Click Once trouble - 2005

Question

 

A few months ago we rolled out a desktop application that I built using VB.Net 2005 and Click Once.  I have created a few applications but do not have extensive experience  with .Net and will also note previous roll-outs have been problematic. Framework 3.5 being the latest install.

This particular application  build is rather simple with no dependencies other than MS Access; the roll-out was to maybe 350 end-users, and about 50 of them cannot run the application.  At no point do they get an error coming from the developed application itself, it happens b4 that.   They get one of two errors when trying to install the app:

Errors:

1. Application cannot be started. Contact the vendor
2. Do not see launcher screen pop up (nothing happens)

When detail is present it shows:  Access is denied. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED))

Attempted fixes:

1. We have tried deleting the cache files at:  “Local Settings\Apps”… successful for at least one end-user.
2. Reinstalling the .Net framework  (which one??)
3. granting elevated rights; this is not the issue.
4. Rebooting computer
5. Some .net fix  tool, do not remember the name
6. resetting Settings in IE (See http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/winformssetup/thread/62479efc-c053-4352-a95e-3a48f26b2718)
7. Our company has no approved registry cleaning tools so this was not tried.

One consistent issue I have noticed is that those who cannot run the app do NOT have a “Local Settings\Apps” folder.  My main obstacle is that I have to go though “Desk-top support” in order to do anything on someone else’s computer, making research difficult.  Suffice it to say .Net and Click-Once is not making a positive impact in our department.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

Hi Michael,

Welcome to the MSDN Forum.

Based on the error message, it seems that it is a custom message. So I suggest you to located where the message pop up and check the business logic.

In addition, I moved this thread to ClickOnce forum for better support.

Best regards,

---

Mike Feng
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

Answer 2

Thanks for moving the thread Mike.

What is meant by "custom message"?  The posted message clearly states the error is not in my code.  If that were the case, it would be easy enough to track down.   If you don't know the answer, it's better to say nothing as far as resolution goes.

Given it's working on about 80% of the computers, it appears to be a setting on some of the networked computers.  Every computer i have looked at, that does Not work is missing this folder:  "C:....\Local Settings\Apps".  That seems to be a key point!  Why would this folder not be created or missing?

Answer 3

Hi Michael,

>>Application cannot be started. Contact the vendor

The custom message means it is written in your application, not from the system libraries. As far as I know, there is no such message in .net libraries, so I said it is a custom message.

Best regards,

---

Mike Feng
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

Answer 4

 I could have posted this earlier but it’s a real-estate issue.  If it's corrupted I have not figured out the resolution; clearing the cache did not work.  Regarding the error message below is from MS library.   I just figured this would be a common issue for people since we are having such a high rate of failer with Click once.

 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms229001.aspx

Troubleshooting Specific Errors in ClickOnce Deployments

 

The following table shows some common error messages that a client-computer user may receive when the user installs a ClickOnce application. Each error message is listed next to a description of the most probable cause for the error.

Error message	Description
Application cannot be started. Contact the application publisher. Cannot start the application. Contact the application vendor for assistance.	These are generic error messages that occur when the application cannot be started, and no other specific reason can be found. Frequently this means that the application is somehow corrupted, or that the ClickOnce store is corrupted.

Answer 5

Hi Michael,

Do did you try the fixes? Does it work for you?

Best regards,

---

Mike Feng
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

Answer 6

Yes, we tried the fixes, but had no luck getting the install to work.  We tried reinstalling the .Net framework 3.5 and clearing the Click once cache (Local Settings\Apps); this did not fix the issue.

Answer 7

After several attempted fixes here is what worked for us:

1. There are a couple of issues we found with Click-Once apps where a .net file gets out of synch with the registry.  The problem is resolved by deleting the UsrClass.dat file from the users C:\Documents and Settings\<ad-ent>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\ folder.    Once the file is deleted .Net will recreate it and synch back up.  This solves the problem probably 90% of the time.  There have been a few occasions where end users had an issue on a secondary laptop they were using to remote into the network that we weren’t able to resolve.

This file can be locked (in use) for some end users.