Cannot reactivate Photo Album 6

[Red Hound]

Hi everyone

First time poster so I apologise if this topic is in the wrong place.

I am using Windows XP Home:

Bought the computer (Dell) new about 5 years ago and it came with the Corel PA6 trial preloaded. I bought and successfully downloaded the product when the trial period had expired and enjoyed using it.

Due to a problem encountered with the Internet (not with PA6) towards the end of 2009, I had to reset the computer to factory settings about 6 months ago. The PA6 programme reverted back to trial mode and I have not been able to get it back working again after that trial period had expired.

I bought a PA6 disc through Amazon last weekend (although I have since found that I could have downloaded it again from the Corel site). It installs OK but in the final phase of installation I get the error messages shown below and the product then closes down. The same problem is encountered whether installing from the disc or from the download saved on the site.

Error messages:

"Restore of the database of folder and photo information from the specified bnackup folder failed. A new (empty) database will be created for you"

I press OK and then receive:

"Runtime error - abnormal programme termination"

I click on OK and the programme then shuts down.

I understand that PA6 is an old product, but it suits what I want it for and ran perfectly well before the factory reset.

Could anyone please suggest what I need to do to reactivate it?

Thanks

Steve

[Red Hound]

Just to add:

The runtime error I have described is a Microsoft Visual C++ Library runtime error.

Thanks

Steve

[Ron P.]

Welcome to the forums Steve,

I tried finding an answer on Corel's Knowledge Base, which I know is totally useless as of lately. Clicking a link that is suppose to take me to a page with instructions on activating, just opens the same page again.

By reset do you mean that you reformatted your harddrive, then reinstalled PA6? Try removing PA6, what may have been installed in the faulty attempt. Then try again to re-install it. Where was the backup folder located prior to re-setting? Is that folder different now?

[Red Hound]

Hi Ron

Thank you for your warm welcome to the forums and for your reply. In answer to your questions:

I wiped the hard drive by pressing F8 (or whichever key) to revert to factory settings in order to clear the nasty that had got into the computer. I did have trouble reinstalling my router after I had done that, but got that sorted thanks to some (slightly costly) help from Netgear.

After that, I never really thought anything more about the Corel PA6 because that returned to its trial mode, as mentioned above, and everything else (AVG software, printers, MS Office programmes etc.) reinstalled without any issues. It was only after the PA6 trial period expired again - and most of the useful features were disabled - that I had trouble finding out how to reactivate it.

When the "new" PA6 disc arrived last week, I went to install it but received the message that there was already a version of PA6 installed on the PC and that I had to uninstall that before I could proceed. This meant having to uninstall the now trial version that remained on the PC, which then left me with no photo editing software. When running the new PA6 disc I then encountered the runtime error problems described above.

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the disc several times - and rebooting after I had done so - but still received the same error messages that the installation had failed.

Being quite ignorant when it comes to computers, I do not know where the backup folder might have been prior to resetting. However, I have just looked in Explore to find that there is still a Corel folder in Programme Files. It contains the following items:

Corel Paintshop
Corel Photo Album 6 installation files

Within the latter are the following icons:

Ox0409 - configuration settlings (mouse hover reveals creation date 27.7.2004)
CPA6 - Windows installer package (when right clicking on that, the first option in the picklist is "Install" - mouse hover reveals creation date 2.8.2005)
Data 1(mouse hover reveals creation date 2.8.2005)
Msi30 - self extractor cabinet (mouse hover reveals creation date 5.7.2011)
Setup - setup launcher(mouse hover reveals creation date 5.7.2011)
Setup - configuration settings (mouse hover reveals creation date 2.8.2005)

I bought the computer in late July 2006.

I am sorry that this is rather a long post, but hopefully there is some useful information in there.

Thanks again for your assistance and best wishes

Steve

[Ron P.]

Thanks for supplying that information.

Since you do have PA6 on CD, I would remove all traces of PA6 on your computer. First use the Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs, if PA6 is listed at all there. Next I would delete the Corel PA6 folders and files from the C:\Program Files.

Now you can also look in places like C:\Documents and Settings\Your User Name\Application Data\Corel, for files and folders belonging to PA6, and delete them.

Most people are not comfortable messing the System Registry, as doing the wrong thing can have serious consequences to your system. Being around PCs, I'm used to it, and have no problems with it. The first and most import thing is to Back up the Registry before making any changes.

