LDS software problems in Windows Vista

I have tried to install and use several LDS programs on Windows Vista wihtout any success. Specifically these are British Vital Record v2 and Australian Vital Records.

Does anyone know of any solution? or detail of Windows Vista compatability?

Thanks

Keith

The Church is barely starting the adoption of Vista. I have installed it on one of my dev machines just to see what hurdles I was going to have to jump and have been amazed by the pain. Pretty much half of the software that I use on a daily basis doesn't work (and I am talking about development tools, not Church programs). I am sure that QA has some Vista machines, but it is not their standard by any means.

In the case of the Australian Vital records i'm pretty sure the problme is to do with the installer being 16bit. I have seen the same problem on several other programs. In those cases the developer was able to provide an update with a newer installer packaged which solved the problem.

I'm Curious? Is anyone else having problems with Vista? PAF or other LDS Software. I'm looking to upgrade my PC, but I wonder if I should wait.

I run Windows XP in Parrallels Virtualization on an intel MacBook Pro. PAF Runs great on the installation.

- Tom

Tomj wrote:I'm Curious? Is anyone else having problems with Vista? PAF or other LDS Software. I'm looking to upgrade my PC, but I wonder if I should wait.

I run Windows XP in Parrallels Virtualization on an intel MacBook Pro. PAF Runs great on the installation.

- Tom

I'm running Vista right now, but haven't installed any LDS software yet. My experience has been really pretty good so far.

However, in your case, running Windows through virtualization on a Mac, I see no benefit to upgrade the "secondary" operating system. :rolleyes:

Maybe this will help...

Right-clicked on "PAF5English.exe" this will bring up a properties for the install.

Click on the compatibility tab and then in the drop-down box select "Windows XP Service Pack 2)

Let me know if it works. This may also work on other LDS programs.

Roger

Roger wrote:Maybe this will help...

Right-clicked on "PAF5English.exe" this will bring up a properties for the install.

Click on the compatibility tab and then in the drop-down box select "Windows XP Service Pack 2)

Let me know if it works. This may also work on other LDS programs.

Roger

I personally think that's a great idea. Hope it works out.

When you install a program with compatibility mode, please keep in mind that you may have to do EXACTLY the same thing two or even three time. Vista learns from each time it fails, and almost always it will eventually load the program. What you then need to ascertain is where something else stops working at that point. It most usually will be Internet Explorer. If that happens, then you need to uninstall the first program. Almost all of the newer LDS programs work just fine. Hope this helps!

Brent

I have upgraded one of my computers to VISTA Premium Home and have had no problems so far running PAF5 and PAF Insight. I have not used the program a lot but I opened PAF and Insight and both seemed to be working fine. Don't know about any other LDS software. I realize Insight is not LDS produced but we use it a lot with PAF.

hamilton wrote:You Require Family Tree Maker 2008 So you can run PAF 5.2 On Vista. Family Tree Maker 2008 Will Read and Display your PAF File!!!

I believe Ancestral Quest, and PAFWiz will do the same.

[Disclaimer: All products mentioned in this post are commercial products, not necessarily endorsed by the church - although some of them are Affiliates.]

I have just got a new computer with Vista! , and I am also having problems getting my programes to load.
I have managed to get the Library catalogue to leave an icon on the desktop, but when I click on it I can't access any information. The 1881 census refuses to do anything .

I don't understand much about the workings of a computer so can anyone let me know what to do without complicated jargon?
I have got a 2GB RAM and it is a brand new computer so I would expect it to cope with the basic things. I had no problem wiuth my ancient "steam driven" machine with less than 1GB RAM. I am also having problems with other genealogy programes that I believe are not directly linked with the LDS, but may be cured by the same cures as for the LDS programes. At least I do hope so!
I hope someone out there can help to sort me out.

Kate wrote:I have just got a new computer with Vista! , and I am also having problems getting my programes to load.
I have managed to get the Library catalogue to leave an icon on the desktop, but when I click on it I can't access any information. The 1881 census refuses to do anything .

I don't understand much about the workings of a computer so can anyone let me know what to do without complicated jargon?
I have got a 2GB RAM and it is a brand new computer so I would expect it to cope with the basic things. I had no problem wiuth my ancient "steam driven" machine with less than 1GB RAM. I am also having problems with other genealogy programes that I believe are not directly linked with the LDS, but may be cured by the same cures as for the LDS programes. At least I do hope so!
I hope someone out there can help to sort me out.

I do not understand what you are having problems with. Are you having problems running web sites or are you having problems installing programs from CD's?

I have a computer with Vista and I do not have any problems using web sites. I do not have any of the church programs except PAF and it seems to work fine on Vista.

I've been using Windows Vista since it came out and I haven't had any trouble running any of my legacy software (including many Church applications.) Perhaps if you gave us an example of exactly what you are trying to do and what the symptom is, we can better assist you.

Thanks,

Brad O.

I think she's referring to one of these software.

She mentioned the 1881 British Census. The 1881 British Census is available on FamilySearch.org so she should be able to use it there without any problems. If she purchased the CD version from the Distribution Center the system requirements say Windows 95 (or higher). Has anyone tried installing this on a Vista machine?

I would think worst case that forcing Vista into Win98/ME or XP_SP2 compatibility mode while running these types of programs should clear up most issues.

Mike

I have installed PAF under Vista without problems and its mostly running ok with just a few minor hicups.

The one that is most irritating is that when you try and change an existing entry for a date or place, it at first refuses to change but after several attmepts it finally does so. New entries seem to be unaffected. Hope the LDS software developers get on the job soon.

rsterry wrote:Hope the LDS software developers get on the job soon.

The Church is no longer developing PAF. There will not be any updates or upgrades for this program. Instead they will be focusing on the new FamilySearch and related software/applications. The last update to PAF was version 5.2.18.0 on 23 July 2002.

Any compatibilty upgrades to PAF, such as those needed for Windows Vista, will have to come from other sources.

rsterry wrote:I have installed PAF under Vista without problems and its mostly running ok with just a few minor hicups.

The one that is most irritating is that when you try and change an existing entry for a date or place, it at first refuses to change but after several attmepts it finally does so. New entries seem to be unaffected. Hope the LDS software developers get on the job soon.

I run PAF under Vista with no problems at all. I certainly do not see the problem you describe with changing existing dates or places.

However, if you do have odd problems, you might try running the applications in a compatibility mode, such as Windows XP SP2. That has been known to fix some odd problems. To change the compatibility mode, you can right click the shortcut (All Programs > FamilySearch > PAF) and choose Properties. Go to the Compatibility tab, check the "Run this program in compatibility mode" check box, then choose Windows XP (Service Pack 2). If that doesn't help, try Windows 2000 or other modes until you find one that works.

I believe I've fixed the problem I had with editing date fields under Vista. I downloaded the latest version of PAF and lo and behold, problem fixed. Excellent!!!

Thank you PAF software developers. PAF now works without problems under Vista - at least for me.

Cheers

Robert