Old 4NT Won't Register - Options?

[SB-Robert]

I have been using 4NT since the 4DOS days. I just upgraded from Windows 7 32 bit to 64 bit. For the first time ever, I cannot get 4NT to work. It installs and works, but the registration does not work. I ran regedit and imported 4nt.key OK. But 4NT does not think it is registered.

I don't have time to learn a whole new version. I just use it for fairly simple things. Mostly, I have aliases set up in a file ALIAS.CFG

I tried running the new TCC and copied ALIAS.CFG to its folder. It did not read the aliases.

1) Is there a way to get my old 4NT 5.00 to run in Windows 7 64 bit? How do I make it recognize it is registered?

2) If I am forced to buy the new TCC, how do I get it to AUTOMATICALLY read the aliases in each time on startup?

3) How can I get the Upgrade pricing if I am forced to buy TCC?

 

[rconn]

Microsoft changed the registry access protection in Windows 7, so 4NT 5.0 (which was written for Windows 2000!) cannot write to the registry entries it uses for registration.

You can start 4NT elevated (right click on the icon, select "run as administrator"), and do your registration there. That will usually work unless you have a system policy blocking it.

However, because of the many API changes in Windows 7 (which was released about 9 years after 4NT 5), we do not support the use of v5 with Windows 7. You will also not be able to access any of the newer Windows features (like symbolic links, which are heavily used in Windows 7).

You can tell TCC to read the aliases by putting a "alias /r alias.cfg" in your TCSTART.BTM (like you had to do in your 4START.BTM for 4NT).

If you decide to upgrade, you get the same upgrade price ($49.95 for a single copy) with any prior version of Take Command or 4NT.

 

[SB-Robert]

Thank you for the speedy reply!

I am sorry, but I do not understand what you mean by "You can start 4NT elevated (right click on the icon, select "run as administrator"), and do your registration there."

If I run as administrator it still says it is not registered. How do I register it? I have a file 4NT.key and also I have a serial number. How do I register it?

By the way, I have been using it 4NT 5.00 just fine on my old Windows 7 32-bit machine. I am just wanting to move it to my new 64-bit machine. I would think if it worked on the old one it should work on the new one.

 

[rconn]

Running as administrator != running elevated. You have to click on the icon and select "run as administrator" (regardless of whether you're already logged on as an administrator) in order to run the 4NT process elevated and trigger the Windows 7 UAC.

4NT v5 will "sort of" work on Windows 7 -- it's just missing all of the Windows 7 features. If you don't want to upgrade, you'd be a lot better off switching to TCC/LE v13, which is (1) free, (2) supports Windows 7, and (3) is roughly compatible with 4NT v6 - 7 features-wise.

 

[SB-Robert]

Sorry if I was not clear. I did right click on the icon and did "run as administrator". It ran 4NT. But 4NT still gives the warning that it is not registered. So... How do I register it?

 

[Charles Dye]

I found a copy of 4NT v5 on Klaus Meinhard's site, and installed it on Windows 7 x64. I also dug up an old key file (March 2003!)

Running as the local administrator, I was able to import the key file with REGEDIT FILENAME.KEY and everything worked as expected. VER /R displays my registered name and serial number. Didn't have to run 4NT elevated or anything -- I think everything you run as .\ADMINISTRATOR is elevated by default.

So I backed out the registry changes and logged in as a regular user. Couldn't use RegEdit that way without elevation, which requires an administrative user name and password; but given those, it again worked as expected.

So.... I don't know what's going on with you. If you run REGEDIT from the Start/Run dialog, do you see registration info (i.e. gribble) under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\JPSoftware\4NT 5.0 ?

 

[Charles Dye]

Wait a minute -- are you running RegEdit from 4NT, or are you starting it from Explorer? (The Start menu, or the Start/Run dialog, double-clicking on the .KEY file, or whatever.)

There are actually two versions of REGEDIT.EXE in x64 Windows, a 32-bit version (which 4NT will start) and a 64-bit version (which is what you'll get from Explorer.) If you import that .KEY file using the 64-bit RegEdit, the registration info will go in the wrong place and 4NT won't see it.

 

[SB-Robert]

I have no idea how to run RegEdit from 4NT. I ran it by double clicking on the 4nt.key file

Then I checked to see that it installed correctly in the registry at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\JPSoftware\4NT 5.0

I am new to 64 bit Windows, so I was not aware of the extra Wow6432Node bit of the registry address:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\JPSoftware\4NT 5.0

I searched online and found that the 32 bit registry editor is in:
C:\Windows\SysWOW64

I ran that one and did File - Import - 4nt.key

That worked! 4nt now runs and knows it is registered!

Thanks for the extra bit of information that I don't think I ever would have figured out.

How goofy of Microsoft to call both versions of regedit by the same name! They should have called the new one regedit64 or something so that legacy programs would run the 32 bit regedit. Who knew that Microsoft would do something so insensitive to legacy users, right?

Anyway, thanks again! Perhaps when I have more time to deal with this I will see about getting a newer version of your software! For now I am up to my eyeballs in foolishness created by my Microsoft "upgrade"! Thanks!

 

[Charles Dye]

How goofy of Microsoft to call both versions of regedit by the same name! They should have called the new one regedit64 or something so that legacy programs would run the 32 bit regedit. Who knew that Microsoft would do something so insensitive to legacy users, right?

Depending on your point of view, it's either brilliant, or deeply, deeply stupid.

Yes, if you're going to run x64 Windows, it may be well worth the money to get the 64-bit version of Take Command. x64 Windows hides/redirects parts of both the filesystem and the registry to 32-bit programs. It can be confusing.