[sims] Installing sims on windows 7

[zag]

Ok so how do I install the Sims client on windows 7?

 

When I run the installer it won't see any of the shared drives at all which makes it impossible to install as far as I can see. I can browse to the S: drive fine in explorer just not in the sims installer

 

Any solution?

[powdarrmonkey]

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/mis-systems/38051-sims-windows-7-a.html

[featured_spectre]

why would you do that? Capita dont support it yet and wont be supporting it for a while...

[zag]

I have a few windows 7 machines running on my domain now and they need Sims basically.

 

Seems lots of people have it installed on Windows 7, just need to know if my problem is unique

[jcollings]

I installed it on Windows 7 on my PC and it works fine and installed fine. The only bit that doesn't seem to work for me is system manager.

[cromertech]

@ittech You may need to check if your mapped network drive is available for the administrator. I disabled UAC while i installed and then reenabled afterwards

 

@jcollings System manager is still a 16bit app and so not supported on win7. Capita are still making the conversions to 32bit for some of the modules but i'm sure they will get there before win7 goes mainstream

[scebe427]

@ittech You may need to check if your mapped network drive is available for the administrator. I disabled UAC while i installed and then reenabled afterwards

 

@jcollings System manager is still a 16bit app and so not supported on win7. Capita are still making the conversions to 32bit for some of the modules but i'm sure they will get there before win7 goes mainstream

 

System Manager is a 32-bit app.

[dyoung5]

This is to do with UAC. With UAC, you effectively have 2 profiles, your normal one, and the administrative one that programs run in after you get the UAC prompt.

 

When you map a network drive, it maps under your normal profile, however when you run SIMSinst, it runs under the 'elevated' profile, which doesn't have the drive mapped. Here's what I did:

 

1. Map the network drive the normal way through explorer or net use. This will give your normal account access to the drive and it will show up in my computer.

2. Open an 'elevated' command prompt: start>programs>accessories> right click 'Command Prompt' and select 'Run as Administrator'

3. Use the 'net use' command to map the network drive again. 'net use S: \\sims_server\sims /y'

4. Run the SIMS setup again, and it should work now.

 

Let me know if this works.

 

Regards,

 

David

[Theblacksheep]

You can use the XP dlls put them in the prog\sims directory (which override the machine dlls for that program) and system manager works.

 

Thanks dyoung5 for the drive mapping

[zag]

Thanks dyoung5, that solution works perfectly.

 

I hope Capita can fix this.

 

Ooo Spoke too soon, now I cant see the shared drive when sims asks me for the connect.ini

Edited October 1, 2009 by zag

[Jon_Gathercole]

I have been running SIMS on Windows 7 (both 32-bit and 64-bit) for some time now without problems. This includes SIMS FMS and the System Administrator, both of which seem to have been written using a very old Borland C-compiler which is out of sync with the rest of SIMs.

 

The procedure was:

 

1. Install SIMS on the server. I was using Windows SBS 2008 (which is by definition 64-bit). This caused some problems which I may document in a separate thread.

 

2. Log in to the workstation as an administrator, and map a drive letter (drive I in my case) to the appropriate partition on the server.

 

3. Download and install the Microsoft SQL Server Native Client on the workstation. For the 32-bit machines I used the 32-bit client. For the 64-bit machines I used the 64-bit client.

 

4. Install the main "SIMS" program using SIMSINST.exe I did not have any problem with this stage of the installation program. As part of the procedure, I set up the appropriate path to the "connect.ini" file on the server.

 

5. At this point, if you load SIMS and go into "System Administration", you will experience problems. Likewise if you install SIMS FMS. This is because some required DLLs are missing from Windows 7, or are the wrong version. The correct versions need to be installed in the appropriate Windows folder.

 

6. The location for the DLLs varies. For the 32-bit version of Windows 7, the relevant folder is C:\WINDOWS\System32. For 64-bit, the folder is "C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64". Despite its name, the latter is the repository for 32-bit DLLs in a 64-bit version of Windows!

