Can't Install newer version of EFAX Messenger

Greetings, hbrecher !

Create another Administrator account with full privileges and install EFAX again.  Temporarily turn of antivirus and antispyware programs when installing.

Best wishes!

I'll try it.  Will let you know the results.

Thanks, Hugh

Dear War1,

I did exactly as you suggested; created a new administrator account, but saw nothing there about "full privleges"; I assumed that such privliges are included in an administrator account. I shut off the anti-virus, anti-spyware and, for good measure, temporarily turned off my firewall.

When creating the new account there was an error message that was not on screen for long, but it said something about "isetup" not being able to be initialized or installed.

The installation of EFAX failed with this exact message:
"Installation failed.
Setup cannot access files on your computer.  Please ensure that you have the proper user privliges for Setup to run on this computer."

In an attempt to put it on my main system I then downloaded and installed it to my secondary system and then copied the entire directory to a USB flash drive and then put it in it's own directory on my main system.  When I tried to run it there was a message that it could not access an important "resource".  It did not run.

Thank you for your suggestion, it is really appreciated.  Maybe the above information has some clues that might inspire another attempt at a cure for my problem.

Thanks, Hugh

Try installing it *with* the startup stuff. I suspect there's a weakness in the installation that prevents it from installing if you answer NO.

Once it's installed, you can easily remove the auto-start. First check your Startup - if it's there, delete it from there (right-click & choose Delete). If it's not there, it's in the registry. Do Start/Run/Regedt32 to start the registry editor. BE CAREFUL - you can screw things up if you're not paying attention! Find the entry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run - this will have a list of stuff that starts automatically at boot time. Find the entry for the E-fax software, highlight it, double-check that this is the entry, and then hit the delete key. If it's not there, it'll be in the user data: find the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Currentversion\Run and find it there.

I made several additional attempts to install while answering YES to the same question about it starting with windows.

The heart of the problem is that I still cannot install a NEW version of the EFAX software because saying "NO" to starting with windows BROKE something in my system that will not allow EFAX to access files on my system.  I may not be understanding this correctly, but I will examine the wording in the registry.

I'll let you know what I find.

Thanks, Hugh

Hi bpmurray,

I've closely examined the registry entries in the Local_Machine and the Current_User sections exactly as you described.  There are no EFAX entries there at all.

My guess is that there SHOULD be such an entry there and that it was deleted by the first failed attempt to install the software.  I'm going to examine my other machine that DOES have a working installation of the new EFAX software.

 If there is an EFAX entry there, would it be SAFE to duplicate it on my primary computer system?

Thanks, Hugh

Hi,

My other machine DOES have an EFAX entry in the registry.  It is here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

The details of the entry are these:
Name: eFax 4.1
Type: REG_SZ
Data:
"C:\Program Files\eFax Messenger 4..1\J2GDLLCmd.exe"/R

Now, I have duplicated the entire directory from my other machine and put it in the same location on my main machine.

Question: would it be safe for me to ADD the identical registry shown above to the same registry location, as shown above, in the registry of my MAIN machine that has no EFAX entries in RUN area of the registry?

Could this do any harm?

What are your thoughts about this approach?

Thanks, Hugh

Yes, you can add it. It simply says that when you boot Windows, it'll start Efax by executing the command line "C:\Program Files\eFax Messenger 4..1\J2GDLLCmd.exe"/R (are there really 2 dots in that name?). However since this is simply the boot, it shouldn't have any effect on installation.

You might try to see if you have an entry in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\eFax or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\j2 - the last part of this should really be the company name of whoever makes eFax. This is what describes how and what is installed.

No, there really are not 2 dots there, it is just a typo.  My eyes are bleary from lack of sleep and I didn't even notice it.  I will be VERY carefull when I edit the registry.

Maybe this will allow me to actually run the program and full directory that I copied from the other machine..maybe it was only missing a valid registry entry.

I'll let you know.

Thanks, Hugh

Update from Hugh:

I made the addition to the registry, rebooted to bring it into memory, and tried the executable file from the EFAX 4.1 directory that I copied from my other system.  No luck.  I got the identical error message that I was getting before:

"Installation failed.
Setup cannot access files on your computer.  Please ensure that you have the proper user privliges for Setup to run on this computer."

This is just so very frustrating.

Is there a software program that I can use to make a FULL backup of the directory from the other computer and RESTORE it to my main computer?  A few years ago I was using CleanSweep, by Quarterdeck, but that was before WinXP.

