FIX: How to Install When Setup Fails on Novell (153871)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, 16-bit, for Windows 4.0
  • Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, 32-bit, for Windows 4.0
This article was previously published under Q153871

SYMPTOMS

When installing Visual SourceSafe 4.0 from a Windows 95 computer, the following message is displayed:
"The specified volume does not support long file names. You must select a destination that supports long file names, or force the use of short file names. To force short file names, exit now and restart Setup using the /F command line option."
When Setup /F is run from a Windows 95 computer, the following message is displayed:
"Setup Error 997"
"Object 90"

"Your Setup files may be damaged. Try restarting the Setup program."
When the OK button is pressed, a similar dialog box with another Object number is displayed. After clicking the OK box a number of times, the following message will display:
"Microsoft Visual SourceSafe 4.0 Setup was not completed successfully."

CAUSE

By default, Novell NetWare servers can not handle long file names. The Visual SourceSafe setup routine, when run on a Windows 95 computer, assumes that the location of the install will be able to handle long file names. This same behavior will happen if you attempt to install to a location that is not Novell NetWare but can't handle long file name either.

WORKAROUND

There are two workarounds to this problem:

  1. Install from a non-Windows 95 computer, such as Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, or Win NT 3.51.
  2. If Windows 95 computers are the only ones available, you can install the server copy locally and then copy those files to the Novell NetWare server. See detailed instructions in the More Information section of this article.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem has been fixed in Visual SourceSafe 5.0.

MORE INFORMATION

You can install Visual SourceSafe to a Novell NetWare server from a Windows 95 computer by following the steps outlined below. This procedure consists of installing to a local machine, copying the local installation to the server, and then deleting the local installation.

Step-by-Step Example

  1. Run Setup.exe, without the "/F" switch, from the compact disc or floppy disks, and choose the Server button to install a server copy of Visual SourceSafe. When prompted for a location to install, point to a location on the local computer.
  2. Xcopy the local installation to a new location on the server.
NOTE: If there is an existing SourceSafe 3.x or earlier installation, do not copy the new installation to the old directory because the copy procedure overwrites the old data directory: this would result in a loss of all information in SourceSafe. The copy procedure should be to a new directory and the directions in the section below entitled Extra Steps if an Older Version of SourceSafe Exists should be followed.

  1. Check this installation by running the appropriate SSEXP.exe file. If you are on Windows 3.1 or Windows For Workgroups 3.11, run VSS\WIN\SSEXP.exe. If you are on Windows 95 or Windows NT 3.51, run VSS\WIN32\SSEXP.exe.
  2. If you would like a client installation of Visual SourceSafe, run Netsetup from the server. This will also register it with Visual Basic 4.0, Visual C++ 4.x or other products that integrated with Visual SourceSafe. Even though a server copy of Visual SourceSafe has been installed to the Windows 95 computer, a client installation will still have to be performed to integrate with Visual Basic 4.0, Visual C++ 4.x or other products that integrated with Visual SourceSafe.

Extra Steps if an Older Version of SourceSafe Exists

If you have an older version of SourceSafe on your server, and are installing from a Windows 95 computer, perform the directions above and then do the following:

  1. Xcopy the DATA directory from the 3.x installation to the 4.0 installation. This will overwrite the 4.0 DATA directory. Doing this will bring your source code from the 3.x installation to the 4.0 file structure.
  2. Xcopy the USERS directory from the 3.x installation to the 4.0 installation. This will overwrite the 4.0 USERS directory.
  3. Copy the 'users.txt' and the 'srcsafe.ini' files from the SS directory to the VSS directory, overwriting the 4.0 copies.
  4. Run ddconv on the DATA directory. If you are on Windows 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups 3.11, use VSS\WIN\ddconv.exe. If you are on Windows 95 or Windows NT 3.51, use VSS\WIN32\ddconv.exe. Run this from a Command prompt with the following syntax: 
          ddconv <Path to DATA directory>
  5. If possible, run the ddconv that is in the analyze4.exe. This is available for free from download sites. For more information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

    190881 SAMPLE: Analyze6.exe Utility for Visual SourceSafe

Notes About Upgrading

Back up your SourceSafe database before upgrading. The installation process converts your existing database to a new format. If there are problems during conversion, you will need a backup to return to your previous database.

Make sure all users exit SourceSafe before installing a new version. However, users can have files checked out.

If users have copies of the SourceSafe 3.x executables on their computer hard disks, they need to run the netsetup.exe from the server installation of Visual SourceSafe.

The SourceSafe directory structure and file names have changed for Visual SourceSafe 4.0, so the icons in your Windows Program Manager for SourceSafe 3.X will not work with Visual SourceSafe 4.0. New icons are installed during the client setup process using netsetup.exe. These icons will point to the correct new program locations.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:10/20/2003
Keywords:kb3rdparty kbBug kbfix kbsetup kbSSafe500fix KB153871
©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.