Salient Soft

During installation, I received the following error message:-

“The installer is unable to instantiate the file …{…}\KEY_XE.REG”

The installation was mostly correct but I was unable to access the getting started/home page.

This post here details a workaround for the issue but this did not  work for me.

In the end, I recreated the Get_Started.url file under (in my case) E:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\11.2.0\server.

This contained a parameter placeholder for the HTTP port, and I just edited the correct port in directly. Note that for some reason it was not possible to change the existing shortcut. I had to delete it and create a new one of the same name, which then worked fine.

Whilst doing this, I also changed the HTTP port that the web interface listens on. This is done by running a stored procedure, and is detailed in both this post and also this alternative post. Both posts detail the same method.

Note also for XE 11g R2 that the getting started page (which corresponds to the old 10g home page) no longer has the means to create schemas or to run sql queries. Schemas/users can be created via SQLplus, or via TOAD or SQLDeveloper.

Note that TOAD 8 is not compatible with 11g. The latest free TOAD now lasts for a year and is excellent with plenty of functionality, albeit with an occasional nag/advert for the paid version. The paid version is around $800 for a seat which is very high for a SQL development tool, even if it is a good one. Note that the free TOAD is available from Toad World here, but is not available from the main Quest Software site – this appears to be a marketing decision to keep the free version out of sight from people who may be persuaded to part with money for the paid one. I should not complain too much as they are after all providing an excellent free tool.

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Previously this had been an issue as the PC would sleep during the validation of a Backup, so I manually switched to an Always On power plan.

With the current PC build I was using, the PC would hang and not shut down cleanly if it was put into sleep and woken whilst an eSATA drive was attached to the 2-port STARTECH card I was using. Providing the PC did not sleep, all was fine.

I therefore looked for a means of automatically switching to always on for Backup runs. Rather than switch back to the normal power plan automatically after the backup, I elected to leave Always On set and switch back to normal on every startup. This way, I would be sure that if I still had the eSATA drive connected after a backup, the pc would not sleep.

This Acronis forum post which refers to this instructional pdf detail a workaround to the problem, which involves coding a batch file to switch power plans, and calling it as a pre/post custom command in Acronis in the backup settings.

In addition, as I wanted to set the plan back to normal at boot time, I used the technique from this StackOverflow post which worked correctly. Originally I had tried using a scheduled task triggered at boot time, but it refused to run and did not give a reason why.

My registry settings file, batch files, and vbs script are listed below for reference. Note that the GUIDS correspond to the particular power plans, and are unique for each one and different for each pc – see the above pdf for details of how to list the power plans with their corresponding GUIDs.

This fixed the problem, but I remain unimpressed that Acronis does not handle this automatically or have a setting for it in a backup definition. You can tell it to prevent sleep for scheduled backup runs, but not for manually initiated ones.

SetPowerPlanNormal.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
"SetPowerPlanNormal"="wscript.exe \"C:\\System Management\\RunInvisibleBatchFile.vbs\" \"C:\\System Management\\SetPowerPlanNormal.bat\""

RunInvisibleBatchFile.vbs

CreateObject("Wscript.Shell").Run """" & WScript.Arguments(0) & """", 0, False

SetPowerPlanNormal.bat

:: Change Power Plan to Normal.
::
@ECHO OFF
POWERCFG -SETACTIVE ccaec46d-cbf8-42af-9e8f-ab66182942f7
::
@EXIT

SetPowerPlanAlwaysOn.bat

:: Change Power Plan to AlwaysOn.
::
@ECHO OFF
POWERCFG -SETACTIVE 499ab33e-0735-4605-8ccc-98211478164b
::
@EXIT

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Update 15/5/2012

Further to the issues below, whilst I could run Sage satisfactorily for the most part, some features still needed ODBC to be working, such as Invoice preview and VAT return printing.

After a couple of attempts I was able to setup ODBC after the event by running E:\Salient Soft\Accounts\Sage\Instant Accounts\ODBC32\Disk1\Setup.exe. This allowed ODBC setup/install even after Sage had been installed.

Sage was happy even though there was no mention of the ODBC driver or connection for Sage under Administrative Tools/Data Sources (ODBC). The real underlying issue was not discovered, but the problem was finally resolved.

I was then able to successfully print a VAT return and preview invoices, which previously had failed.

Original Post

This was a reinstall using a fresh windows install, but the same location for Sage on a data disk. The following issues were hit:-

1. On install, it hung at the point where it said “Setup is configuring the ODBC”
2. I tried installing from a shortcut to the CD, with administrator mode set and Windows XP compatibility of various flavours, but the same error persisted.
3. I then tried removing the “ODBC files” option from the (custom) install. This changed the problem – the install now hung at the point where it said “configuring MIS files”.
4. I then did another custom install removing everything that I did not need, including ODBC, MIS support, E-Banking, web/email templates etc.
5. This time, the install finished successfully. Furthermore, Sage ran fine even though I had not told it to “configure the ODBC”.

Note that it is possible that the previous duff installs did configure ODBC and that the final install was dependant on the previous ones to work. This should be borne in mind if trying again. However, all the installed files for Sage were all there anyway as this was a reinstall – I was only doing it to install the windows/registry settings/shortcuts etc. that Sage needed.

I did not try a new install to a new directory as I did not need to – this may have worked, but I cannot say. If so, it may be possible to import or copy the old company data into a new install. A quick look at the menus and a quick google did not reveal any obvious way to do this, but a judicios copy may work.

Note also that this issue did not occur the first time I installed on Windows 7 64. This first time was also an install over an existing Sage installation copied from Windows XP.

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