Corel PaintShop Pro 2021 Ultimate Installer Issue

[J4R1O]

Hi,

Just purchased Corel PaintShop Pro 2021 Ultimate yesterday but when I launced the InstallShield Wizard the pop-up screen's every single letter was replaced by question marks and looked not-so trustworthy (at least to me). I thought I bought a legit software from a legit company but the first impression made me quit the install process.

Weird, one of their flagship products and even the installer is broken?

[LeviFiction]

I would contact Corel Support.

[J4R1O]

I would contact Corel Support.

I did. They suggested me to click on the marked save option in the image I sent them. I told them that I won't install anything on my brand new PC that looks suspicious. Would you install something on your computer if all the text on the software installer's pop-up screen looks like this: ????????????,?????? ????????????(L), ???????????????????????

I don't know... it's been a long day... too much fuss in these already unpredictable and stressful times... I just thought that the software I paid for would install on my PC without making me suspicious. I re-installed PSP 2021 demo and its installer looked normal AND different. This one looks like I'm trying to install a cracked software from 2002.

And the funniest part: I purchased this license from Corel's very own web shop.

[Ken Berry]

Did you purchase a disk copy of the program, or a download version? If the latter, then it sounds as though something has gone wonky either in establishing a proper link to the download site, or something corrupt in the initial download attempt. Have you tried rebooting the computer and trying to install again?

[LeviFiction]

Do you have the original trial installer? You can just activate that.

Would I install software if the installer had a bunch of ?'s? Yes, I'd give it a try. Unexpected bugs happen for no discernible reason all the time. I'd start with what Ken suggested, first I'd re-run the installer. Then if it still did it, I'd try disabling my anti-virus for 10 minutes while I run it just in case it's stopping something. I wouldn't install right away but I'd see if that did any good. If not, I'd re-download the software and try again. Then I'd reboot the computer. Try installing from a different account.

[J4R1O]

Did you purchase a disk copy of the program, or a download version? If the latter, then it sounds as though something has gone wonky either in establishing a proper link to the download site, or something corrupt in the initial download attempt. Have you tried rebooting the computer and trying to install again?

Hi Ken,

It's a download version. I'll try to download the setup file (1,31GB) again and see if it still looks corrupted.

[J4R1O]

Do you have the original trial installer? You can just activate that.

Would I install software if the installer had a bunch of ?'s? Yes, I'd give it a try. Unexpected bugs happen for no discernible reason all the time. I'd start with what Ken suggested, first I'd re-run the installer. Then if it still did it, I'd try disabling my anti-virus for 10 minutes while I run it just in case it's stopping something. I wouldn't install right away but I'd see if that did any good. If not, I'd re-download the software and try again. Then I'd reboot the computer. Try installing from a different account.

So I can activate PSP 2021 demo version even I bought a license for PSP 2021 Ultimate? I'll try to download the setup file again and see if it helps.

[J4R1O]

I downloaded the setup file (PSP2021_Ultimate_DD version 15.0.0.498) again but it still looks corrupted:


Support also suggested me to run the clean up tool for PSP 2021, but I don't know how it would help anything since I haven't even installed Ultimate yet. Only PSP 2021 demo and it works fine.

[migf1]

This is weird indeed, looks to me like the PSP installer can't recognize the language used on your system.

In your profile I see you are in Finland, is your Windows 10 switched to a non-English language? Or, are you trying to install the program in a folder whose complete path contains non-English letters? These are the 2 things I would check first in this case. It may be a long shot, since PSP (and hopefully its installer too) supports UTF character sets, but it may worth giving it a try.

[J4R1O]

This is weird indeed, looks to me like PSP can't recognize the language used on your system.

In your profile I see you are in Finland, is your Windows 10 switched to a non-English language? Or, are you trying to install the program in a folder whose complete path contains non-English letters? These are the 2 things I would check first in this case. It may be a long shot, since PSP (and hopefully its installer too) supports UTF character sets, but it may worth giving it a try.

Hi,

Yes, I'm using Windows 10 Pro Finnish Edition, but that shouldn't cause any issues. I've installed dozens of software (and hundreds of audio plugins) earlier this year since I bought a new PC, but I've never encountered anything like this. I also checked that ParticleShop and Artistic Effects Script Bundle seem to start installation process without any issues. And what comes to installation path, that was by default. I didn't change anything.