 

7. One of the affected DLLs is called "Netapi32.dll". This needs to be replaced rather than just added. Before you can do this, you need to "take ownership" of the file, and grant administrator access. To do so, carry out the following:

 

Choose "Run", then "cmd" to go to a DOS prompt (drive C). Then type the following (the first step depends on the OS you are using: 32-bit or 64-bit respectively):

 

cd C:\Windows\System32

OR

cd C:\Windows\SysWOW64)

 

takeown /f netapi32.dll

icacls netapi32.dll /grant administrators:f

exit

 

You should now have granted full control of "netapi32.dll" to administrators, and exited from the DOS window.

 

8. You now need to obtain the following DLLs from a suitable "donor" computer:

 

netui2.dll (about 300kb)

netapi32.dll (350 - 600Kb)

netrap.dll (about 15kb)

 

If you are installing to a 32-bit version of Windows 7, locate these files in a 32-bit Windows XP machine (with SP3 installed). They will be found in C:\Windows\System32

 

If you are installing to a 64-bit version of Windows 7, locate these files in a 64-bit version of Windows, such as Windows Server SBS 2008. They will be found in C:\Windows\SysWOW64.

 

Please note: Vista 64-bit does not contain "netui2.dll", and is therefore not appropriate as a 64-bit "donor".

 

If you are installing to Windows 7 64-bit, but do not have a 64-bit "donor" version of Windows to hand, the 32-bit files in Windows XP DO work. However, it is possible that you will have problems with other applications, although I have not found any so far.

 

9. Copy the above files to the relevant folder in your Windows 7 machine (C:\Windows\System32 or C:\Windows\SysWOW64). In addition to the three files above, I also copied "netui0.dll" and "netui1.dll" for consistency.

 

10. You should not have problems with "permissions" if you followed the instructions in Section 7. However, check the file sizes, dates and times to ensure that the copy has been successful. Windows 7 comes with a version of Netapi32.dll which is only 56Kb and does NOT work (it seems to be missing many of the function calls). This must be overwritten with the version you are copying from a donor machine.

 

11. I did not find it necessary to "register" the new DLLs, but you can do so simply by right-clicking on the file name in Windows Explorer, and choosing "Register this component".

 

12. You should now find that you can install and run SIMS FMS successfully, as well as being able to access the System Administration section of SIMS.

[matt40k]

Trust this isn't on a live system?

[suz_mallon]

A big thank you to Jon_Gathercole for his working solution

[matt40k]

Eh? You had to do all that?

[suz_mallon]

It only takes a couple of minutes.....I had awful trouble before doing this

[Jon_Gathercole]

Suz_Mallon: You're welcome!

[PhilNeal]

The steps listed in this thread are originally from 2 years ago when that was what was required. Since autumn 2009 we have updated our installers to resolve these issues and the steps from 5 onwards should not be required.

 

Alternately use SOLUS3.

[matt40k]

Alternately use SOLUS3.

 

Join PC to domain, install Office, open SOLUS3 UI, click on SOLUS3 Agents > Update Environment > SIMS workstation .... Select computers > find the PC from the AD list > click Add > click save > enter user\pass > drink tea > use SIMS

 

Or, if your GPO fan, join PC to domain, add machine to SIMS workstation list in SOLUS3 UI, drink tea, use SIMS.

[Sivadam]

That is definitely WRONG Matt.

 

It should be:-

'..... add machine to SIMS workstation list in SOLUS3 UI, drink coffee, use SIMS.'

[sven]

Seems like a lot of people are considering Operating Systems first, then the applications they want to run second when it comes to Windows 7. I ALWAYS work the other way round. If the OS cannot perform key functions that we need, then we don't use it.

[RogerCorrigan]

If its available in vista then it'll be able in 7. Maybe capita aren't sure

[matt40k]

If its available in vista then it'll be able in 7. Maybe capita aren't sure

 

?? SIMS works fine in Win7. Does anyone actually use Vista? lol I know of only 1 schools out of... 400 odd?

[Sivadam]

?? SIMS works fine in Win7. Does anyone actually use Vista? lol I know of only 1 schools out of... 400 odd?

I think we once got one Vista laptop working, in the dim and distant past. It needed a separate install with every Upgrade!

 

Fortunately that particular machine no longer exists! And the person who insisted on having that platform is no longer in the school!