LiveSide - News blog : Installer

Windows Live Essentials strikes back – completing the Windows 7 experience

damaster — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:03:00 GMT

Remember Windows Live Essentials, the service that went through its early beta stages back in 2006 and never made it out of beta, that’s meant to “offer integrated and bundled e-mail, instant messaging, photo-sharing, blog publishing, security services and other Windows Live entities into a seamless whole”? Today Brandon LeBlanc at the Windows Experience Blog talked about how Windows 7 + Windows Live will “complete the Windows Experience” together – once again through the suite named “Windows Live Essentials”. The reasoning behind this, as explained by Brandon, is that:

Microsoft has learned that many end-user experiences need to be updated more frequently. Instead of waiting for the next Windows release, we began delivering updated versions of the Windows Live applications to improve those end-user experiences. While this was a great way to improve the Windows experience for users, many of these updates in Windows Live Wave 2 seemed duplicative of applications already in Windows.

To address this, Microsoft will now only ship these applications (which include Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Writer and now Windows Live Movie Maker) as part of the Windows Live Essentials suite.

Although branded with a new (or should I say “old”) name, “Windows Live Essentials” in simply the installer that we’ve been seeing since wave 2 that installs the entire suite (or selected applications) of Windows Live products, with the Wave 3 installer available at http://download.live.com. What’s interesting about Brandon’s post is that it showed us a few screenshots of the internal builds of Wave 3 applications, or the “Windows Live Essentials” suite, currently being tested inside Microsoft:

We notice there’s minor updates to all these applications, such as:

• Integration with Windows Live Photos in the Messenger conversation window
• Personal Status Message comes back in the Messenger conversation window
• Removal of the “said:” part in the Messenger conversation history
• A nice shade of blue in the background for Mail
• A new “Edit” submenu in Movie Maker
• Removal of more icons from the programs, especially in Messenger and Mail, to align with "Windows 7” design principles

The one major change that caught our eyes is the new icons for Messenger, Mail, Calendar, Photo Gallery and Movie Maker. It seems like Microsoft icon designers are obsessed with the “yellow ribbon” around their icons. Here’s a close up view of the new icons and also a close-up shot of a photo taken from the Windows 7 keynote at PDC2008:

Do these icon change and the “yellow ribbon” signify anything? Are they in any way related to the “yellow ribbon” around the Internet Explorer icon? Perhaps we’ll have to find out later. Stay tuned with us as we keep you updated on the latest Windows Live news.

Windows Live Suite apps 64bit support - only for Vista

Kip Kniskern — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:30:00 GMT

Jacky Mok just posted a link to the system requirements for the soon to be released Windows Live Suite apps, and they include 64bit support, but only if you're running Vista. from Jacky's blog post:

Platform 32 bits 64 bits

XP SP2 Yes No

Vista Yes Yes

Vista SP1 Yes Yes

2003 Server No No

32 Bit Includes: Mail, Messenger, Photo Gallery, Sign-in Assistant, Toolbar, Writer, Family Safety,
64 Bit Includes: Mail, Messenger, Photo Gallery, Sign-in Assistant, Toolbar, Writer

The installer should auto detect the architecture and omit Family Safety if you are on 64 bits.

In addition Jacky is hinting pretty broadly, as we posted, that @live.xx addresses should be available very very soon. He also says "I also suggest you to stay close to my blog today....". Oh we will, Jacky, we will.

The most common Windows Live installation problems

Kip Kniskern — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 14:20:00 GMT

Thanks to Mess.be for spotting this - a Knowledge Base article on what to do if you can't get Windows Live apps to install. The article lists the most common problems:

•The system does not meet the minimum requirements for the Windows Live service.
•You are trying to install the selected Windows Live service while you are logged on to the computer as a user who does not have administrator permissions.
•You have an earlier version of the Windows Live service installed.
•A file that must be overwritten is being used by another program.
•Another software application blocked the installation of the Windows Live service.
•Your installation files are missing required components.

The KB article goes on to detail how to get around Vista's User Account Control quagmire, and in addition, the article provides a link to a zip file that will uninstall Windows Live services:

WL-Beta-remove.zip

..so that one could (hopefully not give up but) start all over again.

Commentary: While these problems seem fairly benign, typical of uninformed users, the existence of this KB article seems to acknowledge that users are having problems with the Windows Live Suite - which may actually cause more problems than it solves. Just ask the 64bit Vista users about that one. Yes we know that a fix is promised for the 64bit issues, but with apps like Windows Live Writer and now Windows Live Photo Gallery and its connection with Flickr, does it make sense to even give the appearance of forcing users to install what will surely be considered "bloatware"?

64 Bit Systems And The New Live Installer: A Solution

ScottIsAFool — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 23:37:44 GMT

It has been discovered since the launch of the Live Installer yesterday that there is an apparent bug that prevents it from being installed on 64 bit systems. Now the programs themselves will run on x64 systems, it's the installer itself where the problem lies.

