19 replies to this topic

[rodrocket]

I recently installed the latest version of Roxio easy CD & DVD burning on my xp machine.  I got Roxio Photoshow, DIVX Plus converter, DIVX Plus player and DIVX movies, nof of which I care about.  I can't find any reference to the Roxio central page that the little getting started guide shows.  Nowhere on my desktop is easy CD & DVD burning mentioned.  Any ideas or should I reinstall last years version?  Thanks for any ideas.  Rodrocket.

[Brendon]

What actual version number do you have, Rodrocket? If you go to the Home menu, Tools > About this software you should see a box with the version and build numbers shown. What are they? [don't quote the serial number] The version should be 10.3 or better.

"Nowhere on my desktop is easy CD & DVD burning mentioned."

Do you not see a little icon like this there?

What do you see when you run the main program?  Something like this? [an earlier version]



I think that's what they call Roxio Central in the manual.

Regards,
Brendon

[rodrocket]

Brendon, First, thanks for your prompt reply.  In answer to your questions there is no home screen, only 4 icons on my desktop mentioned in my first post.  I am familiar with the screen you show, I have had 2 earlier versions installed.  There is no hint of Roxio easy CD & DVD burning anywhere.  The red box was sealed and the disk inside is clearly labeled "Roxio easy CD & DVD burning"  The disk is copyrighted 2004-2011 Sonic solutions.  If I hadn't already seen and used the software I wouldn't know I have a problem but would really be confused by the getting started guide.  There is no home screen on any of the modules installed that has a tools choice.
I realize this no help to you recognize my problem but I suspect I have a mislabeled product from Roxio.  Thanks again  Rodrocket

[Brendon]

Hi again Rodrocket,

If the program has installed properly, you should have that black icon which is borrowed from EMC10. Easy CD and DVD Burning version 10 is a modified subset of Easy Media Creator 10 [EMC10].

The Home application or Roxio Central lives at "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Roxio Shared\10.0\Roxio Central36\Main\Roxio_Central36.exe", and when run should give you a home screen as we discussed. The 'Applications' menu item should show you this screen with these applications:



Going to the Start button > All Programs should show you these two items. The 'Roxio' item shows Roxio Burn, and the Easy CD & DVD Burning startup item should show BackOnTrack and Easy CD & DVD Burning, like so








To help you determine if you do have the right software, here are the files and folders you should find in the C:\Program Files\Roxio folder. Ignore the dates since many of them will be install dates, but you should see the same file and folder names, and sizes.




Would you please check your machine for these things, and come back to me? If necessary, I can hunt up my installer and tell you what files should be seen there.

Thanks,
Brendon

[rodrocket]

Brendon, First. My program files\roxio folder contains many of the folders in your example but not all and a few not on your list.  It contains no other entries, only folders.
The tree you suggested to the executable file stops at \roxio central36 and I could not find the executable file anywhere.
I don't have the icon you show.and none of the 4 icons I have produce anything resembling the proper menu. I have reinstalled the package once and it came out the same as the first time.  The red box is the roxio easy CD & DVD burning we're all familiar with and was sealed and the cd has the same label but I think I didn't get the right product.  
     Thanks again for your help,  Rodrocket

[myguggi]

rodrocket, on 29 March 2012 - 10:42 AM, said:

Brendon, First. My program files\roxio folder contains many of the folders in your example but not all and a few not on your list.  It contains no other entries, only folders.
The tree you suggested to the executable file stops at \roxio central36 and I could not find the executable file anywhere.
I don't have the icon you show.and none of the 4 icons I have produce anything resembling the proper menu. I have reinstalled the package once and it came out the same as the first time.  The red box is the roxio easy CD & DVD burning we're all familiar with and was sealed and the cd has the same label but I think I didn't get the right product.  
Thanks again for your help,  Rodrocket

Why not post a screenshot or list of what is on your disc?

[ogdens]

rodrocket, on 29 March 2012 - 10:42 AM, said:

Brendon, First. My program files\roxio folder contains many of the folders in your example but not all and a few not on your list.  It contains no other entries, only folders.
The tree you suggested to the executable file stops at \roxio central36 and I could not find the executable file anywhere.
I don't have the icon you show.and none of the 4 icons I have produce anything resembling the proper menu. I have reinstalled the package once and it came out the same as the first time.  The red box is the roxio easy CD & DVD burning we're all familiar with and was sealed and the cd has the same label but I think I didn't get the right product.  
Thanks again for your help,  Rodrocket

Please verify what version you really have, read post #2 again for how to provide this info.

