downloaded exe won't install on win xp

Started by misterfricative

misterfricative Lv 1

When I run the exe file, I get an error almost immediately: cannot write to foldit.exe

(This doesn't make much sense because I don't know why it would try to write to the setup file, but that's what it says….)

If I choose to ignore the error, it says it has installed correctly, but when try to run the program, it just goes back into the install again and gives me the same error.

I don't see a version number or I'd give you that, but I DL-ed the file at ~ 05:20 GMT on Monday May 4

misterfricative Lv 1

Hey LennStar,

Thx for your suggestion.

Yup, I DL-ed several times, and I cleared the FireFox cache to make sure I was really getting a new download. I uninstalled the borked install. I even rebooted. Nothing helped.

But the good news is that I've just now figured out the problem: Foldit.exe is the name of the setup file, and sure enough, foldit.exe is the name of the application too! So when I tried to install the application in the same folder as the DL-ed setup file, that's what was causing the error. Heck, now that I know what was happening, even the error message makes sense!

I hope the rest of the project doesn't have too many other lurking pitfalls. On the other hand, compared to the install, protein folding should be easy!

And maybe those file names could be tweaked to make sure no-one runs into this problem again. (I suppose Mac and Linux may be able to distinguish between these 2 filenames? But in Windows they're identical – and they're an accident waiting to happen.)