Tom's Diary

I have a   PERL script   that installs software on a PC by   copying files   into the Program Files (X86) directory.  I’ve run this from a   Command Prompt.  for years without troubles on Windows XP.

Problem:

But when run on   Windows 7,   Access Denied  error messages display for every file the PERL script attempts to copy.

Solution:

One way I found to solve this problem is to set my Command Prompt to run as administrator.  Do that as follows:

1. Right-click your Command Prompt shortcut.  This causes the Command Prompt Properties window to appear.
2. Click the Shortcut tab in that window.  The available options in the window change accordingly.
3. Click the Advanced   button.  The Advanced Properties window then appears.
4. Make sure the Run As Administrator checkbox is checked.
5. Press the OK button to close the Advanced Properties window.  This action once again reveals the Command Prompt Properties window.
6. Then, back in the Command Prompt Properties window, click the Apply button.
7. Finally, press the OK button.  This closes the Command Prompt Properties window.

Now, when you open a Command Prompt, you’ll be prompted by Windows 7, asking if you want to allow this program to make changes to your computer.  Press the Yes button.  This closes the UAC window and takes you into the new Command Prompt window just opened.   Now you’re running it as an administrator.

At this point, I was able to run the heretofore offending PERL scripts in this Command Prompt window without further Access Denied error messages.

Be careful not to run other commands in this “super user” authorized Command Prompt window, lest you risk serious damage to your computer if the program(s) you run turn out to be malware.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts and Links

• Copying DTBs To NLS Player Cartridges
• Folder Sync Program

This year, as I’ve done every year since 2002-12-31, I’m DJing a New Years celebration party at Richard and Christine’s garage, in Sinking Valley.  I do not charge them, because this is my way of paying them back some, for all they do for me during the rest of the year.  Besides, it’s my way of ringing in the New Year, Hesley-style, with lots and lots of great-sounding   Tommy’s Tunes. 

In this post and the attached comments, I’ll mention all that I do over the next several weeks to prepare for this gig; everything from getting the computers ready and testing the sound and lighting equipment, to assuring that my hard drive-based library contains all the latest hits I’ve purchased this year. 

This will show that there’s a lot more involved with DJing a party than just sitting down, turning on the lights, and playing music when the get-together begins.  It’s not as simple as it looks.

So, enjoy. 

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Projects Page
• Today’s Business: 2010-11-16
• Today’s Business: 2011-01-26

Questions: How do you burn to the NLS digital player blank cassettes?  How do you copy a new talking book onto a blank NLS cartridge? Answers follow.

The blank cartridges available for the digital talking book (DTB) players from the National Library Service for the Blind (NLS) are actually just USB thumb drives housed in bigger-than-typical cases.  I’ve purchased some 2GB units in February of 2010 for approximately $11 each.  Their larger size makes them easier to handle for people with arthritis and other ailments of the arms, hands, and fingers, and these easier-to-hold memory cards come equipped with a USB A-style male connector on the end opposite the finger hole. So, you can copy files to and from them just as you would a CompactFlash, SD, SD HD, or other external storage device.  However, you will need to obtain a male-to-female USB-A cable for this, which you must purchase separately.  Further, your computer must be USB2.0-ready to get the fastest data transfer rates.  This really speeds things along if you’re copying long NLS books.  So avoid using USB1.1 ports if possible.

When you connect these cassette-like memory cards to your Windows computer, you should hear the ba-blunk sound of a new USB device being recognized.  Then, some seconds later, a new drive letter will appear in your Windows Explorer folder list once the system installs the drivers for the card.  At this point, you can use copy-paste, drag-and-drop, the command prompt’s COPY or XCOPY commands, or any other valid Windows key stroke sequence to transfer files to and from the card.

You can store any files on the card you wish; they need not be NLS DTB files.  However, in this piece, I’m focusing on transferring the DAISY-formatted DTB book files from the National Library Service for the Blind, Recordings for the Blind, and other vendors.  So I’ll not discuss other file types further here.

