Windows Vista Compatibility Issues
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Problem:        Satellite Forms has some compatibility issues with Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows 7, outlined below.


A. Installation Issues


  1. Administrator privileges are required to install Satellite Forms on Windows Vista.


  1. When you install the Satellite Forms development package to a Windows Vista PC, then try to run the Satellite Forms MobileApp Designer (either from the desktop icon or from the Start menu or by launching an .sfa project file), an error message is displayed.  The error message states "AppDesigner: Unable to launch the application because a required file is missing. The file "AppDsn.tlb" cannot be found. Please reinstall Satellite Forms."



To resolve this issue, right click on the Satellite Forms desktop icon, and select "Run as administrator".  A "program needs your permission to continue" dialog should appear, MobileApp Designer should now start correctly.  You can now close MobileApp Designer, and should now be able to launch it normally from the desktop icon, or from the Start menu, or by launching an .sfa file without using "Run as administrator".


  1. If you install Satellite Forms into the Program Files folder, then try to compile one of the sample projects which are located in the \Program Files\Satellite Forms 7\Samples\Projects folder, you may be blocked from saving changes to the .sfa file.  Vista may report that "access is denied".  You can avoid this issue by installing Satellite Forms to the root of the C: drive instead of into Program Files, eg. C:\Satellite Forms 7. Disabling the Vista User Account Control may also resolve this issue.  Starting with Satellite Forms 7.2, the default installation folder is changed from C:\Program Files\Satellite Forms 7 to C:\Satellite Forms 7 in order to avoid this issue.



B. Operation Issues


  1. Windows Vista may prompt you for permission when running the RDKInst utility.  Prior to Satellite Forms 7.2, it may also state that RDKInst.exe is an "unknown application".  Starting with Satellite Forms 7.2, the RDKInst tool and other Satellite Forms EXE files are now signed with an autheticode certificate, so that the publisher is identified as Thacker Network Technologies Inc., avoiding the "unknown application" warning.


  1. Using the RDKInst utility to install prc/pdb files, or using the InstallPrcToPalmPilot function of the SatForms Hotsync ActiveX control, or using the Hotsync user management functions of the ActiveX control on Windows Vista (or on Windows XP with palm Desktop 6.2 and Hotsync 7.0.2) would usually fail, because Satellite Forms could not obtain the list of Hotsync users.  The list of users shown by the RDKInst tool would be blank.  This is resolved with Satellite Forms 7.2.



Status:        RESOLVED        Many of these issue are resolved with the release of Satellite Forms 7.2, or by following the instructions above.


Keywords:        Windows Vista, Hotsync, RDKInst, ActiveX, authenticode, administrator, AppDsn.tlb


KB ID: 10083 

Updated: 2010-06-22


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