[Solved] Installation oddity/confusion

Issues with installing under all versions of MS Windows
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SaladGoat
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2018 9:38 am

[Solved] Installation oddity/confusion

Post by SaladGoat »

Activated JavaScript in order to detect my operating system and download the installation file. It's unclear whether the installation file I am downloading is 32 bit or 64 bit. Since I'm running 64-bit Windows 10, I would hope it's the latter, but maybe it's not made like that. No way to know.
I downloaded the installation file - 127MB
I double-clicked the downloaded file and up comes the OpenOffice Setup window. It tells me where it is going to install OpenOffice. The folder it specifies is my Downloads folder. Why would it install a program to my Downloads folder? Shouldn't it go in the Program Files folder?
It's still unclear to me if this is a 32 or 64 bit program, so I change the folder to Program Files (x86) to be safe and create a new folder, Open Office.
Off ya go!
It runs through a whole bunch of installing windows with growing green lines and whatnot, while I go off and check out Facebook.
Suddenly there is a new OpenOffice Setup window, with the same message of this is where we are going to install OpenOffice. I thought you already installed OpenOffice! Did I click something I shouldn't have? Did I relaunch the installation program? What is going on?
Then I notice the folder it is going to install to is in Program File (x86)/OpenOffice 4
Well, that makes more sense. And off it goes, doing the whole installation thing again.
Now it's running fine, as far as I can tell. But I have two OpenOffice folders in Program Files (x86)
The best I can tell is that the first one was to install the install program. :?
Every other program deletes its installation files, but here I am with an entire folder of stuff and I don't know if I can delete this stuff or if it's a secondary repository or what.
It's a fairly terrible installation sequence anyway. Hopefully the program itself lives up to the hype.
So please tell me, can I delete this entire folder created by the first installation sequence?
Thanks!
Last edited by Hagar Delest on Fri Mar 23, 2018 10:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: tagged [Solved].
OpenOffice 4.1.5 on Windows 10
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robleyd
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Re: installation oddity/confusion

Post by robleyd »

You probably should have accepted the default location of Desktop when you ran the initial download. Installation instructions for AOO for Windows can be found here.

There is only one Windows version which is 32 bit. The AOO installation has two stages; in the first stage the downloaded package is expanded into a directory which contains the actual installation files. This defaults to your desktop. The second stage involves the actual installation and installs to \Program File (x86)\OpenOffice 4. So, if you desire you can delete the directory you created with the initial unpacking of the initial download.

You may wish to keep the initial download in case you need, for whatever reason, to run a repair of AOO.
Cheers
David
OS - Slackware 15 64 bit
Apache OpenOffice 4.1.15
LibreOffice 24.2.1.2; SlackBuild for 24.2.1 by Eric Hameleers
Bill
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Re: installation oddity/confusion

Post by Bill »

robleyd wrote:The AOO installation has two stages; in the first stage the downloaded package is expanded into a directory which contains the actual installation files. This defaults to your desktop. The second stage involves the actual installation and installs to \Program File (x86)\OpenOffice 4. So, if you desire you can delete the directory you created with the initial unpacking of the initial download.
I noticed the other day that the window that describes the first stage has been changed in a recent version of AOO 4. At one time, the "Installation Preparation" window described the unpacking of the installation files in a folder on the Desktop. Now, the "Installation Preparation" window has been changed to the "Setup" window which says that the Desktop will be the install location and doesn't say anything about unpacking installation files. That change will probably continue to cause more confusion for new users.
AOO 4.1.14 on Ubuntu MATE 22.04
SaladGoat
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2018 9:38 am

Re: installation oddity/confusion

Post by SaladGoat »

Bill wrote:
robleyd wrote:The AOO installation has two stages; in the first stage the downloaded package is expanded into a directory which contains the actual installation files. This defaults to your desktop. The second stage involves the actual installation and installs to \Program File (x86)\OpenOffice 4. So, if you desire you can delete the directory you created with the initial unpacking of the initial download.
At one time, the "Installation Preparation" window described the unpacking of the installation files in a folder on the Desktop. Now, the "Installation Preparation" window has been changed to the "Setup" window which says that the Desktop will be the install location and doesn't say anything about unpacking installation files.
Yes, this! This is mainly what I was referring to. Even the Installation Instructions link provided above is unclear on this extra step that no other setup program I have ever used goes through: It combines the unpack step with the installation step so it appears as if it is one step - like every other setup program. But it is clearly two separate steps and should be labelled as such to avoid this confusion.

I've been using Windows-based computers for over 20 years and have never seen anything install like this.

Thanks though, to robleyd, for confirming I can delete that extra folder (which most other setup programs delete when they are finished installing).
OpenOffice 4.1.5 on Windows 10
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