To copy a DTB recording onto these flash-style memory cards, perform the following steps:

1. First, download the book (as a ZIP file from the NLS BARD web site or other similar provider).  You’ll need to set up an account on the BARD site first through your nearest regional library for the blind.  But once you’ve received your account information, you can browse the library’s collection through your broadband Internet connection (recommended), and download any number of books to your computer as long as you have enough space on your hard drive for them.
2. Once you’ve obtained a DTB book you’d like to read, connect a cartridge to your computer as discussed above.
3. To minimize confusion, delete any files and folders that may be present on the card (say, from other books that you’ve listened to).
4. Then, in Windows Explorer, find the ZIP file of the book you with to copy to the cartridge.
5. Right-click that file, and a context menu will appear.
6. On that menu, choose the  Extract All…  item.  This runs the extraction wizard.
7. Click the  Next  button.  This brings up a window that allows you to choose the place to extract the DTB files in the original ZIP file to.
8. Press the   Browse   button. The   Select a destination  window should pop up.
9. In that window, navigate to the   My Computer   folder and open it.  Then, find and select the drive letter of the DTB cartridge you just connected above.  Press the  OK  button.  The  Select a destination  windows closes, and you’re taken back to the  Extraction Wizard  window, and you should observe the drive you chose appear in the   Files will be extracted to this directory   edit box.
10. To begin the extraction to the card, press the   Next   button.  At this point, a progress bar appears, and the files in the ZIP file are decompressed and copied to your cartridge.  The time it takes to perform the extraction depends on the reading time of the book.  The longer the book, the bigger its files are, and the bigger the files, the longer the extraction will take.  Average-sized books extract anywhere from within five to fifteen seconds.
11. Next, disconnect the card from your computer but first, it’s safest to use the   Safely Remove Hardware   wizard first to make sure that any open files on the card have been properly saved and closed before you unplug it.
12. Insert the card into your NLS DTB player and power the player on.  After a short pause, the title of the book should be announced.  If so, then you’ve successfully copied a talking book to your card, and you can then read and navigate through it just as you would the already-populated cartridges you get from NLS.

Happy reading, and take care.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• NLS DTB Player
• Solving Access Denied Errors in File Copying PERL Scripts in Windows 7
• Today’s Business: 2010-06-02

So, my nephew Grant complained on Friday that his IBM ThinkPad (Lenovo R60) laptop computer runs too slowly, and he asked if I could restore it to normal operation for him.  So, I took on the project; starting work on it this morning. 

11:20 AM: Verified that the ThinkPad does run quite slow; I observed nearly constant hard disk activity and slow screen drawing of windows and text.  Also, several warning messages popped up, saying that the machine has multiple viruses.  Yep, a drive-reformatting and complete re install of Windows XP should fix things up for him. 

11:30 AM: The computer would not boot from the first copy of the XP CD ROM I inserted.  So I played with the device boot order in the BIOS settings, placing the CD ROM drive as the first boot device.  Still though it wouldn’t boot from the CD ROM.

11:40 AM: So I tried a different copy of the XP CD ROM.  This solved the boot issue, and booting from CD finally worked. 

11:45 AM: I chose to delete the existing drive partition (there was only one, so no recovery partition to utilize).  Then, I created a new partition out of the entire free space available on the drive (roughly 38 GB). 

11:49 AM: The computer is now formatting the new partition to NTFS.  I did not choose the quick formatting option. So this could take a little while.

12:02 PM: Reformatting just finished.  It’s now copying the installation files to the freshly partitioned hard drive from the CD ROM.

12:06 PM: The file copying just finished and the ThinkPad is now rebooting.

12:07 PM: Now, it’s  preparing the installation. 

12:08 PM: Now, it’s  installing windows.

12:11 PM: Now it’s asking for Regional and Language Options.

12:12 PM: Entering the product key.

12:15 PM: It’s installing the network software now.

12:18 PM: It’s installing the   start menu items.

12:19 PM: Now, it’s   registering components.

12:21 PM: Saving settings.

12:24 PM: Rebooting.

12:26 PM: Created two users on this machine (Grant and his mother).

12:28 PM: Windows XP installation complete.  Next, I need to install the drivers for sound and Ethernet access.  But I’ll do that after lunch.  Stand by… 

12:50 PM: Located the drivers on the Lenovo site.  Burning them to CD ROM now. 

01:15 PM: Installed the Ethernet driver and network connectivity has been successfully established.   Now, I’m applying all XP service packs and updates, becuase the wireless driver will not install without a later XP service pack installed first. 

01:20 PM: Windows update, latest components just installed. Now rebooting…

01:24 PM: Now installing the XP Service Pack 2 update…

02:25 PM: XP Service Pack 2 just finished installing successfully.  Now installing XP Service Pack 3…  

03:30 PM: XP Service Pack 3 just finished installing successfully.  Now, I’m applying the remaining updates…

06:10 PM: All updates applied successfully. 

