AW under Windows XP Home quits on startup

[mco]

Hello

I just installed AW for Windows on a Boot Camp'd iMac running Windows XP Home.

When I try to run AW, it starts up, just gets to showing the main screen and then just exits. No error message, just dies.

Any ideas?

Thanks

--mco

[Peggy]

Hello

I just installed AW for Windows on a Boot Camp'd iMac running Windows XP Home.

When I try to run AW, it starts up, just gets to showing the main screen and then just exits. No error message, just dies.

Any ideas?

Thanks

--mco

Welcome to the AWUG forums

Have you ever been able to get AppleWorks to run in XP?

My first guess is a corrupt font. It's a common cause for this type of behavior on a Mac. Another is corrupt preferences. As soon as I get Parallels updated on my MacBook Pro, I'll see if I can find where the preferences are located in Windows XP Pro. I would assume the location is the same in XP Home. I am assuming you're running AppleWorks 6. Have you updated to AppleWorks 6.2.2 for Windows? If not, you can find the updater here.

I have to reinstall XP on Parallels after the update & probably reinstall AppleWorks, so I'll be back to see what your responses are to the above.

[mco]

Thanks Peggy,

Well, things are a little better - I've no idea why - but it has started up properly a few times.

AW seems very temperamental in my setup. Sometimes it stays up the whole time, other times it crashes after some random action, sometimes it won't run at all until I reboot.

I've deleted save files, recent items etc with no discernible improvement. Not sure where the preferences live though.

I've removed and reinstalled - no difference. I've applied the 6.2.2 patch which tells me it can't find a valid installation - which I guess is code for being up to date.

Any help in improving stability appreciated.

Thanks

--mco

[Peggy]

Thanks Peggy,

Well, things are a little better - I've no idea why - but it has started up properly a few times.

AW seems very temperamental in my setup. Sometimes it stays up the whole time, other times it crashes after some random action, sometimes it won't run at all until I reboot.

I've deleted save files, recent items etc with no discernible improvement. Not sure where the preferences live though.

I've removed and reinstalled - no difference. I've applied the 6.2.2 patch which tells me it can't find a valid installation - which I guess is code for being up to date.

Any help in improving stability appreciated.

Thanks

--mco

I couldn't find the preferences in XP either. I know they do exist in 95, 98 & 2000.

That message trying to apply the update probably does mean you already have 6.2.2. Can you check the properties on the application?

I haven't run AppleWorks in XP much. I only have it on my MacBook Pro in Parallels to check things when someone posts a question. I can't recall the last time I saw anyone else who has experience with AppleWorks in Windows answer a question either here or on Apple's Discussions, so I do my best to help. I must say that AppleWorks 5 on my work PC with XP is extremely stable. I find it better than it was on 2000. Someday I'm going to get the IT people to install AppleWorks 6 for me (the joys of not being an administrator).

[lokerd]

Hello

I just installed AW for Windows on a Boot Camp'd iMac running Windows XP Home.

When I try to run AW, it starts up, just gets to showing the main screen and then just exits. No error message, just dies.

I am having the same problem with just a standalone XP computer. I have a database that opens on a Mac just fine. The PC right next to it will not open the database.

I have had similar problems with other databases, and found that I had to clear out ALL of the extra layouts, and was able to get a really important database to work with PC. Although it frequently just crashes on the PC.

But this database, even after stripping it down, and trying a suggestion here regarding the font (I changed it to Times New Roman), I still can not get it to work.

Is there anything else I can try to get AW to work on an XP computer?

Thanks!
Drew

[mco]

Well, I trashed the Preferences (which live in YourUsername\Application Data\AppleWorks\ but it made no difference.

I can see from the install log that a number of fonts are added. I'm not sure if that's where the problem lies.

It kinda sucks that Apple doesn't support this anymore. AppleCare simply refers to AWUG as the place to find answers.

--mco

[mco]

Well, I think I have a workable solution.

I trashed the whole installation, rebooted and reinstalled using the custom option, installing nothing other than Appleworks. No translators,
fonts, clippings etc.

AW has been stable doing a variety of things now.

Hopefully it works for others!

--mco

[lokerd]

Well, I think I have a workable solution.

Thanks for the feedback. So far my solution has been to redo the entire database. Fortunately, this one database that I particularly need is empty right now, so I am just building it from the ground up. The students enter contest information in each year, so it is just a minor major pain in the rear to redo all of the layouts.

Thanks!
Drew

[mco]

Hopefully you've got the original database and can try this out. Most of my AW work is on a 2Mb sized database that's pretty complex too.

What's really great is being able to edit it under Windows and still be able to read and edit the same database under OS X as our OS helpfully mounts the Windows partition on the desktop. Makes live very convenient!

Good luck!

--mco