All other suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your efforts,

Hugh

Ahh - I just realized what the problem could be. You are already running a version of EFax: have you uninstalled the old one? If not, it probably has a service running that locks resources on the machine. Open Control Panel  and double-click on the "Administrative Tools" icon. Double-click on Services and you'll see a list of local services. See if any of these refer to EFax - if so look at the statis column - it's probably "started" - click on it to pop up the item & click on Stop. It should install OK now.

OK, I'll try.

Was just about to go out shopping for a program that would work as well as the CleanSweep program did.  I'll hold that till later.

Will let you know promptly.

Thanks, Hugh

Oh, forgot to mention; I don't dare to uninstall the old one as it is all I have working.
I will check the Admin Tools to see if there is an eFax icon in local services.  I'm willing to stop it as long as I can re-start it.

Also, the installation program DID find the earlier eFax installation and was trying to setup the newer version in a different directory.

Will let you know soon.

Thanks, Hugh

Update:

I found an entry that did not contain the name eFax, but did contain a reference to messenger and SPECIFIED that it was NOT the Microsoft Messenger program.  It was already DISABLED,STOPPED, so I enabled it and rebooted.

I tried the installation again and it failed with the original error message:
"Installation failed.
Setup cannot access files on your computer.  Please ensure that you have the proper user privliges for Setup to run on this computer."

The "Ghost" program may do what I need.  Am going out now to investigate.

Thanks for your continuing attempts to be helpful.  We will find a cure.

Hugh

Update: I ordered a copy of Norton Ghost for WinXP, retail version, only $34 + 4.95 shippng.  Regular price is $79 + shipping or, locally, $79 + tax, about $7.20 locally.
Ordered it from mymycrosource.com.  Good prices.

I really NEED a good backup/restore system anyhow.

I would STILL love to be able to cure this installation failure problem and will try almost anything that is SAFE to try.

Thanks again, Hugh

hbrecher,

Unistall EFax.  Use Windows Installer cleanup utility to remove the remaining bits.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=290301

Then reinstall EFax properly.

If I uninstall EFAX and the Windows Installer cleanup utility does not solve the problem I will then lose the OLD version of EFAX and will not have any version that I can use.

I really do appreciate your intention, but the consequences of failure here are greater than I am willing to risk. Is there a way that I can back up the existing, and operational,  EFAX installation so that I can safely follow your recommendations and then restore the old EFAX version if your suggestion does not work?

Thanks, Hugh

 

Well, you could rename the current EFAX directory., reboot and then try to install. It might work.

I may have tried that already, but on the chance that I did not I will try it later today.

Thanks for your input.

Hugh

I found actual source of the problem, removed it and the installation worked perfectly as soon as I tried it again.

After much annoyance and gnashing of teeth (well, almost), my searching for a cure led me to more closely examine "System Mechanic" ver 6.0.  It was a new upgrade installed before the EFAX installation problem began.

One of the utilities in this new version is "Startup Guard".  Startup Guard controls which programs and devices are permitted to startup with Windows.  One of the items blocked was this executable: J2GDllCmd.exe.  This file, apparently vital to EFAX's installation and running, was on the "blacklist" in the System Mechanic's Startup Guard.  

If this executable, J2GDllCmd.exe, had been given a name that made it clear that it was an EFAX related file then the source of the problem would have surfaced sooner.  I did find, however, that this very file was noted in the registry of my OTHER computer where EFAX installed well on the first attempt.  That computer is not running System Mechanic.

None of us considered that I might have had something loaded in my system that was blocking/preventing EFAX from installing.  The error message that EFAX sent was both wrong and misleading, it said exactly this:

            "Installation failed.
             Setup cannot access files on your computer.  Please ensure that you have
             the proper user privliges for Setup to run on this computer."

I suspected that this message was wrong because there were other recent installations that would require user privliges and they installed fine.

Anyhow, I want to thank you for working with me on this.  Your efforts enabled me to exclude potential sources of the problem and, therfore, narrow down the possible reasons for the failure of the installation.

Thank you very much,

Hugh

I'm delighted you found a solution - this is definitely something to be wary of in the future.

Hugh,

Glad you found the source of the problem.  System Mechanic can be very helpful, but has caused some problems.

You're both right.  Users should be wary of whatever is allowed to start with Windows and should, also, closely examine and try to understand the fine details when allowing or configuring the Setup Guard in System Mechanic.


Thanks again,  Hugh