Bug Bounty: 150 $ for solution PDFCreator on Windows Vista
Submitted by philip on Wed, 2007-09-12 14:16.
Hello,
as you all know, PDFCreator currently does not work properly under Windows Vista. The upcoming Version 0.9.5 will have basic Vista support, but the main problem has not been solved.
The problem is, that Vista has a strict security system, that does not allow the way PDFSpooler.exe tries to start PDFCreator under the context of a user.
Is there someone who has already done this under windows Vista?
We have the possibility to do this in C (not C# oder C++) oder in Visual Basic 6.
Any help, hints oder experience is appreciated here, as we have spent several days on this issue without a result.
We are offering a bounty of 150$ for the first one who can solve this.
regards,
Philip
Hi Phillip,
I don't have a solution for you but can tell you what I did to get PDFCreator to run better in Vista. I am running PDFCreator 0.9.4 RC1. First I turned off the User Access junk then I installed PDFCreator. I had tried to turn off the User Access stuff while PDFCreator was installed but that seemed to have no effect.
After doing this I now only get a warning message in an "Interactive services dialog detection" window with the following content:
"A program can't display a message on your desktop
The program may need information or permission to complete a task.
Why does this happen?
-> Show me the message
-> Remind me in a few minutes
Program Details:
Program(s) or devices(s) requesting attention.
Message title: PDFSpooler
Program path: C:\PDFCRE~1\PDFSPO~1.EXE
Received: Today, September 13, 2007, 2:16:42 PM
This problem happens because of partial incompatibility with Windows Vista.
Please contact the program or device manufacturer(s) for more information."
This only happens once after a reboot of the machine. If I click on the "Show me the message", the screen will go black for a few seconds then reappear just as it was. No message has ever been shown to me. I can then close the warning message window and continue with my regular work. I can also just close the message warning window without trying to see the message and everything is OK. I can also ignore the message warning and it will hang around for a while then go away by itself and never come back. If I don't notice it right away it will lurk on the Windows Task Bar with a reddish color to it. Again after a while it just goes away.
I have never tried to click on the "Why does this happen?" link so I don't know what it says. Maybe next time I will try that.
I don't understand and probably never will. MS has done a horrible job of masking over their broken code with this layer of garbage code all in the name of making your computer safer from viruses. I don't think it helps and just gets in the way of great tools like PDFCreator. I am sorry you are having a tough time getting around this but I know you will succeed soon.
If you would like me to test something for you please let me know.
Bill Rich
Principal Consultant
Wilandra Consulting LLC