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© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
This release is wonderful. I was having hot- and cold-running crash problems with 4.5, occasioned by the Content Manager. 4.6.0.15 hasn't crashed once yet.
I had to do baroque things to get it to install completely, however; I had problems with the Content Manager installation. I managed a workaround, after cursing Microsoft to the 14th generation for their inconsistent and obnoxiously wrongheaded security system.
For the adventurous:
Disable User Access Control. (Not hard)
Install the Take Ownership utility for Windows Explorer. (Not hard)
Take ownership of folders and files you need to work with. (Easy)
Remove inheritance and special permissions from file and folder settings; make sure Administrators have full control. (A tad involved)
Details of workaround on request.
...how much do you charge per hour?
...been having nothing but grief with WIn7 locking me out of folders & such even though I supposedly have admin status. This is messing up my install and the performance of Daz studio to the point I am am close to just wiping the HD and selling the system that I recently built off and forgetting about all this.
I'm not a fraggin' IT specialist I'm an artist. Why can't they make this stuff work the way it is supposed to?
Just in time for my new 32G workstation.... Ran a quick test with Reality / Lux NP
Kyoto Kid: I was a Unix sysadmin a quarter of a century ago. This stuff is handled sanely and simply in Unix. If Microsoft messes it up any worse--all else being equal--I'll probably either buy a Mac (stuff in my price range is oddly designed), or sacrifice some software that won't port and move to Linux (in which case I'll have to miss Daz Studio. Too bad).
You're fairly warned: I don't know half a bean about Windows internals. Follow me at your own risk. Daz'll surely fix this problem.
But this is how I deal with Windows 7:
1. Get Macrium Reflect. Make an image of C:, all partitions, before you start messing around--and I strongly suggest you do it with the verify option on, so you know it's a valid image. Make the WinPE boot optical disk they recommend. Make sure you can boot from it, and that it finds your backup when the Macrium routine comes up.
Windows 7 allegedly has a backup and restore utility. It doesn't work, last I knew. It will make backups; but then it frequently won't be able to find the backup to restore from.
2. Take Ownership. Download, scan, and install. This utility will add a Take Ownership right-click option to Windows Explorer.
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3. Next, you're going to disable User Access Control, as completely as I know how. You should be able to leave it active -- but the UAC code is either buggy or insane. You as an administrator will frequently be denied access to files you ought to control. So you need to get it out of the way.
Go to Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Local Security Policy/Local Policies/User Rights Assignment.
You'll see a screen with a bunch of privileges listed. We want to make sure that you have these privileges:
Act as part of the operating system
Modify an object label
Take ownership of files or other objects
There's two ways to have a privilege assigned in Windows: having it assigned as an individual user, or having it assigned as part of a group. You should already be part of the group Administrators. So if you see Administrators listed in the Security Setting column, you should already have the privilege, and you can leave it alone.
If you see your individual username--what you called yourself when you set up the computer--you have the privilege.
Look at the policy called Act as part of the operating system. Your username probably isn't there, and neither is Administrators. So click on this line.
A window with two tabs will open up: Local Security Setting tells you who has the privilege, and Explain tells you what it means. In the Local Security Setting tab, click on Add User or Group.
Yet a third window opens up. In the lowermost box, labelled Enter the object names to select, type your username. Then press the Check Names button. If you've typed it correctly, it will probably prepend the computer's name in front of the username. Click OK.
When the Add User window closes, you'll be at the two-tabbed Act as part of the operating system window. You should see your username in the box. Click OK.
Now you should see your username in the Security Setting column for the Act as part of the operating system policy.
Now find Modify an object label. Same procedure: click to open, add your username if it isn't there already.
Now look at Take ownership of files and other objects. If the Security Setting column already reads Administrators, you don't have to do anything. If it doesn't, add your username.
Some of these policies will only accept your individual username as privileged. There are others where you can add groups. For those, you can add the group Administrators instead if you want.
We're done with the User Rights Assignment section. Hit the back button in the top left corner of the Local Security Policy window. You should see three items in the right pane again: Audit Policy, User Rights Assignment, and Security Options. This time, open Security Options.
This section works like the last section, except that most of the time, instead of adding names, we're going to be turning policies on or off.
