With the next version of Windows (Vista) reaching the beta 2 stage are there any plans to release a beta or new version of Opus that is compatible with Vista? Obviously the priority is getting a version that works, but it would also be nice to see enhancements to Opus that take advantage of some of Vistas new features. I'm thinking mainly of the saved searches (virtual folders) feature. I've played about with some of the vista releases and the new explorer is nothing compared to Opus, just getting nervous I may have to start using it when we change over here uurggh.
Have you actually found that Opus doesn't run under the Vista beta?
It works, but Vista's Least Privileges concept makes it a pain to install.
I just installed Beta 2 today so I'm still a bit hazy on the details of installing older software, but this is what I ended up doing:
- Enabled the Administrator account (after giving it a password)
- Logged in as the Administrator user.
- Installed Dopus install EXE
- It failed the first time and asked me if I wanted to retry the install with its "suggested settings:
- This time it seemed to take. Logged out and logged in as my normal user account and it also works fine.
Looks very nice in the Glass UI as well...
sped
Screenshot?
[quote="spedinfargo"]
It works, but Vista's Least Privileges concept makes it a pain to install.[/quote]
Isn't that the same for all software though?
To answer the original question - of course we will support Vista, but we aren't going to invest a lot of time in it until it has actually been released - especially as Opus should (and according to you, does) work fine anyway.
I've installed a few peices of software now with no problem, but Opus won't go on for some reason.
I searched the forum before I posted and found somone else who is beta testing Vista has had a problem as well.
resource.dopus.com/viewtopic.php ... ight=vista
I'm glad to hear spedinfargo has managed to get it working though, at least now I know its compatible and most likely i'm doing something wrong. Going to have another go later and see if I can get this "suggested settings" option to appear.
note - Just read that although Vista should be availbile to business round November - December time, the consumer version won't be ready till January - February time.
[quote="reck"]I've installed a few peices of software now with no problem, but Opus won't go on for some reason.
I searched the forum before I posted and found somone else who is beta testing Vista has had a problem as well. [/quote]
The key here is that it's a beta version of Windows. It's ridiculous expecting any software developer to spend the next 12 months trying to work around issues (which you should be reporting to Microsoft). For every 10 issues they fix, the fixes could be made redundant and a whole new series of issues could appear with the next beta update. A complete waste of development time.
It's a beta release and should be treated as such. Even Microsoft don't recommend deploying it on your main machines.
After numerous attempts I've now managed to install it via the "suggested method" so I'm a happy man again 
Tanis, I just posted as a head's up that Opus doesn't appear to work under Vista. After a bit of fiddling it seems it can work fine under Vista. Hopefully anyone else who comes across this problem will now have this thread to help them.
Not sure who is running Vista on their main machine, but I agree it would be risky using it at this stage.
I've written a brief FAQ which, in turn, links back to this thread to cover this for future questions.
Well... call me a naysayer, but I don't see anything 'specific' in here that would help a would-be Vista tester to install Opus in a way that seems to work how some of these guys have gotten it to.
So far, it seems you want to enable the Administrator account and do the install logged on as such, but was there something specific that needed to be done in order to coach Vista to install Opus with this "suggested method" that's been mentioned?
Hi Steje,
I don't know.
I've been reading about Vista in Maximum PC Magazine though.
Do you have the permissions to write to the folder you're attempting to install DOpus?
From June 2006 Max PC
[quote]Much like a Linux install, Vista only allows you to run applications from folders with the appropriate permissions.
And it locks down the write permissions on those folders so that malware can't use your Administrator permissions to install itself to a hidden folder on your drive and then run whenever it wants.
On a properly configured Vista machine, you'll have to explicitly give permission whenever any application tries to put anything in Program Files.[/quote]
Try looking for security settings in Control Panel ???
Porcupine
Like others here, I managed to get DO installed on Vista Beta 2 last week. I did this by:
A) Running the install with admin rights
B) Running the install in compatibility mode with winxp sp2
Ok - so now DO is installed, and all is well. At least until I saw that windows explorer wasn't truly dead. It kept popping up to show certain folders, such as clicking on a drive in "My Computer", or going to "Control Panel". I could not get windows explorer to stop seizing control of certain shell actions. (Tried several ways to fix this in DO configuration).
After a week of working like this and realizing that there was no way in hell I'd ever enjoy the new vista explorer....I started hunting my registry. I read some related threads here and finally got windows explorer to go away.
So this is for any of you out there that might be having the same problem. DO NOT DO THIS ON ANYTHING BUT A TEST BOX. I have NO idea what the negative implications of this edit might be. So unless you are completely comfortable with that info, don't do this.
1) Goto: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\explore\command
2) Change the value for "(Default)" from whatever it is to:
C:\Program Files\GPSoftware\Directory Opus\dopusrt.exe /cmd go new
(This assumes you used default install dir)
3) Rename "DelegateExecute" to "DelegateExecuteold"
I will continue to test this until the DO developers start working on Vista compatibility. If I find anything else out I'll post here.
Thanks a lot jstarks, i've been having this problem as well and it was driving me nuts.
Works pretty well really - but i don't seem to be able to call up the 'properties' (right click menu) on any file - "the properites for this item are not available" (title of box "desktop"). Probably a permissions thing again perhaps? If I find a fix i'll post it here... I'm using Vista pretty much fulltime now.
Interesting.... I didn't have that problem but I turned off all the UAC stuff.
After more putzing around during spare time, here is some additional information about Vista Beta 2 compatibility.
Known Problems:
1. Can't Get Object Properties
There is definitely a problem with going to context-menu -> properties on any Explorer Object in DO. It shows a strange error and then doesn't do anything. I was able to work around this by chaning the default value of following registry key:
Key Name:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\opus\properties\command
I changed the default key value to "pop.exe %L"
pop.exe is the name of an executable I made as a temporary fix. The value passed to my executable (%L) is in turn sent to the ShellExecuteEx API function to correctly bring up the properties window.
2. Explorer won't Die
As I mentioned in a previous post, the DelegateExecute Value in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\open\command causes Windows Explorer to keep popping up over DO. If you rename this key, Explorer stays dead. However, other system windows (Personalization, Windows Welcome Screen, etc) start to break because of this change. Simply restoring the DelegateExecute value to it's original state will fix any problems you have with system windows.
As far as a workaround goes - it's either one way or the other. With DelegateExecute renamed, Directory Opus is happy and Explorer stays dead, but Windows has trouble showing certain configuration screens. With DelegateExecute in original condition, Directory Opus is overtaken by Explorer, but configuration screens work fine.
What I did personally to get around this was build another small app that switches this registry value on or off. When I need to do something like Personalize the desktop, I click the app to restore DelegateExecute. When I'm done configuring I click it again to rename DelegateExecute to DelegateExecuteold.
So these are a couple of very crude ways to force DO to work in Vista. I know the developers have mentioned that they do not want to work on compatibility Vista at this time, but it seems to me that the work involved to address these couple of issues would be trivial.
Any thoughts from Developers? Fellow Vista users?
Have you reported these problems to Microsoft?
Vista is the beta software, after all, not Opus.
Nevermind. Good luck with the upgrade in 07.
I was serious. Microsoft take great pains to ensure compatibility with legacy software. Why NOT report it to them? That's the point of a beta program!