[migf1]

Hi J4R10, if what I suspect is causing the issue then it 's on Corel to fix it, nothing wrong on your part or your system. Hopefully it's just that particular installer, but since it stands in your way, you should let them know that as a possible cause for that issue.

In the meantime, you can try installing PSP anyway, trying to guess the contents of the dialogs (or using the trial installer as a reference, to see what they are actually showing). If I'm correct in my assumption, this is an installer only issue, and your PSP 2021 should be fine once installed.

Or you can try switching Windows to English before running the installer, and specify a folder in your C drive that contains English letters only (or create a new one yourself). If your Windows username contains non-English letters, you can try creating a second user, using English letters only.

In any case, I think you should tell Corel so they can fix it. Since the trial installer works fine for you, it should be easy for them to fix the regular installer too (and maybe send it to you after fixing it, who knows).

[J4R1O]

Hi J4R10, if what I suspect is causing the issue then it 's on Corel to fix it, nothing wrong on your part or your system. Hopefully it's just that particular installer, but since it stands in your way, you should let them know that as a possible cause for that issue.

In the meantime, you can try installing PSP anyway, trying to guess the contents of the dialogs (or using the trial installer as a reference, to see what they are actually showing). If I'm correct in my assumption, this is an installer only issue, and your PSP 2021 should be fine once installed.

Or you can try switching Windows to English before running the installer, and specify a folder in your C drive that contains English letters only (or create a new one yourself). If your Windows username contains non-English letters, you can try creating a second user, using English letters only.

In any case, I think you should tell Corel so they can fix it. Since the trial installer works fine for you, it should be easy for them to fix the regular installer too (and maybe send it to you after fixing it, who knows).

Hi migf1,

I did contact the Corel support and they suggested me to run the clean up tool (viewtopic.php?f=56&t=52337) but since I haven't install PSP 2021 Ultimate yet, that would be unnecessary procedure (I suppose).

I still have 19 days left of PSP 2021 demo but it's not Ultimate. It seems that one can't demo PSP 2021 Ultimate, only standard version, for some reason. The funny thing is that demo installer looks nothing like that, it looks modern and the installer for the full version looks 20 years old.

And what comes to folders, there are no Finnish letters on those folders because I know they might cause some issues. And my user name contains only English letters.

Just wondering: what if I use my Ultimate serial number to activate the PSP 2021 demo? Will it work? But then I'll have the standard PSP 2021 instead of Ultimate?

[migf1]

Hi migf1,

I did contact the Corel support and they suggested me to run the clean up tool (viewtopic.php?f=56&t=52337) but since I haven't install PSP 2021 Ultimate yet, that would be unnecessary procedure (I suppose).

Yes I read that, but I suggested you contact them again being specific about the character set problem.

I still have 19 days left of PSP 2021 demo but it's not Ultimate. It seems that one can't demo PSP 2021 Ultimate, only standard version, for some reason. The funny thing is that demo installer looks nothing like that, it looks modern and the installer for the full version looks 20 years old.

Yeah, just let Corel know and point them to this topic if need be, and also ask them to give you an alternate D/L link for the installer if possible.

And what comes to folders, there are no Finnish letters on those folders because I know they might cause some issues. And my user name contains only English letters.

Just wondering: what if I use my Ultimate serial number to activate the PSP 2021 demo? Will it work? But then I'll have the standard PSP 2021 instead of Ultimate?

I've never tried to activate the demo, but I've seen in the forum that several people have done it and even suggesting it. But yes, I think you won't get the Ultimate content, and as far as I know, there is no Ultimate trial either. However, I think you can still get extra free content from within PSP, in the Home screen under Shop.

[migf1]

Btw, in the meantime, why don't you just switch Windows to English so your installer will hopefully work, and once done switch Windows back to your language?

[J4R1O]

Thanks for your reply, migf1!

Yes I read that, but I suggested you contact them again being specific about the character set problem.

I sent them the screenshot, so they're aware of that.

Yeah, just let Corel know and point them to this topic if need be, and also ask them to give you an alternate D/L link for the installer if possible.

They sent me an alternate link but the setup file is the same (version 15.0.0.498) I got first time.

I contact them once more and also send a link to this topic, too.