installing version 6 BROKE version 5

[Rob Bohls]

thought I was UPDATING version 5 but downloaded version 6

didn't realize this until it opened version 6

now I can't run version 5; it gets stuck at the opening splash screen

have uninstalled version 6; still stuck at splash screen

uninstalled and reinstalled version 5; stuck at splash screen

uninstalled, re-downloaded version 5 and reinstalled; stuck at splash screen

[Rob Bohls]

deleted registry entries and reinstalled; stuck at splash screen

uninstalled & installed version 6; stuck at version 6 splash screen

[Tim Green]

Hi Rob,

If you didn't change the installation folder suggested by the HM6 installer it will have installed in a separate folder, so that you have the trial version of HM6 in its own folder and your original version of HM5 untouched. If you chose the HM5 folder for installing HM6 it is probably best to do a clean install. First download the current installer for HM5 here (the link is down at the bottom of the page):

http://www.ec-software.com/downloads.html

1: Uninstall Help & Manual in the Windows Control Panel (Add/Remove Programs)
2: In the Windows Start menu select Run and enter "regedit" to start the Registry Editor. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > ECSOFTWARE. Select the "Help & Manual 5" and "Help & Manual 6" keys (folders) delete them.
3: Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > ECSOFTWARE and delete the same keys there, if they exist (they may not).
4: Install Help & Manual 5
5: Start the program and enter your license codes when prompted to activate it

[Rob Bohls]

Hi Rob,

If you didn't change the installation folder suggested by the HM6 installer it will have installed in a separate folder, so that you have the trial version of HM6 in its own folder and your original version of HM5 untouched. If you chose the HM5 folder for installing HM6 it is probably best to do a clean install. First download the current installer for HM5 here (the link is down at the bottom of the page):

http://www.ec-software.com/downloads.html

1: Uninstall Help & Manual in the Windows Control Panel (Add/Remove Programs)

done

2: In the Windows Start menu select Run and enter "regedit" to start the Registry Editor. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > ECSOFTWARE. Select the "Help & Manual 5" and "Help & Manual 6" keys (folders) delete them.

done

3: Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > ECSOFTWARE and delete the same keys there, if they exist (they may not).

they weren't

4: Install Help & Manual 5

done

5: Start the program and enter your license codes when prompted to activate it

and it's stuck on splash screen again

[Rob Bohls]

uninstalled, deleted registry entries, ran CCLEANER, installed version 5; stuck at splash screen

[Tim Green]

Hi Rob,

I know this may seem obvious, but just to be sure: Did you also shut down and restart Windows? There may be some stuck process that is getting in the way, and that would clear it.

[Tim Green]

Hi Rob,

I've just discussed this at length with our software engineers and they all agree that installing Help & Manual 6 could not have been the cause of this if you did not install it in the same folder as version 5. It can only be a coincidence that your splash screen issue happened at the same time. Also, Help & Manual does not install anything anywhere in the system except in its own program folder. So if you uninstall it and delete its registry keys, it is really gone. And if you then do a clean install and it is still sticking then there is a problem somewhere else. Obviously, we need to find out where that is, but it wasn't the HM6 installation. That is demonstrated by the fact that the problem is continuing after complete removal of HM6 from the system.

[Rob Bohls]

Opened in SAFE MODE and I was able to put in serial & activation code
Restart in normal mode and it opens fine

thank you for your help

[Tim Green]

When this happens you don't actually need safe mode. The easier option is to right-click on the program item in the start menu and select Run as Administrator. The problem here is Windows' rather opaque new user account systems, which don't make it clear that the standard new user account type is not actually an administrator account. On some systems, the permissions for the standard account prevent storing the installation credentials in the registry correctly. Unfortunately, this behavior is not consistent across all Windows installations. Sigh...