Dealing with Microsofts Virtual Store

 

Normally installation and activation of your Crate Pro is simple but you may have an issue being caused by a Microsoft Security Program called Virtual Store. Virtual Store was developed many years after Crate Pro 5 was released so Crate Pro 5 doesn't have coding to deal with this complex Microsoft security feature. We have yet to determine why some systems are using it and others are not but may be affecting your installation in a negative way.

Virtual Store decides what files have user data then moves those files into a separate hidden directory and puts a shell copy in the directory the program is installed in. The files with data located in the Virtual Store directory have virtual links to the shell files of the same name. However, Crate Pro must have ALL the original files, no shell files, in the same directory to function.

A second issue created by Virtual Store is that it can also create virtual links to some of your files without actually creating a shell copy. When this happens you'll find that over writing a file with a new one seems normal but when you open the file none of the new or updated data is there. Virtual Store scans your harddrive and even your network for the original file and maintains the virtual link to that file. You will not be able to run Crate Pro using Virtual Store but the fix for Crate Pro is easy.

What is Virtual Store? Important: Virtual Store is part of Microsoft security. We are providing a solution for Crate Pro only and if you have an IT person you may wish to discuss the ramifications of this work-around.

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If you send in your CPSetup file for activation and you've been told that the file data is empty, even though YOU can see the data when you open Crate Pro on your computer, then Virtual Store has created a copy of your files and left the shell in the Crate Pro program directory.  Follow the instructions below:

  • Locate the Crate Pro folder in the Virtual Store directory.  You usually will have more than one User directory and the Virtual Store directory will be under the User that the program was installed under:
    • i.e. /User/%username%/AppData/VirtualStore/Program Files (x86)/Crate Pro
  • Select ALL the Crate Pro files in the Virtual Store folder, right click and chose 'Cut'
  • Paste the Crate Pro files into the default Crate Pro directory (or into the directory you installed the program in if not default). You will over-write the files of the same name. 
    • i.e.  C:/Program Files (x86)/Deploy Tech/Crate Pro 5.37x   OR
    • i.e.  C:/Program Files (x86)/FileMaker / FileMaker Server / Crate Pro 5.37
  • Stand-Alones should delete the original shortcut icon and create a new one by right clicking on 'Crate Pro.exe' if you installed the Stand-Alone version of Crate Pro your Crate Pro files will have the file extension of CP5 . Save or drag the icon to the desktop. 

         Multi-User installations (your file extension is FP5) You will use FileMaker Pro to open Crate Pro as instructed in the installation and user manuals. 

  • Do a search for CPSetup -There should only be a single copy and that will be in the default folder that you just pasted your Crate Pro files. If there is more than one copy of this file, please delete ALL other copies including those in your email program

(If there is a zipped copy, that's not a problem but save the zip file on a separate drive such as a USB drive in case you need to re-install and removing it from your production computer. More than once a user has unzipped the file thinking it was they were opening Crate Pro creating multiple copies of the program on a single computer and over-sriting their current data.)

  • Activate Crate Pro:
  1. You should now be able to activate Crate Pro normally if not already done. Please follow the instructions in the Activation document
  2. Close Crate Pro and attach CPSetup to an email. You can send directly to activate@cratepro.com. Your program will run for 15-30 days before requiring an activation code but don't wait until the last day. You may make changes in any module except the Set-up module, which will get over-written when you receive the activated file.

When you install your activated CPSetup file and start Crate Pro it does not show as activated and continues to request and activation code:

 

 

 

Important: check that you are saving the activated file into your program directory and not into your My Documents folder or other folder that doesn't contain your actual program files

 

You may have duplicates of your CPSetup file on your hard drive or network which are accessible to the Virtual Store. The CPSetup files could be in your email program, downloads folder and even your Trash. 

  • Take a copy of your activated CPSetup file. The activated file can be found in the email with the attachment that said :"This is Your Activated File".  Save it to your Desktop and rename the file CPSetup.ACTIVATED . Ignore the warning the file will not function. 
  • If possible, if this computer is on a network, take it off the network and/or turn of your wi-fi
  • Click on Start and Do a search of your entire hard drive for CPSetup.* Delete every instance of the CPSetup files EXCEPT CPSetup.ACTIVATED. You want only 1 instance of this file on your hard drive.
  • Empty the TRASH and double check your Downloads folder. Do another search to enure only the CPSetup.ACTIVATED is on your computer.
  • If that was the only CPSetup file then rename the extension to CPSetup.cp5 (stand-alone) or CPSetup.fp5 for multi-user. This extension matches the rest of the Crate PRo files in your Crate Pro program folder.