Suddenly, opening VS2022 presents the account menu. Windows update cause?

[Davidk]

The first-time use of CVS2022 after install presents the account menu - register or provide existing account details. And after that, it is missing on program starts - until now. After months of using 25.1.0.472, a start today (29 Aug 22) and that account menu is back. Again, insert existing details, and it's gone on the next start. Which is not a problem - yet - but more of a WTF moment.

The only recent change (last 2 days) to the system has been the installation of the latest cumulative update for windows 10 21h2 KB5016688 which was published on the 27/8/2022. So maybe that update has had a side effect for CVS. Has anyone else had a similar occurrence?

[asik1]

Not yet, I see that that update marked as optional so it wasn't "self" installed here.

[Ken Berry]

Coincidence perhaps, but just a few hours ago in another thread I reported a registration problem with another program ( Painter Essentials 8 ). In this case I hadn't registered the program beforehand. Anyway, I got the 4 line registration log-in, and saw the usual "I already have a Corel account". I pressed that and the box changed to two lines (email and password). I filled these in, being careful as to what was inserted. I waited a bit and eventually an error message came up telling me either the email or password were wrong. As I say, I had been careful filling these in so I knew what I had inserted was right. Anyway, I inserted a different password, and got the error message again (as I expected). And then I reinserted the correct/original password, which this time was accepted. At the time, I wondered if something might have gone wrong at the Corel server end.

Now your query re VS 2022. In fact I haven't used VS for several days, so I opened it, but again never got the account menu. Wondering about my earlier experience with Painter Essentials, though, I went to Help and pressed the Account Settings button. A dialogue box appeared asking for email and password. However, I could not insert anything as both the box and the rest of VS appeared to be frozen. I waited for a while but it remained frozen and I had to use Task Manager to close VS.

I reopened VS 2022. Still no account box, so I tried Help > Account Settings again, and got the dialogue box again. I filled it in and this time what I had written was accepted. Again I had been careful to ensure I was typing the correct email address and password. But after a short while I got the attached error message. I can't say I have ever seen anything looking like this since I started using VS about 22 years or more ago. But again, I can only wonder if something at the Corel server end has gone awry.

EDIT: I might add that after posting the above and going back to that error msg, I tried closing it, but it had frozen and taken VS with it. Again I had to use Task Manager to close VS.

[Davidk]

Ken,
Whilst I can see the Corel servers involved once the UID/pwd has been entered, to validate an existing account, just getting that account menu up at the start has to be part of the app startup process, for which windows functions are probably involved. And once certified by the server, presumably there's cells in the app start which remembers it. So I speculate that there was something that damaged the previously accepted uid/pwd details, enough to bring the account menu up again.

At a longer remove (1 week ago) there were the regular monthly windows patches. But since there is often a CVS service pack around this time of year I've been checking fairly regularly - every few days - and today was the first time I saw that account menu on start. Which is what led me to the update KB mentioned - this was the first start since I installed that.

[lata]

Just checked this out with no problems, Ken I also installed and ran Painter Essentials, no problems with registrations.
I usually go to my Corel account through my web browser and not via the program, I prefer it that way.
Anyway no issues.

I then checked for updates that found optional update (KB5016688) which I started to install but seems to be stuck at 0%, will check the programs again when the upload decides to complete, seems to be very slow to install?

[Ken Berry]

I understand all that and normally have never gone to Help > Settings. I always wait until the end of installation to get the registration settings and go from there. The Painter Essentials occurrence I reported occurred as part of that process: I had only just installed Essentials and went through the registration process which occurred after registration as described. But unlike every other registration process with all other Corel products, including earlier versions of Essentials, I hadn't had the small experience I reported this time.

But there are others who are reporting similar experiences, and not just Davidk in this post here. See also https://forum.corel.com/viewtopic.php?p=395233#p395233 in the PSP forum in the last 24 hours. So again, all I can say is that my suspicions are aroused. I might add that I have not had any Windows 11 updates in the past week or more yet have used various Corel programs with no earlier problems.

[asik1]

Available for Windows 10 versions 20H2, 21H1 and 21H2, the KB5016688 update is a preview of the cumulative update that will be released next Patch Tuesday. Although this is a non-security update, it fixes a large number of issues with Windows 10

Among the problems addressed by the KB5016688 update are a licencing issues that caused some game installation to fail. A problem with icon colors in the Search app has been fixed, as has the appearance of a 0x1E error.

[lata]

After finally installing KB5016688 I have tested both Video Studio, PSP and Painter and have not had any issues regarding registrations

Some Video Studio users had similar registration issues that Corel recommended deleting the messages, maybe worth a try

This post refers
https://forum.corel.com/viewtopic.php?p=393192#p393192
Knowledge base topic…..
https://kb.corel.com/en/128877

[lata]

Doing a search of the Corel Knowledge Base I found this recent topic. 26th July 2022
An unexpected error occurred on the server. Please check your internet connection and try again later (Windows)

https://kb.corel.com/en/129031