06:20 PM: Installed the WiFi adapter driver software. 

06:25 PM: Successfully installed the audio driver (this is the one that failed before upgrading to XP Service Pack 3).

06:40 PM: Successfully installed the Intel chip set drivers and programs from the Lenovo web site. 

07:00 PM: All work on this project is complete, and everything seems to be functioning properly except one   Unknown Device   that’s showing up in the Device Manager under  Other Devices.  This may be normal for this particular machine, and since the Ethernet, wireless Ethernet, HDD, video device, CD ROM, keyboard, and pointing device (all the important devices) are all working properly, I’m not going to bother tracking down this unknown device. 

I’ll let this computer run all night to “burn it in,” and if no problems surface, sister Christine will pick it up either tomorrow or Tuesday.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Garrett’s Computer Problen
• Pink’s PC Problems
• Projects Page
• Today’s Business: 2010-04-11

06:00 PM: Oh and how could I forget?  I got my first look at Windows 7 today when I went to Pink’s house to assist her with backup restorations.  She runs this OS on her laptop.  It uses many of the same sounds as Vista does, and also incorporates the “spinning circle” to let you know that it’s busy doing something. 

I’ll have to spring for a copy of this latest version of Windows.  This computer I’m writing on is due to be reformatted.  However, I’m not sure I want to put XP back on it again, because of all those updates that It would be behind; I have the initial version of XP on CD in my archives.  So once that’s reinstalled, I’d have to download all three service packs again, not to mention the well over a hundred updates.  Naaah.  I think I’ll get Seven, which has all those updates already built in (I hope).  

I purchased a new Vista-compatible PNY graphics card nearly two years ago for this computer, intending to put upgrade it to Vista.  But with all the reports circulating then about Vista being such a resource hog and so plagued with bugs and issues, I held off.   Actually, I’m sorry I did.  I run Vista on one two of my laptops and have experienced no stability or performance problems with it in my capacity as a DJ and writer.  I’ve been able to cooberate none of the Vista gripes in my environment. 

Even after the Vista service packs came out, I still delayed because Windows 7 was on the wind, and with it being so close to release last year, I didn’t want to upgrade this computer to Vista, and then have to do it again soon thereafter. 

But now, the time is right.  Yes, I could wait for Windows 7, Service Pack 1.  But now, I’m tired of waiting for stuff.    I’ll upgrade sometime in the next couple months.  You know what they say: If you wait too long, you end up waiting forever. 

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Today’s Business: 2010-03-18

01:55 PM: While syncing the music drives, per the   DJ Gig: 2009-12-31   effort, one of my external USB hard drives would not completely power up when connected to the computer through my Adaptec USB 2.o hub.  However, my other drives, through the same port, powered up just fine.  The bad one would spin up, but the data / busy light repeatedly blinks on and off, in a slow, rhythmic pattern.  Thus, this drive never becomes visible in Windows Explorer, and in fact, does not even appear on the Computer Management console (Windows XP).

Inside the external drive enclosure box, I have a Seagate ST3250620A hard drive, which I purchased brand new in early 2007.  I believe this drive has a five year warranty.  But not used to seeing Seagate drives fail so quickly, I tried different power supplies and cables, and I swapped out the USB-to-IDE bridge board in the enclosure.  Unfortunately, none of these remedies solved the problem.  So it does appear that after only three years, the hard drive itself has gone bad.

This leaves me with just five properly-functioning and up-to-date music drives.  But I get nervous when this number falls below six.  So I’ll order more external drives presently, per the   Hard Drive Upgrades: 2010   project, as well as a replacement drive (under warranty) from Seagate for this enclosure.

A corollary issue is that while investigating the problem with the 250 GB external drive described above, I also discovered that one of my 200 GB drives (also a Seagate, model #ST3200822A) won’t fully power up.  So I’ll investigate warranty service for both these units.

I’ll track this issue until I have six working and current music drives once again.  See the attached comments for updates on my progress with this.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• DJ Gig: 2009-12-31
• Hard Drive Upgrades: 2010
• Projects Page
• Today’s Business: 2009-12-30

I pulled this 2003 vintage laptop out.  It’s a Compaq Presario 3000.  Haven’t used it in a couple years now.

Well, in that time, the CMOS battery has gone dead, so that anytime I turn this thing on, I must manually configure the BIOS, which is a great pain. 

