- Dec 17, 2001
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edit3: Problem solved. The replacement CD was missing a file used by the activation system. Would've been nice to get an error message more like "Hey dumbass, you're missing files" rather than "You couldn't be authenticated," but at least it's working...
Grrr... I'm attempting to install a copy of Pearson NCS's Remark software, used to read and analyze data from an optical scanner. The first time I tried to install the software, I get the setup screen and enter the appropriate serial number and activation code. Those work fine and the install starts. Unfortunately, it hangs up on a bad file read off the CD I was using (which was a copy of the original in our vault). OK, no problem... get a fresh copy and start again. But this time, the codes are not accepted and I get a "failure to instantiate authentication object". I call Pearson's support and talk to a tech who gets a fresh activation code, which does exactly the same thing as the first one. He's now going to send me another CD... which I doubt will do anything because the file integrity isn't the problem. Something in the first, aborted installation left some crap on the system that's preventing future setups from activating properly. This theory is confirmed by taking the CD to another system where it installs perfectly fine (using the original codes). But I really want the software on the first system, because that's the powerful desktop system on which I want to be crunching numbers.
So, if an msi installation goes bad, where would it leave junk on the system? I've scanned the registry and filesystem and didn't see anything obvious. Also, I took care of the low hanging fruit and wiped out everything in Adminstrator's Documents and Setting folder, hoping that there might have been some kind of application data there, but no luck.
edit: sorry, this is on XP SP2
edit2: further testing shows that another administrative account on the machine also cannot install the software, which implies that the problem is not in any user-specific parts of the filesystem or registry
Grrr... I'm attempting to install a copy of Pearson NCS's Remark software, used to read and analyze data from an optical scanner. The first time I tried to install the software, I get the setup screen and enter the appropriate serial number and activation code. Those work fine and the install starts. Unfortunately, it hangs up on a bad file read off the CD I was using (which was a copy of the original in our vault). OK, no problem... get a fresh copy and start again. But this time, the codes are not accepted and I get a "failure to instantiate authentication object". I call Pearson's support and talk to a tech who gets a fresh activation code, which does exactly the same thing as the first one. He's now going to send me another CD... which I doubt will do anything because the file integrity isn't the problem. Something in the first, aborted installation left some crap on the system that's preventing future setups from activating properly. This theory is confirmed by taking the CD to another system where it installs perfectly fine (using the original codes). But I really want the software on the first system, because that's the powerful desktop system on which I want to be crunching numbers.
So, if an msi installation goes bad, where would it leave junk on the system? I've scanned the registry and filesystem and didn't see anything obvious. Also, I took care of the low hanging fruit and wiped out everything in Adminstrator's Documents and Setting folder, hoping that there might have been some kind of application data there, but no luck.
edit: sorry, this is on XP SP2
edit2: further testing shows that another administrative account on the machine also cannot install the software, which implies that the problem is not in any user-specific parts of the filesystem or registry
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