NS-Batch Installation Problems

According to more than one user, the installation program for NS-Batch fails under (at least one version of) Windows NT Workstation. The problem descriptions / solutions have been:

The Usual Failure ...First failure reported (with NT 4.0)

Problem with NT 3.51 ...So...it's not limited to 4.0 after all!

With QuarterDeck CleanSweep ...Another flavor of problem.

A Quick Fix ...A poor man's solution.

The best description of the failure (so far) has come from Heini Holmberg.

The problem manifests itself during installation under Windows NT 4.0 Workstation (Build 1381), US version (and may be present in other versions as well). Even on a fast Pentium machine with adequate RAM and disk space, installation stops because of "insufficient memory and diskspace". The bug can be overcome, by deleting the three .INI files that the setup creates in the "winnt" directory (_isen31.ini, _isenv31.ini, and _delis43.ini ).

If the setup program stops responding, the system may lock up completely, or just the setup program may freeze. (Even if the system locks up completely, you've got about 30 seconds to delete the files after the setup program fails.) If you delete those three files, you should be able to complete the installation. Once the install completes, NS-Batch appears to operate without problems (and by the way, the "uninstall" program seems to work fine).

In case you're wondering, the installation program is the "express" version of InstallShield that comes with the Borland (now Inprise) C++ compiler. The 32-bit version of NS-Batch (rev 0.5e) was compiled with version 5.01 of the compiler, and the latest available version of InstallShield Express was used to build the release file. I am in the process of getting help from Borland on this problem. In the mean time, if any users have any further information that you'd like to share, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Just FYI, here's what the _isen31.ini file contained:

[DbgAltPath]
AltPath=
[SharedErrors]
7068=Insufficient memory available to run Setup. 
Close all other applications to make more memory 
available and try to run Setup again.``Error 111.
7063=Setup is unable to find a hard disk location to 
store temporary files.``Make at least %dKB free disk 
space available and then try running Setup again.``Error 101.
7064=Setup is unable to decompress and copy all of the 
program files needed to proceed with the installation.  
Contact your software vendor.``Error 112.
7110=Setup Initialization Error

The file _isenv31.ini file contained:

COMPUTERNAME=HEINI 
COMSPEC=C:\WINNT\system32\cmd.exe 
HOMEDRIVE=C:
HOMEPATH=\ 
NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS=1 
OS=Windows_NT
OS2LIBPATH=C:\WINNT\system32\os2\dll; 
PATH=C:\WINNT\system32;C:\WINNT;C:;
PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE=x86 
PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER=x86 Family 5 Model 2
Stepping 12, GenuineIntel 
PROCESSOR_LEVEL=5 
PROCESSOR_REVISION=020c
SYSTEMDRIVE=C: 
SYSTEMROOT=C:\WINNT 
TEMP=C:\WINNT\TEMP 
TMP=C:\WINNT\TEMP
USERDOMAIN=HEINI 
USERNAME=Administrator
USERPROFILE=C:\WINNT\Profiles\Administrator 
WINDIR=C:\WINNT  

And, finally, the file _delis43.ini contained:

[file0]
main=C:\WINNT\TEMP\_INS0432._MP
exeostype=2
alt0=C:\WINNT\TEMP\_INZ0432._MP
alt1=C:\WINNT\TEMP\_WUTL95.DLL

By deleting the .INI files as described above, the installation was completed and NS-Batch seemed to run without problems. However, it was then impossible to delete temporary directory from which the installation program was run. My hunch about this problem is that a thread of the first execution of InstallShield was still running somewhere, and had the directory locked.

Thanks to Lazlo for reporting this new variant and the disturbing news that the problem is not limited to just NT 4.0.

The problem has been observed when you install NS-Batch under NT 4.0 (with Service Pack 2) and CleanSweep version 3.0 from QuarterDeck is running. CleanSweep includes a utility called SmartSweep, which can monitor installations. If SmartSweep is not switched off before the installation for the 32-bit version of NS-Batch is run, the installation will freeze (and must be terminated with Task Manager).

Installation appears to complete normally if SmartSweep is (temporarily) disabled.

32-bit only Version 1.06 - From a fast server.

32-bit only Version 1.06 - From my server

32-bit only Version 1.05

32-bit only Version 1.04

32-bit only Version 1.03

32-bit only Version 1.02

32-bit only Version 1.01

32-bit only Version 0.6e

32-bit only Version 0.6d - From a fast server.

32-bit only Version 0.6d - From my server

32-bit only Version 0.6c

32-bit only Version 0.6b

32-bit only Version 0.6a

Again, if anyone has any additional information on these problems, please be sure to forward it to me via e-mail.

Many thanks to everyone who has put up with the installation problems enough to try NS-Batch, and very special thanks to all those who have struggled to find work-arounds for the the bugs.

This site last updated 5/24/2010.