Alcatel software does not install on Windows XP-based computers (831014)

RESOLUTION

Service pack information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Windows XP. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Only apply it to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Windows XP service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

File information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

   Date         Time   Version        Size       File name
   ----------------------------------------------------------
   16-Dec-2003  19:40  5.1.2600.1325  1,821,696  Acgenral.dll     
   16-Dec-2003  19:40  5.1.2600.1326    220,160  Acspecfc.dll     
   16-Dec-2003  19:41                    79,018  Apps.chm
   16-Dec-2003  19:40                 1,088,148  Sysmain.sdb

Installation information

After you have extracted and installed the hotfix files, you must use the Compatibility Administrator tool (Compatadmin) to correctly apply the hotfix. Compatadmin is included with the Application Compatibility Toolkit. To download the Application Compatibility Toolkit, visit the following Microsoft Web site: The Application Compatibility Toolkit includes additional tools such as Windows Application Compatibility Analyzer and Windows Application Verifier. However, to apply this specific hotfix, you may only want to install Compatadmin.

To use Compatadmin to apply the hotfix, follow these steps:

Note Compatibility Administrator uses the term "fix" to describe the combination of compatibility information that is added to a custom database for a specific program. This fix may be a single compatibility fix or a combination of compatibility modes. The limiting factor when you add a fix to a custom database is that it only applies to a single program.Step 1: Use Compatadmin to create the compatibility databaseTo use Compatadmin to create the compatibility database, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, click Microsoft Windows Application Compatibility Toolkit, and then click Compatibility Administrator Tool 3.0
2. In the Compatibility Administrator Tool, click New to create a new compatibility database. The new compatibility database will contain the compatibility fix that is used to apply the AlcatelLayer fix to Alcanex.exe.

Step 2: Add the hotfix to the custom databaseTo add the hotfix to the custom database in Compatadmin, follow these steps:

1. In the Database pane, click the new database under the Custom Databases node.
2. Click the Fix button to open the Create a new Application Fix dialog box.
3. Type the required information for the name of the program and the vendor name, locate the path of the Program File Location (Alcanex.exe) for the program, and then click Next.
4. On the Compatibility Modes page, click an operating system, and then click a compatibility mode to apply to the program. AlcatelLayer appears in the list of compatibility modes when you have installed the hotfix.
   
   Note You can click Test Run to try each mode or combination of modes until you determine the modes that solve the issue.
5. Click Next.
6. If you did not find a mode that will solve the compatibility issue, or if you want to fine-tune the compatibility support, you can use the Compatibility Fixes page to select individual compatibility fixes to apply. On the Compatibility Fixes page, you can click the Test Run button to try out your selections. If you must display only the selected compatibility fixes, click the Show Selected button. The Compatibility Fixes page will display different icons depending on whether the individual compatibility fix has been applied as part of a compatibility mode. When you have finished, click Next.
7. On the Matching Information page, Compatibility Administrator will display all the matching information that it has detected for the program. It is good practice to use a limited list of matching information to limit the file size for the database. However, you must keep sufficient matching information for Windows XP to uniquely identify the program. If you want to add another file to the list of matching information, click Add File to locate the file.
8. Click Finish to save the custom fix in the database. For example, you can save the compatibility database as alcat.sdb.

Step 3: Install the compatibility database

1. In the left pane of Compatibility Administrator, click the new custom database that you want to install.
2. Right-click the new database, and then click Install.
3. After the fix is installed, Alcanex.exe runs with AlcatelLayer compatibility mode applied.

Step 4: Deploy the custom fix (*.sdb) to more computersTo install the hotfix and apply the custom fix to all the remaining computers, follow these steps:

1. Install the hotfix executable file and the *.sdb file that you saved earlier on every computer that you want to install the fix on.
2. In Compatibility Administrator, open the *.sdb file, click File, and then click Install.

Note You can also use Sbdinst.exe to install the *.sdb file. Sbdinst.exe is located in the %windir%\system32 folder.

For more information about how to deploy .sdb files, see the "Microsoft Windows Application Compatibility Toolkit" reference. To start the Toolkit reference, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, click Microsoft Windows Application Compatibility Toolkit, and then click Microsoft Windows Compatibility Administrator Tool 3.0 Reference.
2. On the left pane of the Microsoft Windows Compatibility Administrator Tool 3.0 Reference, expand Application Deployment Toolkit, and then expand Deploying and Distributing Applications and .sdb files