Here are the policies, and what we want to change them to:
Recovery console: Allow automatic administrative logon -- Enabled
Recovery console: Allow floppy copy and access to all drives -- Enabled
User Account Control: Admin Approval Mode for the Built-in Administrator account -- Disabled
UAC: Allow UIAccess applications to prompt without using the secure desktop -- Enabled
UAC: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin approval mode -- Elevate without prompting
UAC: Behavior of the elevation prompt for standard users -- Prompt for credentials
UAC: Detect application installation -- Disabled
UAC: Only elevate executables that are signed -- Disabled
UAC: Run all administrators in Admin Approval mode -- Disabled
UAC: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation -- Disabled
UAC: Virtualize file and registry write failures -- Enabled
It is not necessary, but I also did this:
Accounts: Administrator account status -- Enabled
This enables a built-in account called Administrator. You usually don't need it; but I had occasion to be glad I'd enabled it once, when my hard drive was corrupt and I couldn't log in as myself. I could still get into the built-in Administrator account.
Recovery console doesn't have anything to do with this problem either. If you ever need the recovery console, you want as few obstacles between you and the hard drive as possible. So I enable those options.
We're done with Local Security Policy and Administrative Tools. Close the window.
Go to Control Panel/User Accounts. Click on Change User Account Control settings. Put the slider to the bottom if it isn't there already. Click OK.
Close the Control Panel. We're done with that.
When you do this, you're partly busting your security. Caveat lector! But I didn't have any problems when I was running XP.
I wish we could get back to making it as easy to use as XP. Or, more securely, Unix. Alas, we're not going to manage that. You'll still want to hit Windows with a stick; but at least you can now fix some of the broken stuff.
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4. So you can see what you're doing, we're going to change some of Windows Explorer's standard display options next.
Open Windows Explorer. In the top left corner, click on Organize. Then go to Folder and search options, the View tab, the Advanced settings down below.
Check Show hidden files, folders, and drives.
Uncheck Hide extensions for known file types and Hide protected operating system files. Click OK.
You still can't see everything on the disk this way. But you can see more.
Done with this part.
This is all prep for fixing permissions on individual files and folders, so you can finish the installation. And it probably belongs in another thread, ultimately. It's also getting pretty long, so I'll write the actual permission-fixing in another post.
Kyoto: Last part: Windows 7 file and folder permissions.
To see them, right-click on the file or folder you're having trouble with. Then click Properties.
There are two places to find problematic settings. The first is right on the General tab of the Properties window: there are checkboxes at the bottom: Read only (only applies to files in folder), and Hidden.
If the Read-only box is blue, you can ignore it; it won't affect anything you're trying to do. If there's a checkmark by Read-only, you may not be able to overwrite or delete the files; if there's a check by Hidden, you may not be able to see them. Unchecking these may solve your problem.
Then again, it may not. Next place to look: the Security tab of the Properties window.
The Security tab has two sections: a window above showing who's listed in the permissions, and a display of the permissions below. There's a button marked Edit. Theoretically, you can edit the permissions there. It may even work once in a while. But in practice, if you're having trouble, you're going to need to click on the Advanced tab near the bottom.
You'll see a multi-tabbed window called Advanced Security Settings for (Name). The front panel is a list of permissions; there's a Change permissions button. You should be able to click on the button, and edit the permissions.
This ought to work. It doesn't always. This is where Take Ownership comes in. Sometimes, you'll need to right-click on the file or folder you're having trouble with, and run Take Ownership. This will change the owner of the folder and the files and folders therein to you, as you'll be able to see in the Owner tab of the Advanced Security Settings window. That usually at least gets you the ability to edit the permissions, via the Change permissions button.
Permissions that are likely to cause a problem:
Special
Inherited permissions
Permissions for CREATOR OWNER
Permissions for your username that don't include full control
Permissions for Administrators that don't include full control
Fixing inherited permissions:
Change permissions, select the user or group whose permissions you're editing, and uncheck the Include inheritable permissions from this object's parent button.
Fixing CREATOR OWNER permissions:
Sometimes, you'll need to Remove the CREATOR OWNER permission line; and when that happens, you may find some or all of the permissions for other users disappearing. (What kind of an oddball system is this?) In that case, you need to Add permissions for a normal user or group--for instance, you add your username, or the Administrators group, with full control.
Fixing Special permissions:
Sometimes you can just Remove them, and then grant the user who had them full permissions.
Permissions without full control:
Edit the permissions and check the full control box, which automatically checks the others.