[Brendon]

rodrocket, on 29 March 2012 - 10:42 AM, said:

the cd has the same label but I think I didn't get the right product.  

Rodrocket,

Okay, we'd better have a look at your installer disc contents. The easiest way to tell you have Version 9 is that it has Drag to Disc, just like EMC 9, but that's probably the previous version you that mentioned that you had been using.

Here are the contents of version 9.0  and version 10.3, in that order. You should have version 10.3 - when you OPEN the disc in your drive, does its contents match my 10.3?

Version 9.0.554  


Version 10.3  



Regards,
Brendon

[rodrocket]

Brendon, there is no home on any of the screens to look for a version.
Roxio has confirmed my suspicions,  what I have is apparently the second disk of another application with the wrong label in the wrong box.  Let's consider this one closed until I return it and get another one.
Thank you both for your helpful replies and also for the promptness.    Rodrocket

     ps  stuff happens doesn't it?

[Brendon]

rodrocket, on 29 March 2012 - 03:16 PM, said:

Brendon, there is no home on any of the screens to look for a version.

Understood.  That's why I was approaching that question from the file/directory angle, since I actually have both versions.

Quote

Roxio has confirmed my suspicions,  what I have is apparently the second disk of another application with the wrong label in the wrong box.  Let's consider this one closed until I return it and get another one.
Thank you both for your helpful replies and also for the promptness.    Rodrocket

     ps  stuff happens doesn't it?

That's fine. I expect you'll be off like a rocket once you get the new disc.

Yeah, it sure DOES happen!!

Brendon

[rodrocket]

I spoke hastily!  I returned the product and got a replacement and installed it wit the same results.  My cd is mostly the same as version 10.3 except that it has about 5 additional files but is lacking 2 files: redbox10.3.serial.txt and setup.exe.  Do you think not having setup.exe might be a clue?  I can't really believe the store (Office Depot) got in a whole batch of product with faulty disks but my situation is not special.  I run an emachine with XP professional up to date with about 10% disk usage.
The people at Roxio are also helping me and they think it is strange also.  The bad thing is that I know what I'm looking for assuming that the menus are similar to the earlier versions.  What would someone do who got this without a clue.  They would be dead in the water and couldn't do anything.  Thanks again for your help and I will keep you posted whatever the outcome.    Rodrocket

[Brendon]

Ooops [grin] The serial.txt file is one _I_ put there, so that I wouldn't lose it. It's my backup disc, and I stored the serial in there. I write the serial on the original with a sharpie.  Please forget that file.

That first directory you look at when you open the disc is called the 'root', and you should have a setup.exe and a setup.dcf in there. Since many Windows systems automatically disable autorun nowadays, the safe user with autorun disabled has to have something he can start the installation with.
So how did you start the install procedure? Could your setup.exe be marked as a "system" file, and therefore be invisible if you have the wrong settings enabled in Windows?

Please check this:
-run 'My Computer'[Windows Explorer] and open the disc.
-in the top toolbar of Windows Explorer click Tools > Folder Options >View and then make sure the three items I've marked show the same as mine:
Show hidden files & folders is clicked, Hide extensions is unchecked, and so is Hide protected files.



Now have a good look in the root of the disc for a copy of setup.exe

Regards,
Brendon

[rodrocket]

Brendon, I thought I had my view settings just as you suggested but when I had to replace my c drive a couple of years ago I didn't re check the settings and haven't had the need to check.
I usually use the autorun option and it usually works.  I do see setup.exe and setup.dcf on my roxio disk.  I would think that was opened by the autorun program and the result was what I have explained but maybe not?

[Brendon]

Okay Rodrocket.

We were looking for indications as to what version you had, and we got slightly sidetracked in post #11 when you said you didn't have a setup.exe in there. We've located that, so back to version.

Can you confirm please that your installer disc has the same named folders as my version 10.3 display? Particularly the numbers at the end of foldernames?
If they're not the same, how are they different?
What date does the folders show?

