IDAPI, BdeAdmin, and Windows 7

Question

After many months of delay, this week, I finally started using the new Windows 7 Professional PC for real development (which is still 90% running in Delphi 7, and some of these programs still use Borland IDAPI to access Paradox files) . The previous development processor was still XP-one.

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

It should have something to do with the rights or settings that are read / written in the wrong folder or registry setting, but after searching for several hours I refuse.

Has anyone had problems with this before? And if so, I hope someone solved this problem?

thanks for any thoughts / solutions ...

Answer 1

I assume this is due to the fact that Vista and Windows 7 do not allow programs to modify files in the C: \ Program Files folder. They create a copy of these modified files in virtual storage, a process called virtualization. Copies end in the hidden appdata folder of the user account and can be found in the Local \ VirtualStore \ Program Files folder. The structure in this folder reflects the one in the Program Files folder.

Programs that access their files in the Program Files folder using a "hard-coded" path will always receive the original - unchanged file contents.

Solution: running applications on an XP virtual system or updating applications is probably best.

You can try to run applications elevated. That is: right-click them and select "Run as administrator". Please note that this is not enough to log in as an administrator. Even administrators start all processes that do not have default permissions. Instead of right-clicking, you can also create a shortcut and set the "Run as administrator" shortcut - the checkbox for this is located on the "Compatibility" tab of the properties dialog box. No guarantees, although this will alleviate the problem.

Answer 2

Since installing IIRC D7 allows you to configure paths in several ways, maybe just reinstall the external "program files"?

Afaik this solves several vista / w7 problems.