I don't guarantee that editing permissions will always work. And it's possible that either altering permissions or changing ownership will mess up your system past all fixing, if you do it with system files (it's not too likely with a Studio installation).
That's why I said to make a backup you can actually recover from first. However, I haven't had any problems as a result of fixing permissions on files or directories that were giving me a problem, and I've tampered with a lot more than Daz Studio, trying to make non-image backups work.
I fixed permissions on the directory, and the files therein, that I couldn't write to the first time I tried to install 4.6.0.15; I think it was a Content Manager folder, and I don't remember what the bad permissions were.
The reason for all the rigamarole in the previous post is to minimize the chance of getting 'Permission denied' errors, or silent failures, from User Access Control.
Daz'll fix the problem. But you can probably successfully install before they do. And maybe you won't feel quite so much like throwing the computer out the window.
FWIW, 4.6 runs quite nicely on my dual-core i5 laptop with 8GB. Renders fast, no crashes yet {(crosses fingers, toes, and eyes).
Next laptop will be one that takes 16GB, should put an end to any issues I might have (heh).
Back to rendering for me! A nice update, indeed! :)
I'd like to inquire about the content. Although it's said Genesis Essentials bundle hasn't been updated, I'm curious about the promo image provided here: http://www.daz3d.com/free-3d-models-and-content/daz-studio-pro-beta. In previous DAZ Studio's versions, the promo image reflected what was packed inside, for instance Magus outfit, Alchemy Chasm, Millennium Subdragon LE or Aldora hairstyle. If the essential bundle wasn't updated, what will happen with the promo?
...@Kcoady, that is far more than I care to deal with (and feel comfortable with doing) to just make pictures.
The Macrium Reflect. link just takes me to a blank page.
Looking at the Take Ownership utility makes a bit nervous as it appears to deal with the registry, something I don't feel comfortable at all in messing with.
In going into Control Panel/Administrative Tools I see nothing named "Local Security Policy".
I already tried what you mentioned in the second part, but each time was blocked by a dialogue that said I couldn't do that. I even changed the ownership following the same steps, but still found myself blocked from making the permissions changes. This could be why I am having the instability issues with Daz Studio as most likely I am also unable to install it as the "Administrator". This is why I have thrown up my hands in frustration as, even though (supposedly) I am the system administrator, it isn't letting me perform any administrative tasks on my own system.
I am not being paid a five digit salary to spend most of my time being an IT administrator, I am paying Daz (and MS) on my meager budget to provide the software required to accomplish the simple task of creating pictures.
I never experienced this difficulty working in XP. Unfortunately I don't have Pro64 as it is no longer supported.
...in looking at the Change Account Type screen in Control Panel/User Accounts, it seems to say that I need to set up another user (standard) account, which I find odd as I am the only one on this system. Clicking the link below for more information it also mentions something about Windows asking for one to provide a password for an administrator account. As I may have mentioned I have my "logon" occur automatically at Boot up so there is no prompt to enter a password (something I felt unnecessary since nobody else uses the system).
So this makes me wonder if, even though it indicates "Administrator" that I may actually have only "Standard" account access.
...this is sooo bloody confusing.
There must be at least one admin account, so you can't change the type of your account if it's the only one on the system. What is the exact problem you are having (the root problem, not the stuff you doing to try to fix it) and what are the exact errors you are getting, if any?
KK
I don't understand why you are having such difficulties with a new install on a new system.
If there are files all over the place I'm sorry but it's because you put them there.
I have Windows 7 64 bit, I use no password and I am the administrator.
Daz Studio is installed in C:\DazStudio4 and my content is in C:\Daz Studio\My Library
There are no problems with permissions or protected folders, no entries in program files and the only
Daz item in program files(X86) is Hexagon.
The content files go where I tell the Daz installers to put them (this is often a temp folder so I can organise as I wish).
As for the app data roaming you don't need to worry about that unless you want to look at the Studio log file which lives in there.
I don't use DIM or content management and I am certainly no IT expert. This is a very simple setup and it just works.
I should add that I only use one version of Daz Studio which is usually the latest.
Sorry if this isn't helping you but I don't want everyone to look at this thread and think Daz Studio and Windows 7
are problematic and do not work well together because that has not been my experience at all.
...I basically feel that something might be broken with the installs of 4.5 and 3Advanced and that this possibly relates to the issues I've been having with access to locked folders in Win7.
