Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

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BigMike
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Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by BigMike »

Hi there,

I'm using the ZIP-Package of PDF-XChange Pro. When doing an Update of my current installation, the Setup recognizes the installed components correctly, but not a changed installation directory.
The update will install the new files to the default location, if I don't change it manually.
Could you please change this, that an update will also install to the same customized path by default, as PDF Viewer setup does?
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by Patrick-Tracker Supp »

Hello Big Mike,

Thank you for the post. Could you please let us know from what version and build you are updating? Please also specify the installer you originally used for this build, as well as your windows version.

Thank you!
If posting files to this forum, you must archive the files to a ZIP, RAR or 7z file or they will not be uploaded.
Thank you.

Cheers,

Patrick Charest
Tracker Support North America
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BigMike
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by BigMike »

Hi,
I'm always using the ZIP Installer Package.
Today, I've updated from build 322.3 to build 322.5. But this happened with all updates until now.
I'm using Windows 10 1703, x64.

I've installed the Tracker products to C:\Program Files\Office\Tracker Software\...
at every update, the new installation path is again C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\... an I'll have to change it again.
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by Patrick-Tracker Supp »

Hi Big Mike,

Thank you for reporting this. I will discuss this with the development team and see if the installers can be modified such that any custom install path is noticed and respected.

Cheers!
If posting files to this forum, you must archive the files to a ZIP, RAR or 7z file or they will not be uploaded.
Thank you.

Cheers,

Patrick Charest
Tracker Support North America
RobertG
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by RobertG »

It would be really great if you guys could fix this. When I first installed PDF X-Change and it's printer driver, I chose "Custom Installation" so that I could choose my own folder under Program Files. I do this so that it's easier to identify installed apps later on, as I may not recognize company names. So, my chosen install folder for all Tracker products was "PDF-XChange", with subfolders named for each individual product, e.g., "Editor", "Printer Driver", etc. I generally follow this system for most programs.

However, when I dutifully updated all my PDF X-Change products through the Tracker updater app, I found to my chagrin that the program completely disregarded by custom install locations; it simply wiped out everything I had previously installed (leaving empty folders), and re-installed the updated programs in a location of its choosing (Tracker Software). If I was given a choice to intervene during the update process and choose/preserve the custom locations, I certainly did not notice it.

It would be greatly appreciated if you could amend the way the update program behaves, so that it honors and preserves the install paths chosen by the user upon initial installation.

Thank you!
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello RobertG,
Ive gone ahead and finally created a new formal bug report and informed our lead developer about this. It was intended to have been working since shortly after it was initially reported, I'm not sure when it broke, but we are now working on getting it working again.
Ticket #4274: updater does not respect previous install path
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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BigMike
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by BigMike »

Was something changed here for version 7.0.325? I had to set the folders myself again at the update.

By the way, I can't change the installation folder for the "XCVault.exe"
While all other files go to the custom installation folders, this one is still placed in %Program Files%\Tracker Software\Vault
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hi BigMike,
This Ticket is still in progress, so it isnt in quite yet.
As for the XCVault location, that is a good catch and I will be adding that to the ticket.
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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BigMike
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by BigMike »

Hi,

I just wanted to let you know, that both issues still exist - I updated today to build 7.0.328.2.

Kind regards
Michael
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hi BigMike,
Yes, we are aware. The dev team is planning to go over all of the installers before our next release. I know we have all been waiting for this for a long time, so I hope we can find the resolution soon.
All the best!
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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BigMike
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by BigMike »

BigMike wrote: Tue Apr 17, 2018 6:05 pm Was something changed here for version 7.0.325? I had to set the folders myself again at the update.

By the way, I can't change the installation folder for the "XCVault.exe"
While all other files go to the custom installation folders, this one is still placed in %Program Files%\Tracker Software\Vault
Both issues are still present in 8.0.330
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hi Mike,

Thanks for this report as well.
I see that ticket 4274 is also not marked as resolved!
I will make a collection of them all - and pass it directly to the developer who deals with installed and the localization tool for further investigation!

Regards,
Stefan
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BigMike
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by BigMike »

Hi,

I'd like to extend my report. With version 8, there's not only
C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\Vault, but also
C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\Common, which seems to be a default directory path and can't be changed.

Language files and OCR dictionaries are placed in C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\Common, but aren't detected by your other products, which I've installed into a different directory.
First I thought you simply didn't package the incomplete language files with the initial build, but now I saw, they were moved and it's not working correct.
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello BigMike,

There actually is a known issue with the languages currently, which we will have resolved for the next build. It isn't only custom installations that have trouble finding the language files currently. If any users of 330.0 need to resolve this, they can run the following batch file:
drv_ui_langs.zip
(337 Bytes) Downloaded 150 times
Once build 330.1 is available, anyone with this issue can simply update the software to resolve this as well.

Beyond that however, these files should definitely respect the custom installation directory. I will need to do some testing to see if I can reproduce this and report it to the Devs.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello again BigMike,

I couldn't seems to reproduce the installation issue, I tried installing the editor directly to a custom directory, then updating using the updater from both builds 328.2 and 327.1, since no issues happened there, I also attempted manually running the 330.0 installer over top of each of those installations, and still had no issues with any folders appearing in the wrong installation directory.

