank you for submitting your info.

-Mike
[Stardock Support]

I am also having the same problem, I did the same steps as him. I have .net 1.1 and 2.0 beta and Ms office 2003 with seems to include debugging tools (which are currently disabled)

Note: I have 2x Geforce 6600gt's (dont know if that's useful or not)

Should I have posted in this or create a new topic? I didn't see any stickies that had a faq or other rules, etc.

I hope this can be fixed quickly because i bought OD mainly for wb 5.0

Would it be possible to get a list of dependencies of WB and OD in general? I've uninstalled unused windows components, hopefully wb doesn't depend on something that's been uninstalled
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WindowBlinds 5 BETA Troubleshooting Report:

STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC.

WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC

Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.

You have one monitor in total.

(MAG LT565 LCD Display) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT
'NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAY2', but is not attached to the desktop.
'NetMeeting driver' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV1', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.
'RDPDD Chained DD' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV2', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.

I figured out my problem, i had uninstalled ODBC database drivers and reinstalling them fixed it.

Maybe you should make note of this for others because I doubt i'm the only one to be running xplite.

There are one of two problems that can cause this issue:

1. Your system does not have database support. Although it is installed by default, the access driver might have been corrupted or lost. To verify whether it's installed:

-Open up your control panel located in the "Start Menu"
-Open up "Administrative Tools"
-Then "Data Sources (ODBC)"
-Click the "Drivers" tab
-Move the scrollbar to the right (Scrolling down the columns)
-Verify the filename ODBCJT32.DLL is listed

2. A file required for Windowblinds to run is missing.

Please make sure you have the file "skins.mdb" located within your Windowblinds directory (C:\Program Files\Stardock\Object Desktop\Windowblinds)

-Mike
[Stardock Support]

I too am still getting the Data Source issue. I have checked and have an ODBCJT32.DLL file listed.

I have a skins.mbb file in my Windowblinds directory (C:\Program Files\Stardock\Object Desktop\Windowblinds).

I have an AMD64 bit processor running XP Pro 32-bit.

I just tried the newest beta tonight of 4.90f[b].002 and still have the same issue.

WindowBlinds 5 BETA Troubleshooting Report:

STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC.

WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC

Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.

You have one monitor in total.

(Plug and Play Monitor) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Series GPU
'NetMeeting driver' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV1', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.
'RDPDD Chained DD' also exists as device '\\.\DISPLAYV2', but is not attached to the desktop and is a mirror driver.

I have an AMD64 bit processor running XP Pro 32-bit.

The beta does not support the 64bit processor. Based on some other threads I've seen it requires a whole different version of Windowblinds and they will work on it after they finish with the normal version.

Umm... WinXP 32-bit installed on an AMD64 bit, runs just like a normal Windows 32-bit processor. Thanks.

AMD 64-bit processors run at either 32-bit OS or 64-bit OS, whichever is installed.

For compatibility reasons, I run the 32-bit version of XP, so I should not have problems like this because of the processor.

Beldroan: You are correct, a 64-bit processor does not imply a 64-bit OS. The OS version makes all the difference.
For this process, you might need your Windows XP disk handy:

-Go to Start->Run
-Type in "sfc /scannow" and press enter

This utility will verify the integrity of all of your Windows files and will overwrite any that may be corrupt or otherwise incorrect.

Let me know if this fixes your issue.

-Mike
[Stardock Support]

Tried everything except sfc (don't have cd)
Still doesn't fix the problem.

WB5 still loads skins when you click on the info bubble that pops up on loading of a new skin though But to apply changes, you have to apply it with classic and then reload your skin.

Checked this.  Everything seems to be there.  I don't have the CD with me so I can't run the sfc test.

OK, I ran the SFC command and it found no errors.  I've installed the newest WB and can now apply skins with the tooltip bubble but I still get the error when trying to open the appearance tab or the WB main window.

Ran the SFC command and found no errors. Going to try to do the whole uninstall / install 4.6 / uninstall / install latest again routine.

Still not fixed.

Okay.. I researched some other things. THIS is what I had to do to get it working. Hope this helps others who are at WinXP SP2 and either have OEM or no CD.

From Microsoft site:

For original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Editions of Windows 2000 or Windows XP
Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

Step 1: Modify the registry keys
1. Locate the I386 folder on your hard disk, and then make a note of its path.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
4. In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following key:
HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup
5. Right-click the Installation Sources entry, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, change the value to the path of the I386 folder on your hard disk, and then click OK.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for each of the following entries:
• SourcePath
• ServicePackSourcePath
8. Quit Registry Editor.

Step 2: Install Mdac.inf
1. Click Start, click Run, type C:\Winnt\Inf in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
3. On the View tab in the Advanced Settings box, click Show hidden files and folders, and then click OK.
4. Right-click Mdac.inf, and then click Install.
5. If you are prompted for your Windows CD, insert the Windows CD in the CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive.
6. Click the I386 folder on your hard disk (typically, C:\I386), and then click OK.

Notes
• If you do not have the CD for your current Windows installation, click Browse, and then locate and select the I386 folder.
• If the I386 folder is a subfolder of the Windows folder, on some computers, you cannot select it.

In this case, type the full path in the Copy files from box (for example, type C:\Windows\I386 or C:\Winnt\I386), and then click OK.
7. Restart your computer.

Nice research - it works fine now. I noted that the inf directory is under windows on my comp.

I had the same problem as nanolithium i tried what beldroan said and that elimated the problem of wb buging me about the data source but i still don't have any skins in my directory. under my data sorce drivers ODBCJT32.DLL is not listed. if you could help i'd really like that

It's been a couple weeks now... still no solution?  I tried the sfc and all things mentioed above... still no solution on my end.

Ahhh, it's MDAC that WB wants. I too experience this problem, because I run a stripped down install using nLite (Link).

Glad to see someone discovered what exactly was causing the problem. A question for the WB devs though, why does the new WB required MDAC for skin manifest storage? I assume WB4 just used a flat file, did you guys just want to move to a real DB?

WB5 uses an access database for skin info.  WB4 used a basic text file for display properties which was less flexible, slower and less reliable and nothing at all for wbconfig (which had to search the WB dir each time WBConfig was started)

Stripping down a system comes with its own risks as there is a reason those things are included by default!

I still need help with windowblinds listing my skins its not asking for a data source but no skins are showing up in my directory.

Try just selecting the Install from Disk, find them and load them. Or I think what I did was just went into the directory and clicked on the .wba files and let them load the app.

I still need help with windowblinds listing my skins

This may be a stupid question, but did you click the little "refresh" button below the preview window in the WB config panel after placing or loading skins into "C:\Program Files\Stardock\Object Desktop\WindowBlinds" folder?

Note - I had to move the horizontal scrollbar below the skin listing in config panel after clicking refresh, to get them to display.

Just a thought.

i've install the skins and refreshed but i don't get any skins. the weird thing is skins show up in per application, my toolbars and animations ect. but not in "my skins".

have we given up trying to fix this issue?  don't want to have to pull windowblinds off my system, but I am being left with little choice.

still getting the db error.

There is another thread that addresses this issue. I am currently looking for that thread, you might check through some threads too. I do believe that someone came up with a solution/workaround for the Data Source thing.