If you are running a x64 system and want to try the new Live builds, there are three suggestions:

Use the Hex editor hack found at http://www.anti-tgtsoft.com/?p=14
If you know someone who has installed the WL Suite, give them the instructions below to get the installers;
If you have access to an x86 machine yourself, download them and get the files yourself.

To access the files, do the following:

Go to C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\WindowsLiveInstaller\MsiSources\
In that folder are all the msi installers for the products you selected to install, we just have to work out which one is which. Fortunately, we can:
Windows Live Writer
Install_{1F973A7F-3FE4-4D11-A9A2-E869C2899A7D}.msi
Windows Live Messenger
Install_{508CE775-4BA4-4748-82DF-FE28DA9F03B0}.msi
Windows Live Sign-In Assistant
Install_{CB5EA99C-8A5B-49F2-9A1A-2EF78BE4DB41}.msi
Windows Live Mail
Install_{EDB619FD-4E71-403C-8E99-DFC9CF9DD345}.msi
Windows Live Toolbar
Install_{C6876FE6-A314-4628-B0D7-F3EE5E35C4B4}.msi
Windows Live Photo Gallery
Install_{AA436FBD-2595-479B-8DDE-E9C36F50D99D}.msi

Running those on the x64 system should bypass the x64 check and they should install for you fine.

Cleaner, Faster: First impressions of "Windows Live 2008"

Kip Kniskern — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 11:51:00 GMT

Well it's taken a while to get here, but it looks like Windows Live is becoming a better defined and somewhat unified set of services. Of course there's still a lot of work left to do, but today's debut of the Windows Live Suite and unified installer is definitely a big step in the right direction. So lets jump right in:

Finding and installing Windows Live Services is the first improvement noticeable in the Windows Live suite. This Jump into Windows Live page, at http://get.live.com/wl/all, offers links to many of the Windows Live offerings, and most importantly, a link to the unified installer. From there, you'll be able to select which products you want to install, and load them all up with one installation:

WLInstaller.exe (Build 1320.0823) is a 1.72mb download, that then checks your computer for previous installations of Windows Live programs, and then updates or installs the ones you've selected. On my main computer, with the sign-in Assistant, Live Mail, Writer, and Messenger installed already with earlier versions, from start to finish the installation took 15 minutes over a broadband connection. For my newly paved laptop with no Windows Live services installed, the installation time was just a bit shorter. Of course these times will vary greatly depending on your machine and your connection.

What's new:

All of the main Windows Live applications are upgraded to previously unavailable new builds, although it depends on which programs you use as to how much the applications have changed. Windows Live Messenger is now 8.5.1228.816, and not much has changed in terms of UI, according to the MessengerSays blog:

If you downloaded our Beta 1 build, you may not think that much has changed. While the look and feel is almost the same, we listened to your feedback and fixed many of the top issues reported by our customers. THANK YOU to all of our beta testers who reported issues.

Windows Live Mail (Build 12.00.1365) looks much the same, as well, with a few UI improvements. The Live Mail blog has quite a list of improvements, however, including:

List View for contacts, and contacts import/export improvements
Toolbar customization
Quick Views
Improved Layout Dialog options
Change your sign in account
Photo E-Mail updates
Newsgroup updates
..and bug fixes

see the Windows Live Mail blog for more details.

Windows Live Writer (12.0.1277.816) has made bigger improvements from beta 2, with a number of the photo manipulation issues (fuzzy pictures, placing photos into the previous blog entry in short blog posts) seem to have been resolved. According to the Live Writer blog:

Some highlights of this release:

Insert videos using our new 'Insert Video' dialog

Upload images to Picasaweb when publishing to your Blogger blog

Publish XHTML-style markup

Use Writer in 28 additional languages

Print your posts

Justify-align post text

Better image handling (fewer blurry images)

Resolved installation issues from last release

Many other bug fixes and enhancements

For those of you using the managed beta only Windows Live Photo Gallery, the improvements there are much more noticeable. Of course the first thing to notice is that WL Photo Gallery is now available as a public beta. Brandon LeBlanc has a nice post on Windows Live Photo Gallery, I'll let him work through the details.

Since I haven't been using the Windows Live Toolbar, and they don't have a blog (do they?), I'll just say for now that it's build 3.01.0000.0130, and since I installed it with the suite we'll get back to it :).

First Impressions:

Overall, we're making progress here. So far the biggest complaint has been lack of 64bit support, a common complaint about a lot of software, and a legitimate one. 64 bit support is coming, however, according to the release notes:

64-bit is not supported for Beta 2
Beta 2 does not support a 64-bit installation; however the final version of Windows Live will support 64-bit (with the exception of Family Safety). You have the choice of either continuing to run the Beta 1 versions of Windows Live or you can uninstall all Windows Live applications and reinstall the released versions. For more information see KB Article 938275.

