Resolved, Sort of:Trouble Running Open Office Portable from USB

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April 25, 2008 - 6:59am

jaurand

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Resolved, Sort of:Trouble Running Open Office Portable from USB

I downloaded Open Office Portable v2.4 from PortableApps.com. I installed the software to my hard drive. I was able to access the applications.

I then copied the app folder to the \PortableApps directory on my USB drive. Now when I run OOp, the splash screen displays, and then it goes away and nothing happens.

I'm new to Open Office and Open Office Portable, so any help will be greatly appreciated. Are there config files or error logs I should be reviewing?

I'm running on a Dell Inspiron 1505 w/Windows XP MCE SP2.

Thanks!

April 25, 2008 - 8:36am

Simeon

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Normally the launcher should

Normally the launcher should handle it when the path changes.
I think the problem here is that the launcher only adjusts the drive letter and not the whole path. So you end up with invalid paths in some configuration files. The easiest thing is to delete the open office folder on your usb drive and re-install it.

"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate

April 25, 2008 - 11:28am

(Reply to #2) #3

Tim Clark

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I thought John said this

I thought John said this shouldn't be a problem,
or was that perhaps just with FFP and TBP?

Tim
-

Things have got to get better, they can't get worse, or can they?

April 26, 2008 - 11:04am

(Reply to #3) #4

Simeon

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I dont know.

"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate

April 25, 2008 - 2:20pm

(Reply to #4) #5

jaurand

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Still Not Working

Simeon,

Thanks for the advice. I had actually installed directly to the USB first, and that didn't work. That being said, I deleted OOP from the USB and did a complete reinstall. Same problem - all the apps start to launch by displaying the splash screen. After the splash screen, nothing.

Are there any error logs, configuration files or debugging capabilities I should be looking at to resolve the issues?

Thanks again!

April 26, 2008 - 11:19am

(Reply to #5) #6

rab040ma

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Flash drive?

Perhaps you could tell us whether the USB drive is flash (solid state memory) or mechanical (hard drive with moving parts) and whether it is formatted with NTFS. Does it have an activity light? Does that light stop blinking?

You could look at Task Manager (or preferably Process Explorer) to see if the program is running, just not opening a window. If you are geeky by nature, you could load up Process Monitor to see if it is doing anything, or perhaps learn the last thing it did before freezing up.

April 27, 2008 - 3:59pm

(Reply to #6) #7

jaurand

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See Below

Sorry - Hit post twice.

April 27, 2008 - 3:59pm

(Reply to #7) #8

jaurand

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More Info, But Still Not Working

rab040ma,

Sure, here's some additional information:

USB is a 4G Kingston (solid state)
App appears in Task Manager and then disappears
Downloaded process explorer. Saw basically the same thing. Shows up as new process, then "packed image", then "deleted object" and disappears.
No entries found in the XP system application log

Any tips for using Process Explorer to capture more info? No help file with my install - not sure why.

Thanks!

April 27, 2008 - 4:29pm

(Reply to #8) #9

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three additional questions

- do you have a local openoffice (if yes, then make sure that quickstart is disabled in the tray)
- Have you checked your firewall settings?
- Is the"base" launcher in the folder ? - all other launchers refer to it

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April 27, 2008 - 6:23pm

(Reply to #9) #10

jaurand

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Answers to three additional questions

No local open office.
What firewall settings would I have to check to run from the USB? (Note - I was able to install OpenOfficePortable on my hard drive and have it run)
If you are referring to the file OpenOfficeBasePortable.exe, yes it is present in the folder.

Thanks for helping - any other thoughts?

April 28, 2008 - 2:13am

(Reply to #10) #11

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running ooo from

running ooo from local HDD it is recognized as a different programm, so firewall might block it running from your flashdrive...
Give some more info about the firewall and we might help adjusting the settings..
Else, what about other portableapps from your drive?Do they run?

April 28, 2008 - 10:23pm

(Reply to #11) #12

jaurand

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Still no luck

wk,

Thanks for the suggestions.

I don't believe it's a firewall problem. My initial install was to the USB and it didn't work, but just to test your theory, I disabled Norton Internet Security across the board and no change. I also tried the USB drive in two other laptops with no luck.

I have the PortableApps Menu running, along with a number of apps:

Miranda
7-Zip Portable
GIMP Portable
FileZilla Portable
Joleem Portable
Firefox Portable
KeePass
Notepad2
Notepad++
PDFTK Builder
Sumatra PDF
TaskCoach Portable
WinDirStat Portable

Any other thoughts? I'm stumped on this one! Was hoping for info on a config file or error log or debug mode...

Thanks for trying.

April 30, 2008 - 8:11pm

(Reply to #12) #13

rab040ma

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Could you give it a try all

Could you give it a try all by itself, from a freshly booted machine from which nothing else has run?

You do have it in the default directory structure, right? (You haven't improvised a different directory/folder name when you installed it?)

If you have admin access to the machine, try installing OOo and see if the installed version works. (Then uninstall it, of course.)

How much RAM does your machine have?

I doubt that the firewall would prevent the program from running, and even if it did, it should log that somewhere. The same with an antivirus or anti-spyware program that prevented it from running (the log ... that program's own log if not the Windows event log.)

If a pristine install of the OOo on that stick does not work on several different machines, I'd focus on the flash drive. Have you run CHKDSK /f? Have you done a complete delete and install cycle, dismounting it in between? Have you tried running the OpenOfficePortable.exe program without running the PAM first? Anything else you've tried that failed to produce the results you want?

If you cannot get the installed version to work, focus on that. Once you get it working, uninstall it and come back to the Portable version.

May 6, 2008 - 3:01pm

#14

jaurand

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Resolved, but unsatisfactory

Okay, I know have Open Office Portable working, but I can't say I like the result. My USB was configured as a TrueCrypt Volume to keep everything encrypted. If I remove the TrueCrypt volume and install directly to the USB drive, OpenOffice works.

I'm not sure why it should care if it's running on an encrypted volume or not, but that seems to have fixed the problem. Thanks to all for your suggestions and help along the way.

May 7, 2008 - 4:13am

(Reply to #14) #15

Jimbo

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Did you try the container on the C: drive?

Out of interest, did you try copying the (unmounted) truecrypt container file onto the c: drive, mount it from there, and then see if OOoP would run from it?

May 8, 2008 - 9:16am

(Reply to #15) #16

jaurand

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Good Idea, But Didn't Try It.

Jimbo,

Great suggestion - wish I had thought of that. I've already tossed the volume, so I can't do the test. I may try creating a new TrueCrypt volume on my C: drive just to see if that really was the problem.

Thanks for the suggestion.

May 8, 2008 - 10:25am

(Reply to #16) #17

LOGAN-Portable

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original post did not

original post did not mention TrueCrypt!?

May 8, 2008 - 10:41am

(Reply to #17) #18

ZachHudock

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we know...he provided more

we know...he provided more info as people asked more questions.

The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705

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