How do I install updates manually?

[Nocturnal]

Hi,

I'm having nothing but trouble getting my updater to work on this XP Pro laptop. First it couldn't remove all doc files so I removed those for it and the update succeeded. Then it couldn't replace pixinsight.exe so I renamed it to pixinsight_.exe and then it worked. Still the update did not succeed because of file access issues. I'm not sure what the problem could be. The current user has administrative rights so I should be able to do anything it wants. I do get a 'run as' dialog each time to updater starts and it asks as which user I want the program to run. Very vista like except it's XP.

Anyway, do I simply download the latest PI for this laptop or is the updater the only way to get the latest and greatest?

[sreilly]

Just a possibility, try temporarily disabling you AV program. Some are a real pain with no reason.

Steve

[Nocturnal]

It's a corporate system so I can't disable it unfortunately. My office is half a mile from the McAfee building and they have an obnoxious ad plastered all over the front so maybe I should walk over there and complain

[cbradshaw]

I have a similar problem with a corporate computer and I saw that there was no answer to this question.  I get an updater error message "http://update.pixinsight.com/: network error: couldn't connect to host."  I would like the updater to go to a proxy server, but don't know how to direct the program.  I have not found any network parameters, but I have manually downloaded and installed the updates.  This seems to work fine, but is likely not the best solution.  I'm using Windows 7 professional 64-bit.  Is there a way to configure Pixinsight to use a proxy server?

Best Regards,

Charlie Bradshaw

[Ioannis Ioannou]

Sander, the standard policy on corporate laptops is to restrict the user as much as possible. You may think you are local administrator, but (trust me, this is my daily job) you are not, at least not 100%. AV's firewall is blocking you (*), and you need the authority to disable it temporary for automatic updates. The only solution I think is what Charlie does, ie manually download and upgrade. Using some kind of proxy MAY do the trick, but again you have to know how to do it (I have a vague idea, feasible only at home, with a linux machine as a gateway with transparent proxy, but you have to know how to do it and it will not be easy). Maybe Juan can give you something better.

(*) and for good reasons -from company's MIS point of view, at least-, corporate laptops are not supposed to be used for personal installations  .

[cbradshaw]

Ioannis,

In my case, I use a proxy for licensed commercial software (ENVI, MATLAB, STK, etc.) through a company maintained server and it works fine.  However, most of the software asks for the proxy URL and port to use.  Pixinsight appears to assume direct, e.g., no firewall, interface to the web and does not have the capability to use a proxy built in. 

Charlie

[Ioannis Ioannou]

The problem is not that PI assumes direct connection, but  - most probably- because AV's firewall rules restrict access to PI's update services (or some of them, eg the authentication part). It is the AV software that you have to "trick" since it can not be disabled. That's why I mentioned a transparent proxy inside the same local net, in an attempt to trick AV's firewall that it talks to a local machine (again, on a second thought, even this may not work).

MODIFY:

Sander, try to see if you have some kind of control panel of the AV software where you can define which sites are trusted or not!!

[cbradshaw]

 Ioannis,

For me the AV software is not the problem.  The first thing I checked was if any programs were being blocked.

Charlie

[Ioannis Ioannou]

Well, I guess (mind just a guess, I do not use McAfee) it is not if some programs are blocked, but if specific sites are blocked as untrustworthy during the authorization stage. My suspicion is for the internal firewall the antivirus program implies, which may be not directly related with the list of programs that are "allowed". I had the same problem with my laptop and antivirus and after Juan's suggestion I made it work by disabling my AV temporary. But I had the authority to do it.

[cbradshaw]

 Ioannis,

I don't use McAfee either, I use Symantec.  However, it was worth trying.  I disabled the protection and got the same error.

Regards,

Charlie