Using StrataBugs with Windows Vista

Last updated: 28 Mar 2007

StrataBugs is capable of running on Windows Vista, the latest release of the Windows operating system from Microsoft. There are however installation and maintenance issues as follows:

          Organiser will require JRE version 6 or later.

          The updater can experience problems due to the new User Account Control feature. This requires disabling this feature, or moving the system location.

          Registry setting changes may be stored in the Virtual Registry. This may appear to cause inconsistencies following a move.

          If the database file is kept in the default location, inconsistencies will arise if there are more than one user of the Vista machine. It is IMPORTANT to understand this.

 

Java Runtime Environment

The Organiser application (and the updater) will require the latest version of the JRE to run, which is version 1.6 (or simply 6) . If you are making a new installation of StrataBugs then do not install the JRE from the CD (version 1.4) but instead visit the java.sun.com website and download from there. You can find it here: http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp . You require the version 6 runtime environment. Install this using the default options.

Following the download you can instruct StrataBugs to use it by following these instructions: http://www.stratadata.co.uk/JREsetup1-8.html .

Updater

The update utility, either run from the StrataBugs control panel or as a standalone application, may appear to start to work but produce the following type of errors:

The problem here is that the updater is blocked from making changes to programs installed in C:\Program Files due to the new Vista security feature User Account Control. There are 3 possible ways around this:

1.      Move StrataBugs to a new location outside C:\Program Files

2.      Change the security policy on your user account.

3.      Install updates manually.

 

Option 1: Moving StrataBugs to a new location.

This might appear to be a simple option, but you will run into an issue connected with the Vista registry settings (see explanation at the base of this page). To move the system, do the following:

1.      Edit the registry settings through the control panel (Accessories | Config | Database), and enter the new destination in the Location field. E.g. in the following, we have placed the StrataBugs folder at C:\SBUGS1-8

2.      Close the control panel. Move the contents of the SBUGS1-8 folder to the new location (you may need to confirm your action if the original install folder is within Program Files).

3.      Change the shortcut details used to start StrataBugs: right-click the desktop icon, select Properties, and change as follows:

 

4.      If your database (sbugs.mdb file) is located in the StrataBugs folder then you will need to change the ODBC Data Source to point to its new location. See http://www.stratadata.co.uk/movingSbugsMDB.html for instructions (they are the same as for Windows XP). To get to the Administrative Tools option from the Windows Control Panel you will need to switch to the “Classic” view.

5.      StrataBugs should now start, however you may have trouble restarting it after rebooting (see registry issues below).

6.      The updater should now work.

Option 2: Change the security policy on your account.

1.      Go to Windows user accounts:

2.      Select Add or Remove user accounts: select the account and go to the link at the bottom which is “Go to the main user accounts page”.

3.      Select Turn User Account Control on or off:

4.      You will be asked to reboot the computer. After this the updater will work. However your PC will not benefit from the enhanced security provided by this Vista feature, so we would recommend switching this feature back on once your StrataBugs is up to date.

Option 3: install updates manually

The procedure here appears to be much the same as it would be on other version of windows, except that some file operations may end up occurring on the new Virtual temporary Program Files area. The added security in Vista may ask you to confirm changes to the applications in Program Files.

1.      Go to the StrataBugs folder from Start | Computer | Program Files | SBUGS1-8.

2.      Open a browser window and go to this page: http://www.stratadata.co.uk/v1.8/changeLog.htm

3.      Click the blue name of each application, to begin the install. For programs that ask to Open in Windows Explorer (or Winzip) select the Open option.

4.      When the download finishes, select the file, right-click, copy and paste into your StrataBugs folder, like this:

select Copy and Replace:

Select continue:

5.       For Organiser you get a different option:… (Firefox)

….or this (Explorer)

select the “Save to disc” or “Save” option, and save the file in the sbugs folder:

You will find that the file name will automatically become jsbugs.zip (in other words, jsbugs will appear as another sub folder of the sbugs folder). To rectify this, change your folder options so you can see the file extensions (in the file browser this is the Organizer | Folder and Search Options menu option):

 

Then right-click and rename jsbugs.zip to jsbugs.jar.

6.      Test the control panel and applications.

 

Virtual Registry Settings

If you are familiar with changing the StrataBugs registry settings using the StrataBugs config menu item, and also editing the registry using Windows regedit, then you will notice that the changes made using StrataBugs do not appear to make the corresponding registry changes in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. This is due to the virtualization security feature, whereby a virtual copy of the registry options is created. If you open Regedit and search for StrataData you find the entry. It looks like this – note the name of the key displayed in the status bar at the base….

These settings will only be visible to the user making the changes, and possibly are not persistent from session to session. So, if you need to make changes that will be available to all potential usrs, you can copy over the changed values from the temporary branch back to the correct root branch: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\StrataData Ltd\StrataBugs\1.8.

If you have opted to store settings in the user part of the registry, which overrides system settings, then this problem will not arise since they are kept separate – though will need to be repeated for all users of the machine who need to access StrataBugs.

File virtualization

If the Sbugs.mdb file - the database, is held within Program Files (the default location), then any work or changes to the database will be virtualized into a local file store rather than to the shared drive. The effect of this will be transparent if you are the only user on that machine, however it will have strange side effects for shared databases, because they won't be sharing the same file, even though it may appear that they are. The result will be different users will not be able to share database data, and to reunify the database, data will need to be exported and reimported.

This is a typical location of the actual database file once you have opened and closed StrataBugs:

The important point is that for databases that are used by more than one user, do not put the database in the Program Files location, but instead install your database into another shared folder. Typically network databases will reside on a shared network drive and will not be affected by file virtualization.

If UAC is enabled then it's possible to set application files to "Run As Administrator". This will require a special prompt (the screen goes dark while it does this) before you continue. If you continue in this mode, then the file virtualisation does not occur. Thus, if all the StrataBugs application files were set to Run As Administrator AND the javaw binary file (in C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin) because this is the executable associated with Organiser and the Updater, then it will run with the shared database and the updater will work. However, you will need to answer the prompt every time you start an application.

Summary behaviour tree:

StrataBugs in Program Files:

                        With UAC

                                    Applications set to Run As Administrator

                                       Changes are made to single copy of database and updates downloaded correctly

                                       System prompts for permission to run each time applications start

                                    Applications set to run as default

                                       Changes are made to virtualized database.

                                       Updater does not work

                                       System does not prompt for permission to run each application

                        With UAC disabled

                             Applications run normally with shared database

                             Updater works

                             Computer might be at risk and Windows security centre will warn.

            StrataBugs in another shared folder:

                   Default installation options cannot be used, requires additional setup steps.

                   Applications work normally with shared database.

                   Updater works.

                  

 

 

Please contact StrataData for more information.