Article Number 108


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Troubleshooting Installation Issues

The information in this article applies to:
All Home Designer programs


DESCRIPTION

This troubleshooter if followed closely will resolve most problems with installation of Home Designer products, such as issues where a multiple program or tutorial disk installation will not recognize the second or other subsequent disk.



RESOLUTION

Attempt each section in order. Be sure to follow the last section to restore your system after the install is complete.

Most install problems are caused by other programs or services running in the background. Often these programs or services are factory installed and can cause install problems even on new computers.

NOTE: Installation on Microsoft Windows 95, Windows NT, and Unix based sytems is not supported.

Macintosh minimum system requirements for the current version of Home Designer software products can be located online at: http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/products/sysreq.html




Installation instructions for Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, XP, ME or 98

NOTE: When using Microsoft Windows XP Professional or Media Center edition, you must be logged in to Windows as a user with sufficient privileges. Contact your network administrator if you are unsure about your user rights.



  1. Close all programs and return to the Windows desktop.


  2. In Windows 7 and Vista: Click the Start button and select the Search field



    In Windows XP: Click Start and click Run to display the Run dialog.




  3. In Windows 7 and Vista: In the Search field, type MSCONFIG.  You will see this as a program displayed in the field above, which you can select, or simply press the Enter key on your keyboard.


    In Windows XP: Type MSCONFIG in the Open: field and click OK.




  4. The System Configuration dialog will open.  By default, the General tab should be displayed.  If it is not, select it.


  5. Click Selective Startup.


  6. Uncheck Load Startup Group Items.

    In Windows 7 and Vista:





    In Windows XP:



    NOTE: If the Load Startup Group Item (or Load Startup Items) is grayed-out, the Startup Group has been customized at some point. Click the Startup tab at the top and record the startup items that are checked so this customized configuration can be restored after the installation.


  7. Select the Services tab and place a check mark in Hide Microsoft Services then go through and remove checkmarks from the remaining, non-Microsoft services, that are listed.

    In Windows 7 and Vista:




    In Windows XP:




  8. Click Apply and click OK.


  9. Click Yes when prompted to restart the computer.


  10. When the computer restarts and the Windows desktop returns, insert the software install CD or DVD into the appropriate drive.   Auto Play will begin.

    If you purchased a software download and do not have physical media, at this point you will need to launch the software's installer from the location that you saved it to on your computer.

If setup fails using auto play, and you have physical media, follow these steps to run setup directly from the CD/DVD:


To run the installation directly from the CD/DVD:
  1. Insert the CD or DVD into the appropriate CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.


  2. If auto play starts, choose to exit this window without installing. (leave the CD or DVD in the drive)


  3. Right click on the Windows Start button and choose Explore.


  4. In the menu tree find the CD or DVD drive and expand the folder. You should see several files and folders on the CD.



  5. Find the folder labled Install and open it.


  6. Next, locate the setup application file and double click it to run.

    It may be labled setup or setup.exe in version 7 and prior, or labeled as the program name with an .msi extension for version 8 and newer programs, depending on the settings on your system.


  7. Follow the on screen prompts to complete the installation.


  8. Once the installation is complete, follow the steps below to restore the system to its original configuration, again for Windows XP, ME, and 98.


To restore your system to its original configuration:

  1. Close all programs and return to the Windows desktop.


  2. Click Start then Run.


  3. Type "MSCONFIG" in the Open: field.


  4. Click OK. The System Configuration Utility dialog will open.


  5. Next, refer to the list of items that you previously recorded and check the box next to each item on the list for the General tab or Startup tab or both.


  6. Click Apply then click OK.


  7. Click Yes when prompted to restart the computer.


In addition, when installing on Microsoft Windows Vista and newer:

When the program is installed on Windows Vista and newer Microsoft operating systems, the installation may not appear to complete, and the computer restarts spontaneously. Usually the program is installed correctly and you can launch it and begin work.

If a message saying, "You must be an administrator to install this program" displays, right click on the program icon and select "Run as Administrator" from the menu. If you complete the registration process, you should be able to start the program normally after this.



MORE INFORMATION
For more information on Clean Booting Windows please refer to the following Microsoft® Knowledge Base articles:

Last updated on: 10-07-2009