[lisanti99]

This is long, so be patient.

I was trying to install the Palm Desktop s/w for my Palm TX from the CD that came with it. It wouldn't install. I figured it was Vista, so I went and downloaded Palm Desktop & installed it.

I had some problems with syncing, so I tried re-installing Palm Desktop. Several times. [this is where I realize that I messed up]. After reading the documentation for my Palm, in order to use all the features, I *have* to install the version of Desktop on the CD. But it won't work - I think I need to completely uninstall the Desktop s/w from my computer.

So, I tried uninstalling Palm Desktop completely - and I got the infamous "error applying transforms" message. Googling that, I realize that comes from trying to run more than 1 install program at once. I read some stuff about editing the registry, but my registry did not have anything about "transforms" next to "PalmOne" like it said it would, so I left the registry alone.

Then I read to download and install Windows Installer CleanUp Utility (which - hey! - it's compatible with Vista!), which would allow me to uninstall software another way. When I tried to install the exe file, I got the following error message:

Now what?

----
Also, as a last ditch effort, I tried to log into safe mode and see what I could do there. It was the first time I'd tried to get to safe mode in Vista, and it wouldn't let me log in. Two accounts came up (Administrator & "Other User"). It kept saying my password was wrong - I tried my 3 defaults and "blank". I never set an Admin password to my knowledge. Also, who is this "Other User?" My regular account is called "Lisa" and that name & password didn't work. ????
----

Obviously, I'm in bad shape here. Please help if you can.

Thanks in advance,
Lisa

 

[TechB]

I installed both the software that came with my Palm Treo 650 and the latest Palm Desktop from Palm. Neither is 100% compatible with Vista. This is what I found works best for me. You account has to be an administrator and uac has to be enabled. Hotsync won't work if you disable uac for some reason. Uninstall whatever version you have installed now. Start Windows Explorer and make sure you can view hidden and system files. Navigate to the Palm folder in the virtual virtual store. On my computer it's here:

C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\palmOne

Delete the palmOne folder. Insert the CD that came with your Palm. Don't proceed with the autorun. Navigate to the folder where the language appropriate setup.exe is. Right click on it. On the Compatibility tab set it to run in compatibility mode for Windows XP SP2 and to Run as administrator. Double click the setup.exe to run it. The initial sync may fail fail during the install. If this happens just continue with the installation. Once the install is finished right click the Hotsync icon in the System Tray and pick Setup. Set Hotsync for manual start. In Windows Explorer navigate to the Palm folder in Program Files. Right click Hotsync.exe and set compatibility mode to XP SP2 and set to Run as administrator. Reboot. You will have to start Hotsync manually. If you try to start it automatically it will be blocked because of the Run as administrator setting. You should now be able to sync to the Palm Desktop. If you want to sync to Outlook the procedure is different. You will also get a uac prompt everytime you start the Hotsync.exe. You will also get many uac prompts during the setup.

 

[RexEastbourne]

I've got the same problem as Lisa here. I installed Palm Desktop via my CD, but then read that I have to uninstall it and download version 6.2 from the Palm website. However, when I try uninstalling, I get the exact same error as Lisa. I just can't remove the program. TechB's solution sounds good, but I'm stuck at uninstalling the program -- it just doesn't work. Any solutions to this?

By the way, here is the first solution Lisa was probably referring to, which I found at:
http://www.nocrash.com/ncbbs/msgs/3255.shtml

From: Moe on 05/09/2003
Here is what i did (and it worked):
From the "control Panel", "Add/Remove Programs", I copied the name of the program I want to remove.
I went to "Start" then "run" and typed: regedit
In the "registry Editor" screen, I clicked on "Edit" then "Find"
I typed the program name exactly as shown in the "Add/remove programs".

I found the string, and to the left it said "Transforms".
I deleted this key from the registry then went back to "add/remove programs" and managed to rmove it.

I hope it will work for you too!

However, the problem is the same for me -- I don't see anything about "transforms" in the registry. Maybe that's a Vista thing.