• Press the Start button, go to Run and type in regedit. It will open with 2 panes, a folder structure on the left and information pane on the right.
• Go to File Menu>Export. This will export or backup your registry. Provide a name, which can be simply 07122011_backup. It will automatically assign the *.reg extension to it.
• Once you have it backed up, then go to Edit menu>Find. Notice the keyboard shortcuts, especially the F3 shortcut for Find Next. As the search will stop once it finds an entry, and you will need to restart it again from where you're at. Using F3 is the quickest means to go through the registry searches.
• Enter Corel Photo Album, in the Find what box, press Find Next.
• Once it has located an entry, look at what it has found, it should have some reference to Corel Photo Album 6.
• Once you're sure it is, with the entry selected (highlighted), press the Delete key. You'll receive a delete confirmation dialog, asking if you're sure you want to remove it. If you feel sure, acknowledge it.
• Press the F3 key to Find Next, and it will continue on without you having to re-enter your keywords to search for.
• When you have made it completely through the registry, it will tell you that it can't find anymore, click ok and close the Registry editor by clicking on the common window close icon in the upper right corner---X.

I will again state that if you don't feel comfortable editing the registry then don't. Deleting the wrong entries can render your system unusable.

Once the above is done, reboot your computer. Then insert your PA6 CD into the CD tray. This time I want you to right-click on it in Windows Explorer, and select Explore. Then look on the CD for a Setup.exe file. You're going to bypass the autorun. Double click on the Setup.exe and see if it will install now.

[MrPeterDrucker]

through MS help you can solve it. for more information you pres F1 and check all detail.

* Press the Start button, go to Run and type in regedit. It will open with 2 panes, a folder structure on the left and information pane on the right.
* Go to File Menu>Export. This will export or backup your registry. Provide a name, which can be simply 07122011_backup. It will automatically assign the *.reg extension to it.
* Once you have it backed up, then go to Edit menu>Find. Notice the keyboard shortcuts, especially the F3 shortcut for Find Next. As the search will stop once it finds an entry, and you will need to restart it again from where you're at. Using F3 is the quickest means to go through the registry searches.
* Enter Corel Photo Album, in the Find what box, press Find Next.
* Once it has located an entry, look at what it has found, it should have some reference to Corel Photo Album 6.
* Once you're sure it is, with the entry selected (highlighted), press the Delete key. You'll receive a delete confirmation dialog, asking if you're sure you want to remove it. If you feel sure, acknowledge it.
* Press the F3 key to Find Next, and it will continue on without you having to re-enter your keywords to search for.
* When you have made it completely through the registry, it will tell you that it can't find anymore, click ok and close the Registry editor by clicking on the common window close icon in the upper right corner.

thanks

[MeredithD1]

Once the above is done, reboot your computer. Then insert your PA6 CD into the CD tray. This time I want you to right-click on it in Windows Explorer, and select Explore. Then look on the CD for a Setup.exe file. You're going to bypass the autorun. Double click on the Setup.exe and see if it will install now.

Hi Ron,

I tried going through Corel on this and they sent me to your post. I did everything and am still getting the exact same messages the user above reported - ran "zapps" which cleaned the registry etc. and then ran the setup.exe, bypassing autorun. Disappointing as I really like PA6.

Do you have any additional suggestions? In my case, my desktop computer's motherboard died and I am installing PA6 on a laptop. Oddly enough, back in 2011 when the motherboard died, I was able to get help from Corel and was able to get PA6 freshly installed on my other desktop.

Corel no longer supports it.

Thanks for any ideas.

Meredith

[lata]

Hi Meredith

and welcome to the forums,

First of all Ron is no longer fully active on the forums, he will receive a notification to your post and I am sure he will reply. Ron If you do reply drop us a e-mail to let us know how you are keeping.

Meredith as you are aware the program is quite old, a Ulead product, no longer supported by Corel.
I don’t have Photo Album 6 so cannot replicate your approach.

I will add that you may be best copying the entire discs content to your hard drive, then install from those files, locate the Setup.exe, right click and Run as Administrator

If it does install, right click the PA 6 icon and choose properties, Compatibility Tab—“Run program in compatibility for XP”

Being an older program may not be compatible with Windows 7, I assume the laptop is running W7, so may not install anyway.

[MeredithD1]

thank you Trevor! I am actually running XP Pro on the laptop. I will try this soon, flying out before sunrise tomorrow, maybe on the plane! will let you know. much appreciated.