Thanks to all who posted hints and steps they've used to get this working.

I've reviewed all the "tricks" some have said they did to allow PEP2 to install on Win10. For example, this post:
[Link: remotecentral.com]

I've spent hours these past 2 weeks with repeated installs of Win10 for the purpose of testing PEP2/PEP3 installs.

I'm happy to say that albeit I have tried all of these "tricks", some with success, there's a much simpler way to get PEP2 (PEP3 not tested but likely the same) installed to your system without having to pre-create folders or set any permissions.

In fact, I was able to run the PEP2 installer without using Administrator mode with issues.

I've successfully installed PEP2 on both 32 bit and 64 bit Windows 10 (last ISO available from Microsoft).

The process is really simple:

1. Before installing PEP, ensure that you have .NET 3.5 installed to your machine. This is done by adding a Windows Feature. See this link:

[Link: learn.microsoft.com]

.NET 3.5 is not installed by default on Win10 as it was on Win7. It is required for PEP to operate properly.

If you don't do this prerequisite step, PEP will attempt to have Windows install the feature but the installer does not always wait for the feature to install before proceeding. It is therefore best practice to install beforehand.

2. Upon starting the PEP2/PEP3 install, open the Task Manager and go to the 'Detail' view as you will need to end the ProntoDataServer.exe process mid-way through the install.

The real cause of installer hangs!
It seems that for Windows XP and Windows 7 when the PEP installer copied the ProntoDataServer.exe to your disk and installed as a service, XP and Win7 did not launch the executable immediately. This is not the case with Windows 10. As soon as the service is installed, ProntoDataServer.exe runs and causes the installer to hang at either "creating uninstall" or "creating desktop icon".

So, when the installer seems to hang, simply find the ProntoDataServer.exe process in the 'Detail' view of the Task Manager, right-click, and select 'End Task'.

Once you kill this process, the installer will complete successfully with no issues and you will see the new factory database located at:
C:\ProgramData\Phillips\Common Database\componentdatabase.db

Note that you may have to select via explorer to view hidden files/directories but it is indeed there.


I have successfully backed up and restored databases, galleries, and edited codes in the database from within PEP2.

I also know that if you enable Windows Firewall setting for the Extender Discovery Tool, that works as well.

I was also able to install new firmware to my TSU9600 with no issues as well.


Things not working
One thing that I've experienced is when closing the Tools Window in PEP2, an error occurs stating 'Invalid Parameter'. You can simply click on this to continue with no ill-effect.

Another item is the Web Help (F1). It does not render anything really well. However, you may find that you can browse the folder with Chrome or Firefox and maybe get more information. One thing I will note is that besides the fact that the older help neglects My Database, I personally like the PEP1 Help file or even the original ProntoEdit or ProntoEditProNG help files. I find that having a read through these or the Classic Pronto FAQ on this site really prepares you for the leap that was taken for PEP2 and continued into PEP3.

If you are reading this, I'd love to hear about your results as this will allow me to breathe extra life into my Prontos and carry forward for sure on Win10 and likely Win11 (Not tested).

Lyndel

Last edited by Lyndel McGee on July 23, 2024 18:18.

Hi Lyndel
Just did an install on win 10 64 bit , following the instruction above all worked perfectly and the Philips data base is install and up and running .

Cheers
Mark

Running in Win10 thanks to others' help, but have saved a copy of this for when I next change my laptop!

Anyone else had success?

Hi Lyndel

I also can now open the O1R database too
Mark

I have been using a couple of Pronto 980s for years but one is having issues.
I managed to pick up a brand new TSU9600 to play with instead.

I updated the firmware which was 1.xx to the latest version and then installed PEP3 on Windows 11, all working perfectly.

I didn't have to do the "kill process" step above.

I have now installed PEP2 as recommended and again it installed without issue on Windows 11.

I did notice on my laptop, also Windows 11, that I have to disable the touchscreen to download to the remote, my desktop was fine.

I've confirmed that Pronto Edit Professional (PEP) 2.4.23.0 works just fine in my new Windows 11 Home laptop. Below are the detailed steps that I did. These steps are basically the same as the steps needed to install PEP in a Windows 10 machine. They're very similar to the PEP install in a Windows 10 VM running in a macBook that I had mentioned a while back in:

[Link: remotecentral.com]

I get into further detail here in case it helps other folks. These are the steps that I did for a brand new Windows 11 home laptop:

First, it's probably best to run these steps as a Windows user that is an
Administrator (so, if you normally are a Standard user, temporarily change your account to be an Administrator, for now at least).

1. You'll need .Net Framework 3.5, and Internet connectivity to download it.
Otherwise, the PEP setup will fail and Windows will popup a dialog box saying you need .NET).

To install .Net Framework 3.5, do the following:
- Press the Windows key. Type "Windows Features" in the search bar.
- Select "Turn Windows features on or off"
- Check the box next to ".Net Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0)".
Note: there is no need to check the two sub-items for "Windows Communications Foundation...".
- Select OK
- When prompted, select "Let Windows Update download the files for you". Windows will proceed to download the files.
- In Windows 11 Home, I was not prompted to reboot my PC. I rebooted anyway for good measure.


