Trouble installing on Windows 8.1

[perezbalen]

I have winn 8.1 pro x64. The windows speech recognition works, but voxcommando throws me an error every time, and it doesn´t work.



See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.
...

[nime5ter]

Have you tried runnning VC as administrator?

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/9564-run-administrator-windows-8-a.html

[nime5ter]

Also, in the photo you show us there is no sign that Windows Speech Recognition is installed. The photo shows the Windows display language. It doesn't matter what display languages are installed or selected in Windows settings.

You may still need to install the language pack, see:

But, if in fact you are able to successfully use the built-in Windows Speech Recognition in English, then the problem may be that you need to run VoxCommando as administrator, and you should try this.

[perezbalen]

forgot to say that I tried both things, and they didn´t help.

The screenshot is vox running as administrator, and while the error message appears, I started the Windows Speech Recognition.

[jitterjames]

Which language packs do you have installed?

if you go in to options in VC and look at the dropdown list for "Speech Recognition Language".  Specifically I am talking about the options in the dropdown, NOT the value that is already in the combobox.  If there are no options listed in the dropdown, then that explains the error.

If the options in the dropdown are different from what is in the top of the combobox, you can try to select one of the options that is available, save, and then restart.

Did you run as administrator by right-clicking the voxcommando.exe and choosing "run as administrator"?  It is not enough to be using an administrative account.

You could also try to disable UAC.

[jitterjames]

You could also try to follow the steps in the video I posted and install another language pack.  It might "break the ice" for Windows 8.  If you don't already have the full English - US language pack installed, I suggest you try installing that one.  If you already have it, try some other language.

[three6zerocool]

Hello,
I am running Voxcommando on Windows 8.1 x64,  and have no issues with crashing or anything, in fact I find VC pretty crash proof.
(It needs to be when I'm using it)

(grin) My only issue being that as a newbie, I don't really know what I am doing as far as VC is concerned, and am probably annoying users like James and Kalle by asking questions.

[jitterjames]

Thanks for that.  I also haven't had any problems running on 8.1 although I don't really use VC on that system.  I actually only have windows 8.1 so that I can test VC to see if it works, but it is on a spare machine that does not get much action any more.

I believe that for those who are having problems it is either related to Windows "security" settings, or non-English installs of windows, or some combination of the two.  I seem to recall another user having problems in the past similar to this that were resolved by installing language packs, even though they seemed to think they had a valid language pack installed already.

My VC does crash from time to time like most programs.  I just restart it.  When I do have problems it seems to be related to sleep/wake of windows.

[AgileHumor]

It's working fine for me on Windows 8 x64 (not 8.1 yet as it's my media center).  I have also installed it for dev purposes on my Windows 8.1 x64, but it doesn't get much use.

Couple issues:
* Install program defaults to the location from it's run.  I had it once default to the IE local cache when I chose Run from downloading it. Saving it and running from downloads defaulted to the Download dir to install.  It should install in Program Files.
* When not run as Admin, it won't be able to do things like "start at windows startup".  This should instead write to the user registry vs the local to prevent these errors.
* I get 2 completely different options settings when I run as admin.  Everything in the Settings/Options page does not carry over if you run as admin. 

I ended up creating a shortcut to the VoxCommando.exe and stored in the Windows startup folder.  I right clicked on the shortcut, and checked the "Run Program as and Administrator" so it always runs as an Admin (and my settings don't change).

[nime5ter]

Yes. As per the note in the installer, in the installlation instructions and in the video guides to installation, VC is a portable program and should not be installed to a protected directory.

http://voxcommando.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Installation

This is not considered "an issue" but a feature of VoxCommando. Its numerous benefits have been discussed previously on the forum.

I have now made this information a bit easier to see in the installation guide, as it seems to come up from time to time.

This is the first thing you see when you launch the installer:

[jitterjames]

* When not run as Admin, it won't be able to do things like "start at windows startup".  This should instead write to the user registry vs the local to prevent these errors.
* I get 2 completely different options settings when I run as admin.  Everything in the Settings/Options page does not carry over if you run as admin. 

This is a direct result of installing VoxCommando in the wrong location.

[AgileHumor]

<removed opinions stating program files was the right directory>

I love VoxCommando...and it's "working like a boss" the way it's currently working.

[nime5ter]

You don't wanna mess with James on this one. He has strong opinions on the benefits vs. the cons given how well he understands his own program and its needs, and he'll take it personally.

(With good reason, given the amount of development and thoughtful decision-making he's put into this baby for the past 4 years.)

[jitterjames]

It is really not the right place for it and you only think that because you don't understand the value of a portable installation, where all the settings and dependent files are contained within a local directory structure.  This allows you to create as many installs of VC  as you want, in order to test new configurations or upgrades, simply by copying a folder.  You can create a back up of your entire solution simply by copying a folder.  Nature of VC makes this an asset as well as a requirement.

Just because the conventional method is expected, doesn't mean we should use it, when it is clearly inferior to another method.

The way that windows underhandedly redirects requests for files located in program files without raising any kind of exception to the user, or to the program makes this kind of thing impossible.  You think you are accessing a folder that is a subfolder of your install, but really you are being sent to some imaginary path that windows considers "safe".  And when you try to make a backup of your folder, you are not actually backing up the correct files.

If you install and run VC under program files you are going to have problems eventually.  Guaranteed.  Don't do  it. Even if it seems to be working.