Are you able to remember the exact steps you followed while updating?
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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BigMike
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by BigMike »

Hi,

- I always use the PDF-XChange PRO ZIP package, not the installer for the Editor
- I did the upgrade from version 7.0.328.0 to 8.0.330.0
- I used custom install and changed the installation directory for all installed components (Editor, Tools, Printer, Shell Extension)
- I didn't install the Updater
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello BigMike,

I managed to reproduce this, It seems that it is caused by an overlooked feature. In the past, each product was self contained, but we now have common folders that hold onto shared files. This helps to reduce download sizes as well as overall space consumed on the drive. The downside to this however is that when performing a custom installation, if all pieces of the software are not set to be installed in the same directory, the common folders are unsure where to put themselves, so they run to the default installation directory.

In the future we will be looking to a few possible options for how to negate this issue, but it will likely not be resolved with the upcoming 330.1 update.

For the time being, you can avoid this by changing the installation directory to your desired folder before clicking "custom install" this will set that directory for all installed components, and will allow the common and vault folder to appear in the correct location. After that, you can change the names of the folders that each component will be stored in, but not the root directories themselves. Basically installing the whole shebang as a single package an ensuring that all files arrive in the same location.
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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BigMike
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by BigMike »

Thank you for the hint. I will try this with the next update.
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by Will - Tracker Supp »

:)
If posting files to this forum, you must archive the files to a ZIP, RAR or 7z file or they will not be uploaded.
Thank you.

Best regards

Will Travaglini
Tracker Support (Europe)
Tracker Software Products Ltd.
http://www.tracker-software.com
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BigMike
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by BigMike »

Hi,

I just updated to version 8.0.331.0 using the ZIP installer package.
The hint to change the default installation directory before choosing the "Custom Installation" didn't help.

The "Common" and the "Vault" directory are still placed in the default location %ProgramFiles%\Tracker Software
The "Common" directory is still not detected by the different programs, so localisation doesn't work by default.
The Editor creates it's own "Common" directory in <Editor Installation Folder> if you download additional OCR languages (which you have to, since the default ones aren't detected in %ProgramFiles%\Tracker Software\Common\Tesseract are not detected).

If I move the "Common" directory from %ProgramFiles%\Tracker Software to <My Custom Base Installation Folder> it seems to work as intended.

Please get the installer fixed, such that I can select a custom path for all components, also the shared ones and that these paths are remembered.
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello BigMike,

We most likely will not be offering the ability to place all folders in separate locations for long. Accounting for this is highly complex, currently we are able to get by with relative paths and not much trouble, but that does not work if the common directory is stored in another location.
In cases like that we would need to setup some measures to indicate where the shared common folders are, this would cause further issues if that folder is ever moved.
In light of this, we are looking at a few different approaches, but the most likely one we will follow is to have a single selection for the installation directory, and all files, (Editor, Tools, Common, etc) will always go into that folder, without offering the option to segregate parts of the installation to their own areas.

As I mentioned before, if All of the installed modules go into the same folder, then the common and Vault folders will end up there as well, it is only if you change the modules to have different install locations that the Common folder cannot decide where to go, and then gets placed in the default location.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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Our Web site domain and email address has changed as of 26/10/2023.
https://www.pdf-xchange.com
Support@pdf-xchange.com
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BigMike
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by BigMike »

Hello Daniel,

thank you for your quick and honest response.
TrackerSupp-Daniel wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2019 6:00 pm In light of this, we are looking at a few different approaches, but the most likely one we will follow is to have a single selection for the installation directory, and all files, (Editor, Tools, Common, etc) will always go into that folder, without offering the option to segregate parts of the installation to their own areas.
That would be ok for me, but as it is now with version 8, I end up in a broken installation, after using valid installation options in your installer GUI. That's worse than in version 7, where I had to change the installation folders every update, but the installation itself was fine.
TrackerSupp-Daniel wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2019 6:00 pm As I mentioned before, if All of the installed modules go into the same folder, then the common and Vault folders will end up there as well, it is only if you change the modules to have different install locations that the Common folder cannot decide where to go, and then gets placed in the default location.
I do a custom installation with custom components, but all to the same (custom) installation folder. That fails.
Your suggestion is to do a default installation with all components to a custom installation folder.
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello Bigmike,

Apologies for that, I am sorry that we cannot do anything for the current installers, but we are working on the solution for an upcoming build. Until then, I am sorry for the inconveniences caused.

All the best,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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Our Web site domain and email address has changed as of 26/10/2023.
https://www.pdf-xchange.com
Support@pdf-xchange.com
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BigMike
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by BigMike »

Ok, I'll probably go with the default install into a custom directory until the improved installers are there.

Thank you.
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Setup doesn't respect previous installation directory on update

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

:D
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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Our Web site domain and email address has changed as of 26/10/2023.
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