2. Run PEP setup (in my case, I used ProntoEdit Professional version 2.4.23.0).
A Windows User Account Control dialog box might pop-up asking if you want to run this program. If so, answer yes.

3. PEP setup will run and may seem to be stuck and never finish. In my most recent install in Windows 11, PEP setup seemed to be stuck while running "Created uninstaller.... Uninstall.exe". Just to ensure it really is stuck, I waited a few minutes to ensure it was really stuck and not doing anything. If PEP setup is stuck, leave it alone and stop the ProntoDataService.

To stop ProntoDataService, start Task Manager as an Administrator by typing "Task Manager" in the Windows search window. When you see the Task Manager in the menu, right-click and select "Run as administrator".
Then, look for ProntoDataService and stop it (End task).

6. The stuck PEP setup will continue to run and then finish. The ProntoDataService will restart automatically (it shows up as "ProntoDataService" in Task window and "Pronto Data Server" in Services window.

7. After installation is dowe, stop PEP. While PEP is not running, transfer files from your old PC to your new PC.

Note: I'm not sure this is still needed in Windows 11, but to be on the safe side,
I made sure that Explorer setup is configured to show hidden files.
In Explorer, bring up Folder Options > View. Turn on "show hidden files, folders, or drives".

I transferred these files from my old PC (running Windows 10) to my new PC (With Windows 10):

a) C:\ProgramData\Philips\ProntoEdit Professional 2\ProntoScripts\*
b) C:\ProgramData\Philips\ProntoEdit Professional 2\Libraries\*
Note: the version of com.philips.HttpLibrary.js that PEP 2.4.23.0 installs is version 1.4. If you use this file, there is a newer version available (I use 2.01), which I assume can be downloaded from Remote Central's Files section.

c) C:\ProgramData\Philips\Common Database\componentdatabase.db (this probably isn't strictly necessary since I think PEP will load the components in your XCF file to the database when you first open it; but, I did this anyway ahead of
time just in case).... There is also a backup/restore functionality for the database which I didn't do. I just copied this file from my old to new PC.

e) Transfer your project XCF files, which are normally in the following folder (but it may be different if you moved your Documents folder):

C:\Users\\Documents\Pronto Projects\*

f) Check if you need to transfer Gallery files. Since I never customized the Gallery, I didn't bother transferring C:\ProgramData\Philips\ProntoEdit Professional 2\Gallery



What if you can't download a configuration to your Pronto, since Pronto says "HID not found..." or something to the effect that it thinks Pronto is not connected? In the past, I've done one of two things:

- Power off your Pronto, and power it back on. See if you can download XCF to your Pronto

- While the Pronto is plugged in via USB, stop PEP. Keep the Pronto plugged-in via USB. Reboot Windows. Start PEP. See if you can download the XCF to your Pronto.

NOTE: There was one issue that happens in Windows 10 and Windows 11. I didn't have this problem in Windows 7: If I click on Tools->Options… and then I click on Close, I get an Unhandled exception error dialog box (the Details of the error says it is due to “parameter is incorrect” for some callback). When I get this error dialog box, I just click Continue to move on. Fortunately, this error doesn’t seem to affect any functionality and you can proceed to use PEP.

Now that I've confirmed that PEP and my Pronto work properly with my new Windows 11 laptop, I upgraded my old laptop from Windows 10 to Windows 11. My old laptop still works with PEP, and I tested that my old laptop with Windows 11 can still download PEP configurations to my Pronto.

Randman,

Thanks so much for the detailed notes and confirming that PEP2/PEP3 can be installed on Windows 11.

Several additional notes based on my experiences migrating XCFs from one system to another. The XCF configuration file contains only references/links to and not the actual file contents for both Fonts and Sound (.wav) files.

Therefore, you will need to copy and install those as well.

1) For those using configurations with custom Sounds, be sure to copy the .wav files from the Sounds folder.

2) For those using configurations with custom Fonts, be sure to copy and register the fonts on the new system. Otherwise, PEP may decide to automagically change an unavailable font to ProntoMaestro either when the XCF is first loaded or when you download to the new remote.

FOR SURE, DO NOT SAVE your file to the SAME filename after you move it and open in PEP2/PEP3 on the new system.

That way, you have a backup to compare to. Unzip the file and use a file compare tool against ConfigEdit.xml which is stored inside the .zip package.

Finally,

It's been years since I touched the HTTP library and I wondered where v1.4 came from as well as v2.01. Thanks for noting that.... :-)

Not sure of the source of the HTTP Library v2.01.

I have a custom v2.1 that I use locally and I for sure made changes to that file to support chunked responses.

I actually created 2 implementations of v2.1; one that has no comments and one without that the filename ends with WithComments.

This feature was needed so I could use long-running http requests over a custom implementation of CometD protocol so I could work with LMS/SqueezeCenter and get notifications pushed vs pulled.

If anyone wants this, send me an email to the addy on my RC profile from an email address that supports receiving .js attachments (GMail has issues) and I will happily send them along.