IMatch 5 Install Fails

[jedlevin]

I am a long time user of IMatch. I downloaded the trial version of IMatch 5 to evaluate it in anticipation of upgrading from version 3.6.0.118. The software apparently installs successfully, but when launched the welcome screen freezes with the progress bar about half way complete and the message "Loading thesaurus data and tag metadata..." on the screen.

My system is running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, Service Pack 1 with 23 GB RAM.

I am wondering what I might do to resolve the problem.

Thanks,

Jed

[jedlevin]

Following up on my original post: I find that if I start IMatch using the "Run as Administrator" option then it opens without error. Also, if I use the open "without database" from the IMatch recovery screen, the program also opens with error. However, in that case, when I then attempt to open the database it again freezees at the "Loading thesaurus data and tag metadata" stage.

Seems like a problem with file permissions. Any thoughts on how I might resolve the problem would be appreciated.

[Mario]

IMatch is installed using a standard Windows installer package. Windows installer ensures that all privileges are set correctly and that all users (not just administrators) can run and use IMatch. IMatch has been installed very often in the past two years, and issues like this are very, very rare. Sometimes anti-virus software or similar 'smart' software fiddles with the installed files, blocking access and whatnot...

You did not attach a log file so I cannot tell more about the problem.
But if a software works when the runs it under an admin account, but fails otherwise, somethings wrong with the security settings.

1 .Did you try to move your database to another (new) folder?

2. Did you check the permissions of the database file and (!) the folder containing it in Windows Explorer. All users should have read/write/modify privileges for the file and folder.

3. Just in case, check the file system privileges in Windows

C:\ProgramData\photools.com\IMatch5\config\imatch5.pts

and the folder. All users (Everyone) should have read/write/modify privileges to this folder and all files contained.

4. Maybe a repair of your IMatch installation via the Windows control panel > Ad/Remove Software (after rebooting your system) will help.

[jedlevin]

Thanks for the reply Mario.

I checked and as far as I can tell the file and folder permissions are correct. I also reinstalled the program (this time using the full paid upgrade-- I have confidence that I will get it to work, so I took the leap

I also tried moving the database to a new folder.

I still get the same result: the program only loads if I run it as administrator. I've attached the log file, perhaps that will help you identify the cause.

Thanks for your help.



[attachment deleted by admin]

[Mario]

The database is opened writable.
IMatch stops dead when it attempts to launch ExifTool. ExifTool never returns. IMatch starts the program exiftool.exe from the IMatch program files folder in order to read and write metadata. This is a crucial part of IMatch.

1.  When ExifTool starts for the first time, it creates a sub-folder in the TEMP folder on your system and unpacks its runtime component into this folder. The folder in the TEMP folder on your system is named par-<USERNAME>, where <USERNAME> is the name of the user under which you run IMatch (e.g., par-Mario). If this folder cannot be created, exiftool cannot run.

I recall a support case where an anti-virus software considered starting a program like exiftool.exe from inside IMatch as a potential hack attempt and silently prevented exiftool from writing any data to the TEMP folder. As with your case, it worked when the user ran IMatch with an Admin account, but failed when the user used his normal account. Please check your anti-virus settings or temporarily disable your virus checker and similar software for a test.

2.  You can try to run exiftool manually using your account. Perhaps this gives a more usable error message.

- Open a command prompt from the Windows START menu (search for cmd and when found, run it)

- Use the CD command to set the active folder to C:\Program Files (x86)\photools.com\IMatch5\IMatch5.exe
cd C:\Program Files (x86)\photools.com\IMatch5\IMatch5.exe <Enter>

- Run exiftool and let it output a list of tags

exiftool.exe -list

Let's see if this produces some error messages.

[jedlevin]

Thank you very much Mario! I think, with your help, I resolved the problem.

Using the information you provided I did the following:

I turned off my security software and tried to start IMatch with the same negative result. So I then checked the permissions on the par-<USERNAME> folder, but all look ok. I then renamed the par-<USERNAME> and tried to start the application again and it opened normally!

I really appreciate your patience and your clear guidance. I can't imagine living without IMatch to manage my images!

[Mario]

I need to remember this one. the par folder can be deleted, the runtime system used by ExifTool will re-create it automatically. Seems like something was broken in that folder, or maybe your security software interfered when the folder was first created...anyway, good to hear that you got it solved