But in order to apply to this machine the latest Windows XP updates, and since I have no replacement battery at this time, I configured the BIOS and set the date and time by hand on it.  Then, the computer booted into Windows XP without further incident.  I noticed before this that the hard drive size value displayed as 0 in the BIOS.  Unusual since this machine utilizes a 60 GB HDD.  This meant nothing at the time.

Anyway, once Windows came up, I attempted to run    Windows Update, and got a message stating that the files the update process requires are either no longer registered or no longer installed on this box.  So, thinking that this might be an Explorer problem, I successfully installed the latest Java updates.  But this message persisted, asking if I wished to register and obtain the needed files.  So I pressed   Yes.

Drawing of the next web page in Internet Explorer 7 (yes, this box is really behind in the updates), happened slowly and in many fits and starts.  But finally, after nearly a minute, I received the following error message:

Server Error

403 - Forbidden: Access is denied.

You do not have permission to view this directory or page using the credentials that you supplied.

I did the same thing a few more times and got the same results.

But then I rebooted, and looked at the CMOS settings again.  This time, the HDD showed up correctly as a 60 GB hard drive.  So I exited and booted the rest of the way into Windows, and tried Windows update again.  This time, it’s working. 

I’m glad because if I had replaced the dead CMOS battery and this problem persisted, I would have had to reinstall Windows as a next step.

I’d still like to replace the battery and plan to do so.  Thus, I’ll enumerate the steps taken below, in the comments, to do that.  So do stand by.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Projects Page
• Today’s Business: 2009-11-20

Dear [Mentat],

She uses Yahoo mail, and reads her email in Internet Explorer. She uses neither Outlook nor Outlook express, although all these programs likely use the character mapping software components bundled with Windows XP. If there’s a problem in rendering the characters, it could be in these rather than in specific email or browser programs. Then again, it might be that JAWS isn’t translating all the characters correctly. Do you know if JAWS is Unicode-ready? It probably is, since XP itself is. The reason is that the smiley character is a Unicode one and I don’t think it has a corresponding ASCII translation.

I’ve turned off the translation of the smilies. Here’s what an untranslated smiley looks like on the next line…

Tom Hesley

Dear [Lynn],

Understood. Yes, you can use the ‘Backup’ utility that is part of Windows, to accomplish this scenario on each computer. Given all this, my approach to backing up would be just as you describe. Your strategy is sound.

On the recently-fried computer: A fried computer does not mean a fried HDD (hard disk drive)! Though the computer itself may no longer work, the chances are that its HDD is still okay. Your friend could remove the HDD to another, working computer, and if the HDD from the bad computer is indeed not damaged, she’d have complete access to the data on it.

If the HDD however is broken, its manufacturer probably offers a data recovery service. You send the drive to them, and they send you back the data they could salvage, either on tape, or on a new HDD. It depends on the vendor involved and why the drive failed in the first place. If the onboard electronics failed, the disks themselves are still ok and the data can be obtained by replacing the electronics. But if there was a head crash or one of the motors inside the sealed disk area failed, retrieving the data means disassembling the drive and putting the platters into a working shell. This is when you run into big bucks for this. On average, this service tends to be extremely expensive no matter the reason for the failure (in the neighborhood of $1000). So you see why people do backups religiously.

Tom

Dear [Lynn],

Given what you said, I’d just use the Backup software that comes with Windows. You can configure it to take nightly backups of the computer’s hard drives and saving them to the external drive. Then, let’s say that your system drive crashes. This is the drive that has the operating system on it. In that case, you can replace the failed drive with a new one, insert the XP CD ROM and boot from it into the Windows recovery console. From there, you can give commands to populate the new hard drive from the backup on the external drive. Once the restoration is complete, you then boot from the new hard drive this time, and the system should come up looking the same as it did before the crash — all programs and settings applied. This saves you from having to reinstall programs after a crash.

Now if you’re looking to set up the system so that it keeps running after a crash without having to restore a backup, you’d have to employ fault-tolerant hard drives. But people don’t usually do that unless they’re running mission-critical applications that serve customers directly (like web sites and such). It’s expensive to maintain these drives and not a trivial task to set them up.

But if all you want to do is back up your data files (and not the computer settings and software), then it’s easy to simple run xcopy periodically to copy your data files from the primary to the external drive. Then if you have a primary failure, once you get the new drive installed and populated, you can again use xcopy, this time to copy the files from the external drive back to the new primary drive. It really just depends on how complicated you want to get. But personally, I’d go with the MS BACKUP solution discussed in the first paragraph above.

Tom