Regards,
Brendon

[rodrocket]

Brendon, My disk has all of the folders on your 10.3 and all with the same numbers.  The date modified on all folders is 18 Feb 2011.
My setup.dcf file has 29kb and was modified on 18 Feb 2011 and my setup.exe has 3802kb and was modified on 19 Nov 2010.
I also have a few folders that you don't show:DIVX playback, ps_ecd_express10 and mstrid.txt.
So, should we conclude that I have version 10.3?
Hope this info helps,  Rodrocket

[Brendon]

Rodrocket,

Okay I think we can be pretty sure that you have Easy CD & DVD Burning 10.3, although it will be a later build number than mine.

Since the 10.3 is a cut-down EMC 10 specially modified to run under Windows 7, your problem isn't a basic incompatibility with Win 7, but is most likely to be a failed install.

I've not had this problem personally and can't duplicate it, so I can't point to anything in particular which I know will cause the problem. My best suggestion at this point has to be a broad-brush approach:-

[1] Do as much as you can of the clean uninstall procedure for EMC 10 in Vista, since your product is a modified EMC 10 and the Vista uninstall is the closest thing Roxio has to a Windows 7 uninstall.
The knowledgebase article for that is HERE.
Since the EMC 10 uninstall is for modified software on Windows 7 there will be parts which you can't find or which don't apply. Just follow the procedure as best you can.

[2] Perform the general "Prep Steps" for Roxio installations as painstakingly as you can.
They are found HERE.

[3] Reinstall Easy CD & DVD Burning.


I'm sorry I can't point you straight to the broken bit, but those procedures should give you the best chance of getting a happy install on your machine.

Best wishes and regards,
Brendon

[rodrocket]

Tilt, This is all good info Brendon but I'm using XP pro sp3.  The windows uninstaller goes to the Roxio uninstaller which shows that I'm installed but it hangs up in a circle jerk.  I's used a product called Revo uninstaller successfully and re tried once with the same results.  I can't believe that I'm the only one with this problem.  There is nothing special about my machine on my other installed software that would cause a conflict.  I will check my drivers as suggested by your post link and try one more time but I've about had it.
     Thanks again  for your help,  Rodrocket

[Brendon]

Sorry Rodrocket,

Yes, I was believing you had it installed in Windows 7. Doh!! It's still a failed or broken install.

For EMC 10 installed under XP, please ignore the Vista link in [1] above and use the XP link HERE.

Regards,
Brendon

[rodrocket]

Brendon,

Finally after using several uninstall services and manually searching for all files having to do with roxio or sonic I came up with a clean system and was able to install the package and come up with the proper icons.  Of course I also got the 3 divx icons which I have no interest in.  I wish they would give you a choice at install but of course they want you to upgrade.
When I start the program it attempts to install a Roxio express labeler 3 program and of course there is nothing to install.  It asks for a disk but wont read my install disk at that point.  I am able to cancel the process but it is a nuisance and of course not right.
Do you have any insight on this problem?
Lastly, I can't believe anybody would put out a product that does such a crappy job of installing itself.  I know it is very complex but it took longer than anything else I have put on my box.  However, that's not my problem.  My problem is the uninstaller is so weak.  They know what programs and files and registry entries they put on a system.  Why can't they do a better job of cleaning them out?  They must know that many users of this product are reinstalling.  There should at least be a disclaimer to check for leftovers.  Many people are uneasy getting into the bowels of their computer to undo someone else s crap.  At least Roxio's site which you steered me to was a big help.
Really lastly, Brandon, I made my living for over 30 years writing and managing software for small companies for accounting and manufacturing applications and I don't believe I could have gotten by with telling my users to figure it out and good luck!  Anyway enough venting.  Thanks again four worthy insights.  Rodrocket

[Brendon]

Hello Rodrocket,

Custom Install: Would be very nice, but this is "reduced function" software sold relatively cheaply and they do really want you to buy the full suite when you tire of the limitations of this version.

Won't read install disk during install: Not a common problem, but the cure is to copy the entire install disc to HD and install from there. If the disc is so bad that you can't copy it, you have to go back to them for a replacement.

General difficulty in installing: This has been a problem for some time now, although they are working hard on it. I think that Creator 2012 is a little better than previous versions. You're correct in saying that stuff left behind causes most problems. Perhaps the new owners can put more emphasis on this.

Regards,
Brendon