A thoroughly unscientific observation is that both Live Mail and Messenger load quite a bit faster than the previous versions I was using, and faster is always better.

There is also a somewhat unified approach to pointing to pointing to feedback.live.com for feedback, and while actually getting any response to your feedback there is spotty at best, at least it shows there is some unified strategy among the teams to coordinate efforts, which we applaud. There's also a new managed beta for the new stuff, for those that have access at Connect.

Windows Live Suite announced - Update

Kip Kniskern — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 00:06:00 GMT

The Windows Live Wire blog this morning published an entry from Chris Jones, Vice President, Windows Live Team, announcing the Windows Live suite.

Included in the suite, which will allow for a single installation of any or all of these Windows Live services, are:

Windows Live Mail (the desktop client)
Windows Live Photo Gallery
Windows Live Writer
Windows Live OneCare Family Safety
Windows Live Messenger (8.5)
and more (??)

While the url has not updated for me at the moment, it's expected to be working today according to Jones, rolling out depending on where you live:

http://get.live.com/wl/all

Update: The installer is now live. Go to the above link to get started. Expect more to come on here soon.

Windows Live Installer to be released this week, says the NY Times

Kip Kniskern — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 11:21:00 GMT

In an article appearing in the Sunday Sept 2 version of the online NY Times, with a publish date of Sept. 3, John Markoff of the NY Times reports that Microsoft is prepared to release it's software "suite" this week:

This week, it plans to turn that strategy upside down, making available free software that connects its Windows operating system to software services delivered on the Internet, a practice increasingly referred to as “cloud” computing. The initiative is part of an effort to connect Windows more seamlessly to a growing array of Internet services.

The article goes on to explain what will be offered in the suite:

The software release will offer PC users the option of downloading a set of the services with a single Unified Installer program, or as separate components. The individual services are Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Messenger 8.5 and Windows Live OneCare Family Safety, a computer security program.

The release, though it includes the Windows Live Writer blogging application...

While it seems unclear from this wording if Live Writer will be offered as part of the suite, and whether or not this will mark the end of the Messenger 8.5 and Windows Live Photo Gallery betas, it seems like a good bet. We should have more soon, stay tuned.

Thanks, ViewMaster, for the tip!

A better Windows Live Installer fix

Chris — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 19:32:00 GMT

If you're still having problems installing any of the new Windows Live betas (Mail, Messenger and Writer) and our quick/dirty fix didn't work for you, you might want to try giving the more official fix a try. Posted by the Writer team on their blog, the solution consists of running a command-line application that is available for download from the Microsoft website. Additionally you can email your log files to the team to help them troubleshoot the issue.

Writer Blog - Installer fix

Update: there is also another fix (Thanks MeggarK) which runs as follows:

Download and run the Windows Live Installer Cleanup tool from:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/3/0/23036331-516d-4c7e-b9ac-31554a2fec06/WL-Beta-remove.zip
Reboot
Click START>Run and type 'command' to load the console.
Type in:

regsvr32 wups2.dll

and press enter.
Type exit to leave the console
Download and run the windows live installer, it should now work perfectly.

Windows Live Installer problems? Try this.

Chris — Thu, 31 May 2007 06:07:00 GMT

If you are having problems installing Writer, Messenger 8.5 or Mail, in particular if the the Windows Live installer disappearing halfway through (after a Windows Vista UAC prompt if enabled), this may help.

Close all Windows Live applications
Navigate to C:\Program Files\Windows Live and delete the Installer folder
Navigate to C:\ProgramData and delete both Windows Live Installer and WLInstaller directories if you have them.
Reboot (important!)
Reinstall the application you want to install

This may be an issue if you installed the leak Messenger build, as all Windows Live beta applications need to be the same language. See the Windows Live Installer FAQs for more details.

PS: If someone can tell me what the equivalent for step 3 is in Windows XP that'd be great :)

Update: Apparently step 3 for XP is to go to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data instead of C:\ProgramData. (Thanks to DN2004 for the heads up)

Update2: There is now a more official solution to this problem. See our follow post.

Update3: there is also another fix (Thanks MeggarK) which runs as follows:

Download and run the Windows Live Installer Cleanup tool from:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/3/0/23036331-516d-4c7e-b9ac-31554a2fec06/WL-Beta-remove.zip
Reboot
Click START>Run and type 'command' to load the console.
Type in:

regsvr32 wups2.dll

and press enter.
Type exit to leave the console
Download and run the windows live installer, it should now work perfectly.

Platform	32 bits	64 bits
XP SP2	Yes	No
Vista	Yes	Yes
Vista SP1	Yes	Yes
2003 Server	No	No