UltraEdit starts wrong UltraCompare Edition (solved)

cawoodm · May 09, 2016#12016-05-09T09:57+00:00

I have an UltraCompare button in my UES v15 (UltraEditStudio\uestudio.exe) which starts UEC Lite v15 (UltraEditStudio\uclite\ucl.exe). I do however have a fully licensed but older (v8) version of UC (UltraEditStudio\UltraCompare\uc.exe).

How do I get UES to start the proper UC?

Mofi · May 09, 2016#22016-05-09T16:30+00:00

We need to clarify some confusions of your post.

Which version of UEStudio do you have exactly as v15 is not very precise?

The version information is displayed in About dialog which can be opened from menu Help for UES v15.30.0.18. It is possible to select the version information in the dialog and copy it to clipboard with Ctrl+C for pasting it with Ctrl+V into edit field in browser.

Do you use 32-bit or 64-bit UEStudio?

Where do you have installed UEStudio?

The standard installation paths are:

32-bit UES on Windows x64: "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\IDM Computer Solutions\UEStudio"
64-bit UES on Windows x64: "%ProgramFiles%\IDM Computer Solutions\UEStudio"
32-bit UES on Windows x86: "%ProgramFiles%\IDM Computer Solutions\UEStudio"

There is by default no UltraEditStudio. Such a string does not exist in any program file of UEStudio.

UltraCompare Prof. v8.xx.0.yyyy is definitely a 32-bit executable (abbreviated UC).

Where do you have installed UltraCompare Professional?

The standard installation paths for UltraCompare Prof. v8.xx.0.yyyy are:

32-bit UC on Windows x64: "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\IDM Computer Solutions\UltraCompare"
32-bit UC on Windows x86: "%ProgramFiles%\IDM Computer Solutions\UltraCompare"

Which version of Windows do you use (Vista/7/8/8.1/10)?

Do you use 32-bit or 64-bit Windows?

Please post the answers on those questions and I can tell you the command to execute to register in Windows registry UltraCompare Professional correct for being detected by UEStudio. UEStudio starts UltraCompare Lite (abbreviated UCL) installed with UES into program files directory of UES because of not being able to find out if UC Professional is installed at all and in which directory. This occurs usually only if UC Professional was not installed using the installer executable or the MSI package, but by simply copying its program files on the hard disk. Such a "copy installation" is no good idea for most applications.

cawoodm · Jun 22, 2016#32016-06-22T13:08+00:00

Sorry for the delay. I don't seem to automatically get an email when someone replies.

UEStudio '15 Development Environment (x64)
Version 15.30.0.14
ues.exe is installed in a custom path C:\Marc\Prg\UltraEditStudio

uc.exe is 8.10.0.1015 and exists in C:\Marc\Prg\UltraEditStudio\UltraCompare

Windows 7 64-bit

Mofi · Jun 22, 2016#42016-06-22T17:40+00:00

Okay, UltraEdit and UEStudio determine existence of UltraCompare Professional by accessing the registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\uc.exe

On 64-bit Windows there are two Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths registry keys. The standard path is for 64-bit applications like UEStudio in your case and the second key is for 32-bit applications as UltraCompare in your case:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\uc.exe

Now it depends on Windows version if the App Paths are redirected or shared. For Windows 7 and later Windows the key is shared, see Registry Keys Affected by WOW64 for details.

The installer of UltraCompare adds the uc.exe registry key either under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (installation for all users) or under HKEY_CURRENT_USER (current user installation). Yes, there are two more possible locations with same path in HKEY_CURRENT_USER in case of installation is done without administrator privileges only for the current user account.

In your case with 32-bit UC installed for all users which should be visible also for 64-bit UES there should be in your registry:

Code: Select all

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\uc.exe]
@="C:\\Marc\\Prg\\UltraEditStudio\\UltraCompare\\uc.exe"
"Path"="C:\\Marc\\Prg\\UltraEditStudio\\UltraCompare\\"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\uc.exe]
@="C:\\Marc\\Prg\\UltraEditStudio\\UltraCompare\\uc.exe"
"Path"="C:\\Marc\\Prg\\UltraEditStudio\\UltraCompare\\"

Start Regedit (requires administrator privileges) and check all 4 App Paths keys for uc.exe. If UltraCompare was correctly installed with the installer executable or the MSI file, there should be either in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE or in HKEY_CURRENT_USER both uc.exe keys with the standard value and the Path value with correct path as posted above as *.reg file content (for local machine).

Note: In Windows registry editor the paths are displayed with a single backslash between the directories.

Add the missing key/values with Windows registry editor or run the installer of UltraCompare once again and repair the installation.

By the way: Open Advanced System Settings of Windows and check in system environment variables list the directories assigned to environment variable PATH. Does it contain the UltraCompare directory and if so, only once with correct path? uc.exe is not called by UE and UES via PATH, but if UltraCompare program files folder is present in PATH, it should be included only once with the correct path.

cawoodm · Jun 23, 2016#52016-06-23T12:01+00:00

OK, it was a bit tricky since our company does not allow any registry changes. Once I added the keys however and restarted UES it picked up the correct UC.exe. THANKS!

For anyone with the same problem create a .vbs script with the following (or similar) code to set the right keys:

Code: Select all

Set WShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

myKey = "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\uc.exe\"
WShell.RegWrite myKey,"C:\\Marc\\Prg\\UltraEditStudio\\UltraCompare\\uc.exe","REG_SZ"
MsgBox WShell.RegRead(myKey)

myKey = "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\uc.exe\"
WShell.RegWrite myKey,"C:\\Marc\\Prg\\UltraEditStudio\\UltraCompare\\uc.exe","REG_SZ"
MsgBox WShell.RegRead(myKey)

BTW: I did not have uc.exe in my PATH.