StrataFrame Forum

SF 1.7.3 Installation and Activation Error

http://forum.strataframe.net/Topic29390.aspx

By Leonard P. - 1/20/2011

Hello,

This is kind of urgent as StrataFrame is not working on my machine, therefore can't support production application.


I had older (or beta) version of SF installed on my machine, I believe it was 1.7.0.1, not 100% sure though. It was working fine. But then I had to install production application developed by another developer, this application was developed with the most recent SF version 1.7.3. After I installed this application, I started getting an error from SF in VS.NET. The error simply said "SF encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for inconvenience", and there was "Close" and "Debug" button. (similar to attached screenshot).  So I figured it was the time to upgrade to the latest SF release 1.7.3.
But I get this error every time I try to install SF, and I tried numerous time. And I tried everything: uninstalling SF, removing all MicroFour dlls from GAC manually, deleting any left-over files manually, etc. The error occurs on the very last screen which says "StrateFrame is now being configured. View the popup windows that appear for more info...". After installation SF in VS.NET does not work, and I get the same error when trying to open "Activate" window, see attached screenshot.

Please Help.

Thank you
By Ivan George Borges - 1/20/2011

It looks like there is something preventing the Activation to work.

Have you ckecked firewalls and such?
By Leonard P. - 1/20/2011

It's not just Activation form. It's pretty much every SF related menu item in VS.NET and SF demo sample Apps.
By Trent L. Taylor - 1/20/2011

Well, let's look at a couple of things. First, look in your GAC (c:\windows\assembly) and see if you have more than one copy of SF in there.  Look or the "MicroFour StrataFrame ..." assemblies.  Second, I imagine that the activation dialog is looking for the wrong assemblies.

I imagine that you have most likely built the older assemblies before using the source code, then you installed the new build.  So my first guess would be that you have multiple SF assemblies in the GAC that do not match even though the have the same assembly (not file) version.  Clear our your GAC, make sure that the new ones are in there, then try again.

If you don't have any luck with this let me know, but I bet this is the most likely culprit. 
By Leonard P. - 1/20/2011

Hi Trent,

I did all that. I did check GAC, and unistalled all MicroFour dls, before installing new version. I also made sure there no MicroFour dlls left in Program Files/MicroFour/StrataFrame/Assemlies . Like I said I did try manual clean up to avoid this kind of versions conflicts. But nothing seems to work.
By Trent L. Taylor - 1/20/2011

Well, let's start over and do this.  I know that is has to be assembly related.

  1. Uninstall SF from your local machine
  2. Once uninstalled, ensure that there is nothing in the GAC that is SF related.
  3. If you like, go ahead and remove the local SF files from the Program Files (x86) (or where you installed it).  You could just copy this to a backup location if you like.  This is just to make sure that there isn't anything else there.  Don't worry about the license, I will free that up so you don't have to mess with it.
  4. Next, install the 1.7.3 build of SF.
  5. After the install, check the GAC and the local folder.
  6. Attempt to access the activation client again and see if you have the same results.
If none of that works, download the 1.7.3 source code also and rebuild it.  If you have done this in the past, then most likely the files in the (c:\Program Files(x86)\Common Files\MicroFour\StrataFrame) have been updated and this could be the source of the problem.
By Leonard P. - 1/20/2011

I pretty much followed these step already minus rebuilding from source code...
See, installation never actually completes, I get that error message.  After installation I don't see any new SF related assemblies (and I did try adding them to GAC manually).

So rebuild from source code is my only option at this point?
By Trent L. Taylor - 1/20/2011

Yes.  Try to rebuild the source and then lets take a look.
By Leonard P. - 1/21/2011

I am able to rebuild from source code. But how do I get SF to integrate with VS .NET?. Install still fails by the way after rebuild and adding dlls to GAC.
By Trent L. Taylor - 1/21/2011

I saw your screenshot of the activate.exe not firing, but where in the install does it fail?  I don't think I have ever seen this much trouble with an install/update.  Do you have admin permissions on your local machine?
By Leonard P. - 1/21/2011

It fails on the very last screen "StrataFrame is now being configured". See attached screenshot.
Yes, I am an admin on my machine.
By Trent L. Taylor - 1/21/2011

I wonder if you have something in your temp folder and/or your ProgramData folder causing the problem.  When the install is created, it creates a temporary folder so that it can "uninstall or add features."  There are times when I have seen this go wonky and cause some issues.

So first, clear our your temp folder.  Second, open up your ProgramData folder and look for GUID folders.  Any that have StrataFrame related contents, delete them (might back them up first):

http://forum.strataframe.net/Uploads/Images/e14a63da-11de-443b-8e69-cffe.png