I know the"Not Responding" message occasionally occurs on the progress pane that appears when loading a scene, but it usually clears in a few moments. What I have been dealing with is the app totally freezing up indefinitely (a better term) with "Not Responding appearing in the title bar and Win 7 stuck in what appears to be an infinite loop when I make a change in or move to/from the Surfaces tab. Again I am told that it most likely has to do with the built in UberEnvironment/Surface and HSS content files having installed to the Programme Files instead of Documents folder.
...ugh, double post because I'm so flustered with all this.
@graham james: I had both 4.5 and 3Advanced install to what was supposed to be the"factory default location" (for lack of a better term) which is the My Documents folder. I should have followed what I did on my old XP32 notebook and installed them to the C:/Root instead as it isn't locked like the My Documents one is. I had no operational issues with that setup.
Most likely it appears I did something wrong when setting up Win7 but, not being very IT savvy, have no Idea what it is or how to fix it on my own, and that is what I feel is most likely responsible for the instability I have been experiencing with 4.5.
When I set up my XP notebook after replacing an HD which died, I experienced no difficulty with denied permissions or locked folders like I have with 7. As I understand, it apparently stems from the "protections against the user" 7 has which was not present in XP.
...well if I am to continue in this I am not about to wipe everything and start a nearly two month process all over again. Even if I did configure my Win7 wrong at install (which I agree, is a distinct possibility), I obviously have no idea how to do it "right" as that is obviously not my strong suit. I followed all the steps I thought were correct, got online, downloaded and installed the necessary updates, and ended up with a sightly "broken" OS that functions enough to let me do a few things, but anything remotely more advanced (like changing shaders) freezes 4.5 up.
I was afraid something like this might occur due to my lack of IT expertise, and apparently it has. Physically building the system seems to have been the easy part. all this OS/application configuration stuff is nothing more than voodoo to me.
Not sure what to do anymore except maybe pull the plug on all this for good.
Kyoto Kid: if I forgot to say, the Local Security stuff is in Administrative Tools, in the Control Panel.--Wait, you said you don't see it there. Uh. There should be a shortcut to Local Security Policy. If it isn't there, something's off.
I don't blame you. Windows security is the most godawful misdesign in the solar system.
You pretty much have to take an axe to User Account Control before you can edit permissions on the offending files and folders, alas.
I botched the Macrium Reflect link.
Installing Windows doesn't usually require you to do a whole lot of configuration (most of the time). The exception is if you have hardware that's too new to have its drivers in the Windows installers; then you have to find and load them by hand.
A build that makes you tear your hair out from the beginning may be a hardware problem. My last computer build drove me nuts. I had problems with the RAM, and it showed up as random errors here and there: it wasn't at all obvious to me what the source of the problem was. Since I don't have a computer shop, I didn't have spare hardware to swap out to see which piece was misbehaving.
4.5 crashed like crazy on me, to the point where I almost gave up on it.
Are you having serious problems with other software, or just this?
...well at this point cannot afford the utility. Apparently the issue is with how Win7 was installed on my system as apparently even though I am listed as being the administrator, my permissions were somehow locked at the Standard User level so apparently nothing short of wiping the system and having a professional reinstall of the OS (which I also cannot afford) most likely the only solution.
This is most likely why I cannot find the Local Secruity settings in the Administrative tools. All I see are the Windows Firewall ones.
Just did a search of both the Administrative tools folder and the entire C drive and nothing "Local Security" doesn't show up at all, like the option is not even there.
As to to your last question, no. I just ran a test in Studio 3Advanced with the same shaders that kept locking 4.5 up on clothing content with multiple MAT zones (like the clothing item I was using in 4.5) and everything worked fine, so that makes me feel it is 4.5 related.
-----
Scratch that, Just did the same test on the same dress in 4.5 and it didn't hang up. Then I tried it on the jacket which caused the freeze up and it too worked. This is just too screwy.
I'm so close to giving up on all this.
Kyoto: Oh. I'm sorry. You have a Home version of Windows, don't you? You can't get at some of those settings below Professional, if I remember aright. I've been installing or upgrading to Professional immediately for some time now. I plain forgot about that.
Are you having recurrent messy problems with any other programs? A bunch of them?
