Registration wizard.

[1nitwit]

Every time I turn on my computer and log into my account I get the registration wizard. Same thing happens whenever I try to open one of my files saved in OpenOffice. Why? I followed through on the registration, but continue to get the wizard. Just started happening recently. I've had OpenOffice.org downloaded for over a year. Only use it for saving data.

I have XP Home. OpenOffice.org 2.1 is the only program under Start, Startup. Should it be there? Just what is Startup? I have Miro downloaded and it starts up every time I log into my account, yet it is not listed under Startup. Guess you can tell pretty easily that I am a bit computer illiterate. Course my username may have given that away!

[Hagar Delest]

Start>Startup is a place where you put the applications you want to run at each startup. It may be there because the OOo Quickstarter is enabled (OOo logo in the system tray bottom right of your screen).

For your registration issue, try to delete your OOo user profile (\Documents and settings\<your_user_name>\Application data\OpenOffice.org2), OOo will create a new one (still one registration process but it should be the last one).

For the Miro issue, it should be possible to change that but in the Miro application setting;

NB: moved your thread in the Setup & Troubleshouting forum.

[1nitwit]

Was able to delete the User file. Opened OOo and re-registered last night. Turned on computer a few minutes ago, and got the same thing so that wasn't the problem. What do I try next?

BTW, I was only using Miro as an example of a file that opens when I log into my account even though it isn't listed under Start. I wasn't asking how to stop it from doing that. Sorry for not being clear enough.

[Hagar Delest]

For the registration issue, it may be a problem with the rights applied to your configuration files. Check that your user has the write permission on the following file (in your user profile) : \openoffice.org2\user\registry\data\org\openoffice\Setup.xcu.

For the applications running at startup, it's not specific to Miro, if it's not listed in the startup menu, it means that you've to configure it in the application itself (like OOo).

[Lukey]

I keep getting this registration wizard too. I checked the activation files that Hagar suggested and they're writable. I also tried deleting the openoffice profile from Docs & Settings and starting from scratch. It still pops up. The apps (writer & calc) seem pretty unstable too, I'm assuming related to the registration / quick start issue? Any other suggestions we can try? (reinstall seems not to work)

[foxcole]

Any other suggestions we can try? (reinstall seems not to work)

Whenever a reinstall doesn't work, the first two things to do are:
1. Re-download or otherwise obtain a fresh new copy of the installer. Uninstall the current version, run a registry cleaner, and reinstall using the fresh copy.

2. If that still doesn't help, the problem is usually rooted in the settings that persist from installation to installation---that is, in your user folder. In WinXP, you'd find this at C:\Documents and Settings\your userID\Application Data\OpenOffice.org2.

Close all OpenOffice processes, including the QuickStarter, then go rename or move that user folder. Start up OpenOffice again (Writer, Calc, whatever) to generate a clean new user folder, and see if the problem goes away.

(If you're not sure where your user folder is, just look in the Tools menu of any OOo module, Options> OpenOffice.org> Paths. Most paths will look alike and will contain "user" as a part of the address. That's the user folder I'm talking about.)

[Lukey]

Ok, here's the steps I've taken so far without any success:

* Uninstalled openoffice
* ran registry cleaner and deleted user data (docs & settings\<user>\application data\openoffice.org2) then rebooted
* Downloaded installer from different mirror
* Reinstalled openoffice

The problem still persists.

[Lukey]

I'm pretty sure I found the issue. I have Comodo antivirus installed and it appears to have issues co-existing with openoffice. As soon as I disable on demand scanning the issues go away. If Comodo antivirus is enabled openoffice just "flips out" (freeze then have to kill process). My registration issues are now gone. Comodo must have been blocking openoffice from completing the registration process. Hopefully this info will help 1nitwit with his issue.

[1nitwit]

Thank you very much. I've been out of touch for a few days. Glad I was. Probably saved me lots of frustration. It just so happens that I am also running Comodo. Now I need to see if I can find that "disable on demand" part you are talking about. Will let you know in a bit.

Edit: Guess you had better give me the EXACT steps to follow to accomplish what you did to solve the problem.

[Lukey]

Double click the tray icon for Comodo and click "Turn Off" by each of the options. Screenshot here (look at first screenshot). The issue when I tested it appeared to be it's on demand scanning. I think I tried adding the Comodo A/V installation directory to the exclusion lists for on demand scanning and the HIPS list but it didn't seem to help with the registration wizard / crashing.

I ultimately uninstalled Comodo and downloaded AVG instead. I was having issues with some other apps misbehaving on my machine and they seem to have gone away since I ditched Comodo Antivirus and went back to the free AVG scanner. I still have their (Comodo) firewall installed and no issues whatsoever with the firewall and any of my software behaving badly.

[1nitwit]

Oops. A case of reading without taking in everything. Didn't notice it said Comodo antivirus. I am using Comodo firewall, BitDefender antivirus. Wasn't aware Comodo also has an antivirus software program. No wonder I couldn't find what you were talking about. I will look at BitDefender and see if changing some of the settings has any affect. Doubt it. I've been running BitDefender for about as long as I've had OpenOffice installed.

[solorflare]

I have the exact same problem with my computer.

I have installed the latest version of openoffice on a computer running Windows ME.
And the welcome screen and registration wizard comes up all the time.

Very annoying.

[Hagar Delest]

I have the exact same problem with my computer.

Then, please tell us if you've tried all the proposals made in this thread.

[solorflare]

i have tried re-installing etc...

But in Windows ME, where is the user folder so i can delete it and see if that helps.

[Hagar Delest]

Don't know. Under XP, it's \Documents and settings\<user>\Application data\OpenOffice.org2.

[Bill]

i have tried re-installing etc...

But in Windows ME, where is the user folder so i can delete it and see if that helps.

In Windows ME, the user profile folder is usually C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\OpenOffice.org2.

[kcredden]

Fox:

Just wanted to say, this works (quoted below). I just renamed the OpenOffice.org2 directory to just OpenOffice.org, the restarted OO. Got 1 registration field, and then nothing afterwards, Thanks for the help! This has been a headache on 3 computers.

- Kc

Any other suggestions we can try? (reinstall seems not to work)

Whenever a reinstall doesn't work, the first two things to do are:
2. If that still doesn't help, the problem is usually rooted in the settings that persist from installation to installation---that is, in your user folder. In WinXP, you'd find this at C:\Documents and Settings\your userID\Application Data\OpenOffice.org2.

Close all OpenOffice processes, including the QuickStarter, then go rename or move that user folder. Start up OpenOffice again (Writer, Calc, whatever) to generate a clean new user folder, and see if the problem goes away.

[kcredden]

Lukey:

Just wanted to confirm this about Comodo AV. I'm having odd quirky problems of files being 'locked' even ones that have no need to be locked (like a JPG file that hasn't been looked at in months) Unlocker shows that the AV has it's hands on it. I just stated to use Comodo AV about 3 months ago, and these problems only started then. I'm leaving a note with the company about these locking problems.

- Kc

I'm pretty sure I found the issue. I have Comodo antivirus installed and it appears to have issues co-existing with openoffice. As soon as I disable on demand scanning the issues go away. If Comodo antivirus is enabled openoffice just "flips out" (freeze then have to kill process). My registration issues are now gone. Comodo must have been blocking openoffice from completing the registration process. Hopefully this info will help 1nitwit with his issue.