Now You're Cooking! Tip - February 2008

February 2008

Understanding NYC Installation in Windows Vista

The Windows Vista operating system is considerably different than XP and previous versions. NYC v5.80 and higher install and run very well in Vista. This Tip helps you understand some things you need to know about how NYC installations in Vista.

Vista Installation - NYC 5.80 and Later

NYC 5.80 was the first NYC version designed to run smoothly in Vista. By default, on Vista NYC 5.80 and higher versions install into the folder:

“<drive>:\Program Files\FFTS\NycXXX”

where <drive> is the default drive and XXX is a version number (e.g., 583, which stands for v5.83). With User Account Control turned on (Vista default), Vista does not allow any program to write to the Program Files folder after installation. Thus, your user files cannot remain in Program Files. Accordingly, upon first launch on a Vista PC, NYC copies files it needs to be able to change (including your user files and some NYC files) to appropriate folders outside Program Files. This copying of files on first launch occurs only on PCs with Vista (not those with XP), and it occurs even if the user installs NYC to a path other than \Program Files.

The exact location where NYC files and user files are written depends on the user’s response to a prompt on first launch that asks if you want to be able share your cookbooks with other users of the same PC. The two possible paths where the program and user files are copied on first launch are described below.

If the user elects to share cookbooks with other users of the same PC:

NYC files (e.g., the Help file “nyc.chm”) are copied to “<drive>:\Users\Public\FFTS\NycXXX”

NYC user files (e.g., your cookbooks) are copied to “<drive>:\Users\Public\FFTS\NycXXX\user”

If the user elects NOT to share cookbooks with other users of the same PC:

NYC files (e.g., nyc.chm help file) are copied to “<drive>:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\FFTS\NycXXX”

NYC user files (e.g., your cookbooks) are copied to “<drive>:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\FFTS\NycXXX\user”

These are the folders recommended by Microsoft for installation of programs on PCs running Vista. If any of these folders already exist, then NYC will not copy NYC files and user files, but will assume that this has already been done in a previous installation of the same version.

With NYC 5.80+, you can see what paths your NYC and user files are in by using Tools… Options… User Folder tab. All relevant folders are listed. As with previous NYC versions, the user folder can be moved using this window.

The NYC executable and a copy of original installed files are kept in Program Files. Since these original files in \Program Files are never changed (only copied), they will all be removed if you uninstall NYC.

Vista Installation - NYC 5.77 and Earlier

NYC versions 5.77 and earlier were not developed for Vista, but they will work well on Vista if you pay attention to certain details. We suggest you use one of the following approaches to install NYC 5.77 and earlier versions on Vista:

Approach 1: (recommended)

1. Install NYC into “c:\Users\Public\Nyc577” .

Approach 2:

1. Install NYC into a root folder such as “c:\Nyc577” .

Approach 3:

1. Install NYC into the default folder (“c:\Program Files\Nyc577”).

2. Right click on the NYC desktop icon. In Properties, select “Run As Administrator”.

Any of the above approaches will allow NYC 5.77 to work in Vista, accessible to all users. Approach 1 or 2 are recommended because with Approach 3, the “Run As Administrator” selection must be repeated from time to time. Also, File… Upgrade… with Program Files folder installations will not work properly (Vista prevents files from being copied over from an old installation into the Program Files folder, so they are put into the user’s VirtualStore folder under “\Users\Username\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\FFTS\NycXXX“. Many programs not designed for Vista will have trouble working well with the VirtualStore folder.

You can turn off this Vista VirtualStore processing and the Allow/Cancel popups and permit programs to write to \Program Files by turning off Vista’s User Account Control. To turn off Vista’s User Account Control, select Start… Control Panel… Add or Remove User Accounts… Go to the main User Accounts page… Turn User Account Control on or off… .

Users should also note that the NYC 5.77 Help file will not open in Vista, as .hlp files are no longer supported in Vista. Vista can open .hlp files only if you download and install WinHlp32.exe (Windows Help engine) from Microsoft at this site.

Upgrading NYC on a Vista PC

When you install a new version of NYC, you should run the new version and use File… Upgrade… to bring over/upgrade user files (including registration info and cookbooks) from your previous installation. In the blue textbox on the Upgrade window, you need to specify the folder location where your previous NYC was installed (use the Browse… button to find its folder path). Don’t specify the previous version’s user folder; rather specify where the NYC executable was installed (usually the Program Files folder). NYC will then find the location of the user folder on its own.

After the File… Upgrade…, use File… Open Cookbook… to see all cookbooks in your folder. Note that incoming cookbooks may be slightly renamed to avoid name conflicts (e.g., RECIPES may be changed to RECIPE1, etc). After a couple weeks, when you are sure you have everything, you can remove your previous version's folder.

Uninstalling NYC from Vista

The NYC uninstall program (“unwise.exe”) only uninstalls files that it originally created and that you have not changed. The uninstall will not delete any files that you have added or that have changed since installation.

NYC itself creates 2 folders on first execution, so you need to remove these manually after you uninstall NYC. These 2 folders include the install folder:

usually “c:\Program Files\FFTS\NycXXX”)

and the folder with files that get changed, which is either the public location:

“<drive>:\Users\Public\FFTS\NycXXX”

or the private location:

“<drive>:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\FFTS\NycXXX”

depending on whether you chose public or private on first launch of NYC after installation.

Known Vista issues

Help Files

NYC 5.80+ includes HTML Help which Vista supports, whereas previous versions of NYC include .hlp files which Vista no longer supports without an extra download of the WinHlp32 engine. See this MS Knowledge Base article for details.

Common Dialog (Color)

Vista defaults to a disabled Define Custom Colors button on the color dialog, but this has been worked around in NYC 5.80+.

Uninstalling NYC from Vista PC

The NYC uninstall program currently leaves the entry “Now You’re Cooking (empty)” in your Start Programs list. You can remove this manually by right-click and delete. We are investigating a solution to this.

NYC cannot scan for C: drive folders when User Account Control is turned on.

As a result of this, the AutoFind button on the File… Upgrade… window is not displayed on NYC in a Vista environment.

IE7

When downloading, the Save As… dialog does not display the “\Users\USER\AppData” folder.

Printing on Vista

If network printing fails, make sure you have a Vista driver installed for the printer (locally or on the print server, or both).

If network printing works but is VERY slow, try setting up the printer as a local printer on the Vista PC, then changing the printer port from LPT1: to the network path. The network path for the printer will look something like this (\\printserverPC\printername). We have found that local printing to a port mapped to the network printer enables fast printing.

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