I finally succumbed to MS pestering me to upgrade to Win 11 on my laptop.
Do I now wish I hadn't.
I run Lotus Smart Suite on the laptop (for historic reasons)and on trying to open password protected files in Lotus 123 I get a registry error message and I can't access the file.
The non-password protected files open OK.
I know it is an unusual combination but has anyone else experienced this on upgrade to Win 11
MS seem unable to assist.
If you still do have a machine where you can open them take the password protection off and then save them.
The other option (which is dangerous) is to go into the registry with a flint axe and compare the various registry settings for Lotus 123 on Win7 and the misbehaving Win11. Adding the right thing might fix it.
Create a backup and a restore point as insurance first!
OTOH software that old tends to assume that it can save settings in the same directory as its own executable which may cause other problems.
Can you open the 123 files in an old copy of Excel 2003 or a free clone?
If you right-click and launch SmartSuite "as Administrator" does the error still occur?
If C:\Windows.old exists, you can "revert" to the old OS.
That folder auto-deletes after around ten days or so.
Windows.old is more than just a copy of C:\Windows, and the revert process repairs some other damage during the operation. Settings on a revert are "mostly" preserved, and users will find the odd few items not set to their advantage. It's not really sufficient to just "lets rename Windows.old to Windows", as that will not do the job properly. There is a button to push, to revert.
*******Legacy applications can save to C:\Program Files , but it is a subterfuge. it's possible the actual storage for such saves is...
C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\ProgramName\
They've been doing this for a while. Program Files should be owned by TrustedInstaller. Whereas that suggested directory name is owned by you.
When the program wants to read the file it saved out, the OS makes it look like the Program Files directory and the ProgramName directory, have been merged. This technique is a way of making legacy applications feel "welcome".
*******If you give the *exact* registry error message, perhaps someone can track down a previously-discovered root cause. Taking a screen snapshot is one way to do this, if you hate writing the stuff down in a hurry. This is one reason I keep Snippingtool.exe pinned to the Task Bar. Right-click in the pane of the snippingtool window to access the "Save As" option.
When Windows 11 installed, it "migrated" applications and it is always possible the registry was not handled properly and some stuff got lost. If an application is a "blocker", the Windows installation advisor will list the things it will be removing because they are known to not be compatible. If an installation goes ahead, and nothing is tossed over the side, then it is assumed to be compatible.
If a program were to be removed, parts of it might be in C:\Windows.old, for as long as Windows.old exists.
*******You should always do a backup of C: , before an OS upgrade comes in. As it's frequently faster to do a restore, than to wait an hour for Revert to finish.
Paul
No
Thanks that seems to have done the trick!
Now you have a choice ... either treat that as a fix, or treat it as a clue that your user needs more permissionsto the 123 files, or registry entries; personally I'd guess that Mitch Kapor didn't set it as a trap for you 40 years into the future and run the one program as admin.
I'll take it as a fix, I've opened the files I wanted and saved them, having removed the p/w's I can also open them now without running as Administrator. Happy days and thanks for the suggestion.
Registry entries have "ownership".
The tough ones to deal with, are owned by TrustedInstaller.
When you have malware on a computer, the malware when it changes the Registry, uses TrustedInstaller ownership as a means of "showing off" :-)
I've helped people clean off a couple of those, and it's a nuisance.
What it means to be Administrator, is you have an "impersonation privilege". That's the main power of Administrator. Things are set up, such that using Administrator account directly, hardly ever solves a problem. But using your powers of impersonation, you can become other accounts and fix stuff that way. (psexec to become SYSTEM)
Running utilities that have vulnerabilities, as Administrator, is generally a bad idea. If you want to trace Registry activity, you can use Process Monitor for that. Then maybe, if you filter on the name of the SmartSuite executable, you can see what areas of the Registry it is accessing, and perhaps, how they got messed up.
Paul
Is this UAC again? I think this little goody though meant to aid security, seems more likely to get itself turned off and therefore damages security. Brian
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