IDAPI , BdeAdmin and Windows 7

Question

After many months of postponing it, this week, I finally started using a new Windows 7 Professional PC for actual development (which is 90% still done in Delphi 7 with some of these programs still using the Borland IDAPI to access Paradox files). The previous development pc was still an XP-one.

Every thing works except for one thing: somehow the settings of the IDAPI and BdeAdmin configuration files are messed up or they are read/written in different locations. To be more precise, it looks like two configuration files are active.

It must have something to do with rights or settings being read/written in the wrong folder or registry setting, but after searching for it for a couple of hours, I give up.

Anyone had any problems with this, before ? And if so, hopefully, has any one solved this problem ?

Thx for any thoughts/solutions ...

Answer 1

My guess is it has something to do with the fact that Vista and Windows 7 don't allow programs to change files under the C:\Program Files folder. They create a copy of those changed files in a virtual store, the process is known as virtualization. The copies end up in the hidden appdata folder of the user account and can be found in the Local\VirtualStore\Program Files folder. The structure in that folder reflects the one in the actual Program Files folder.

Programs that access their files in the Program Files folder using a "hardcoded" path, will always get the original - unchanged - file contents.

Solution: running the apps in a virtual XP system or upgrading the apps is probably your best bet.

You could try to run the apps elevated. That is: right click them and choose Run as Administrator. Please note that it isn't enough to be logged in as an administrator. Even administrators run all processes unelevated by default. Instead of right-clicking, you can also create a shortcut and set the Run as administrator for the shortcut - the checkbox for this is on the compatibility tab of the properties dialog. No guarantees though that this will alleviate the problem.

Answer 2

Since IIRC D7 setup allows you to configure paths in multiple ways, maybe simply do a reinstall outside "program files"?

Afaik this solves several vista/w7 problems.