Movie files unopenable after May patch tuesday

[Davidk]

One of my VS students runs windows 10 on a dell laptop, and has reported that suddenly last week (just days after the MS may patch tuesday) all her movie files (.mov, .vsp etc) are unopenable. The error message reported by VS (X8) is that it cannot open a pdf file. Apparently other (non-media) file types are not affected. The timing of it makes me suspect a side effect of the security patches MS ships out on the 2nd tuesday of each month ("patch tuesday") and for which most users have their PC's set to auto update. Windows update already burnt me badly on a 32bit PC running windows 7 as a result of the April 16 update, in that case they destroyed the update process itself, so security patches causing havoc is becoming the new normal from my perspective.

A project smart packaged produces the same effect when re-opened.

A suggestion from Microsoft Answers to check and revise as necessary the file associations page in windows explorer has apparently had no effect. Her last comment to me 'nothing works!' amid a lot of frustration in the tone of the email.

Movie class is tomorrow, and I'd like to have something more positive to say about this. Has anyone else encountered this effect? And if so was it fixed, and how?

Davidk

[aljimenez]

I have a Dell laptop running Win 10 and have not had such issue. I suspect some other program has affected the student's registry, and if so this may be a mess to fix. Can the .mov file be drag-drop on Windows Media Player to play? can the pdf file be drag-drop into Adobe Reader?

[Davidk]

Good tips, I'll try them when I see the machine. More tomorrow (wednesday, oz time).

[pogonips]

I "upgraded" to Windows 10 several months ago. After a couple of weeks, one of the automatic updates (that Microsoft doesn't let you decline) caused my computer to give me an error message when I tried to update ANY file, any application. I found that I could 'roll back' the patch within Windows 10 and the problem was removed temporarily. Unfortunately the problem came back a week later when Microsoft again automatically sent me the update. Since I was still within the '30 day uninstall' period of the Windows 10 free upgrade, I took the relatively easy option for me, to go back to Windows 8.1.
Anyway, the person experiencing this problem may well be able to diagnose simply by uninstalling the most recent Windows patches and then testing to see if the problem is at least temporarily resolved. On my computer this was fairly easy to do. If the problem goes away, they know it's coming from the patch, just like I experienced. I wish Microsoft would allow all levels of Windows 10 (not just Pro) to decline their automatic updates. Good luck.

[Ken Berry]

My Windows 10 is fully up to date with all automatic updates (though perhaps more might be coming tonight as it is already Tuesday in New Zealand). But VS X8 continues to work perfectly. It certainly has no trouble opening .vsp project files, and .mov continue to be inserted and play.

That error message seems strange, though. Why would VS be giving a message relating to a .pdf file? Or is that a typo for a Photoshop image file (.psd)?

[lata]

Hi David

Is it possible that the Mov files are different to earlier ones.
There are hundreds of varieties / flavours of mov and Iphone types can cause problems.
Are you able to provide a sample of those Mov files so we can check.

Given that other w10 users are not having problems the Windows Update reference may be coincidental.

[Davidk]

Ken,
I'm guessing a bit until I see the PC tomorrow, but I think the sequence was
- open VS,
- open last project (a name) without any attention to the filetype
- error appears.
Inga has been able to open pdf docs and photos; it seems like it's only movie files that are affected. And file associations are set within explorer which is often a target of security patches. Altho, why explorer should be involved if a vsp file is being opened from within VS eludes me.

Trevor,
It's not only .mov files that are affected - project files seems to be involved too. Which prior to the patch cycle, seemed to work fine (the class is currently involved in a project that requires swapping files around, so I think it's reasonable to say that it's not just a specific file but a class of files. see my last comment above.

A quickie review of Inga's emails indicated that prism form was involved somehow. What's prism (format, I assume)?

Davidk

PS my April patch problem in win 7 32bit caused windows update to show no patches applied, and could not scan for updates. The fix turned out to be all of
1) roll back one of the April patch KB items, 2) uninstall version 3 of .net and 3) install version 4.5.2 of .net.
It took 10 days of constant to-and-fro to get to that point. In the process the update specialist for the answers forum happily admitted that the win 10 roll back process was seriously flawed: got more questions about that than any other recently.

[BrianCee]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(su ... e_program) ???

[lata]

Hi David

If the Mov files are the problem then using them in a project may also affect the way the project file opens.
I assume only VSP’s containing the Mov files are affected?
Just trying to cover all options.............

Windows updates may be the problem but it does seem all to easy to find them guilty for all new issues.
If it is windows updates then I would have thought Ken and others using W10 would also have problems.
Nobody can replicate this unless you provide some samples and possibly a Smart Package, then again you would not be able to create that package.

Post updated

Can we assume that QuickTime is installed on the lap top that is having trouble?
Recent security issues with QuickTime has caused some users to uninstall, although as far as I know the problems arise from the QT Web Player and not the QT codec.

[aljimenez]

I don't have Quick Time installed in my Dell laptop Win 10 which is updated automatically from Microsoft. However, my Dell laptop never had any other OS running on it, I bought new with Win 10 installed. I have had zero issues with updates and with handling .mov files nor any of the issues David describes his student having.

[Davidk]

I am substantially convinced that this is a side effect of May patch tuesday, because of the circumstances and timing. That said, it seems more than likely it's a combinational affair, as these things tend to be now. See my PS re updates in my post above. Side comment - this sort of thing is the major reason MS is pushing so hard on windows 10 - getting a common windows SOE (standard operating environment) will make it so much cheaper and easier to support. Pity they didn't invest more in getting things bug-proofed and user friendly first. Every time I encounter win10 I see more reasons not to upgrade.

I've read Brain's link re prism. Interesting, especially the para that talks about MS and hotmail. Inga's email is a hotmail account. She lives 50+Km from me and we only meet in person on class day. Otherwise, it's all emails.

It's class day here, and I expect Inga will bring her laptop. I've a list of 5 things to do/check, including the status of QT and whether non .mov media/video files (eg, .mod, .mpg, .mp4) are affected. More tonight.

Thanks for the suggestions, all
Davidk

[Davidk]

Update after class, Wednesday 15 May.
There were in fact 2 machines afflicted by this - an old 32bit Toshiba laptop, and a new 64bit Dell laptop, both running windows 10. And as a result of the MS answers forum as well as those suggested here, I had a lengthy list of 5 items to checkout.

My first check was the windows update settings, and didn't I have an interesting time trying to find that. Windows search came in handy. As expected, set to auto. Sidebar - Ken alluded to this: with this sort of approach, the legendary windows bloat is going to get bigger, because there will be more irrelevant stuff pushed onto the machine. Like, programs for currency symbols in the 'stans (eg afghanistan) , chechnya et al - things I just refuse to load in windows 7 because it is irrelevant to how the machine is used in Australia.

The second check was the file associations list, once it loaded up (seemed to take a long time to do that). Inga had no idea how to find that, nor even what it meant. All of the normal movie filetype associations (.mp4, .mpg, .mod, .mov, .mts, .mpeg) we use on one affected machine matched those on my tutor laptop. What had changed was the association for .vsp - video studio wasn't even in cooee of it: shown as set for media player. So, re-associated .vsp with Video Studio (X8 vstudio.exe) and then ran some tests on project files, packaging and individual clips using VS and several discreet players like MP. All now worked as they had in early May: the roots of that list obviously go a lot deeper than I had expected. But also a big relief on my part - wasn't really looking forward to the tedious business of QT tests, one-by-one rolling back the May patches, and the like and then doing test runs on files for each one.

Inga v happy lady.

Thanks all.
Davidk

[lata]

Hi David

Nice to hear you have solved the problem