If you are: suspect hardware. It's pretty obvious where some hardware problems originate: if your screen is always and only green, it's the monitor, the video board, or the cable. Unfortunately, they're not all that neat. Assorted unpredictable errors might be the hard drive, the memory, or the various controllers on the motherboard. Or a buggy driver. It can be a real pain to identify the problem.
If it's just Studio: 4.5 is seriously unstable, to the point where I had to shut down the Content Manager to run it successfully.
4.6 is stable. I've only managed to crash 4.6 once in about 15 hours, and it took a plugin to do it. Daz should be able fix a problem with permissions on its program's own installed folders.
I don't know any way to fix the problem faster if you can't get to Local Security Policy, which isn't available with the Home versions.
...yes, home Premium 64.
That clarifies things a bit more. Don't know why it is mentioned in the help file then.
I Looked back at the Security Profiles/Settings for one of the locked folders and wonder if my username didn't get messed up somehow, for instead of just "MyName" it shows up as "MyName(Computer Name\My Name)", When I click on "Advanced" that name is the one which shows up with having full control. Shouldn't it just be "MyName"?
The only other users/groups there are the default "Everyone" and "System".
The ComputerName\MyName format's OK. It sounds like you do have full control. (Am I right?)
On the General tab, is Read Only checked? (Not blue; doesn't matter if it's filled in blue.)
(I am inspired by this conversation to start downloading Debian Linux. Modo just got ported to Linux.)
...yes it shows Full Control. I just don't understand why, if this is correct, I am blocked from performing any Administrator tasks.
This has been a total nightmare, I apologise to you and everyone here for the trouble this has been and thank you all for your suggestions.
there is a tips to active the administrator user account (Win7)
> net user administator/active:yes
check google!
...I'll have to look at that tomorrw. It is now after 02:00 here I am and I have to get some sleep. I am getting a lot of typos because I am so worn out from dealing with this all day.
I've got a scene I'm going to move, and it's going to break all the file associations. It's not all that big. Still a nuisance.
You know what Studio needs? The ability to set $PREFIXes in paths. Then you could just change $PREFIXes for textures, etc. if you wanted to move something.
I would much rather have everything connected to one application in one folder, instead of splattered all over the disk (and then you let the users store their work in their own space if they want). The splatter isn't necessary; it makes the system hard to back up; it makes it harder to understand; it makes it hard to fix when something goes wrong; it necessitates an abomination like the Registry. If you let Windows programmers write for *n*x they'll often make the same unspeakable mess out of a previously well-organized drive.
That said: I don't try to beat Windows programs into not being splattered across the hard drive. It's too hard and too time-consuming.
Kyoto--cm152335 just suggested enabling the built-in Administrator account, and logging into that. That's worth a try. Your account ought to have admin privileges already, but with the wonky way Windows admin works, it's possible you can do something with Administrator you can't do with your usual account.
I don't know how many of the Local Security parameters you can change from the command line in Home. I'll see if I can find out.
Question: if you type secpol.msc in the Start menu search box, does it find it? (I'm anticipating that it will.) If you then right-click on the icon and select Run as Administrator, what happens? (I'm hoping it opens a window named Local Security Policy.)
Looks like this R.C. has been a very stable release for most users, well done DAZ..
Any idea when this is likely to transition into an official release.??
S.K.
I'm not sure what you mean? DS uses relative paths for anything in a mapped content folder. Moving a scene shouldn't break anything.
The scene I'm going to move isn't in a mapped content folder. The output of my work process is really messy--I keep a zillion partials in case I decide something I tried didn't work--and I won't add it to a mapped content folder until I'm finished.
there is a tips to active the administrator user account (Win7)
> net user administator/active:yes
check google!
...OK did that and now have a new account that says Administrator on the manage accounts page. Will this use my profile if I switch to it, or will I end up with a "barebones" desktop?
...so it looks like it is not there in my version.
Now I can right click and run 4.5 as "Administrator" so the status is apparently there, just not sure why I can't affect permissions then.
I imagine I can run the installer that way if I install 4.6 (of course after uninstalling 4.5) just to insure it installs with the proper level of permissions.
The one small thing, all my content is installed to the D:/runtime drive including 3Advanced and 4.5 content libraries. The only items in C:/Username/My Documents/Daz3D is the Render Library in /3Advanced, Reality Add Ons for in /Studio4, and a project file I was working on in /Hexagon.
Are the textures, etc., in a mapped folder? It doesn't matter if the scene is, just the constituents of the scene.