I finally succumbed to MS pestering me to upgrade to Win 11 on my laptop.

Do I now wish I hadn't.

I run Lotus Smart Suite on the laptop (for historic reasons)and on
trying to open password protected files in Lotus 123 I get a registry
error message and I can't access the file.

The non-password protected files open OK.

I know it is an unusual combination but has anyone else experienced this
on upgrade to Win 11

MS seem unable to assist.

On 01/12/2022 12:34, Jack Harry Teesdale wrote:
> I finally succumbed to MS pestering me to upgrade to Win 11 on my laptop.
>
> Do I now wish I hadn't.
>
> I run Lotus Smart Suite on the laptop (for historic reasons)and on
> trying to open password protected files in Lotus 123 I get a registry
> error message and I can't access the file.

If you still do have a machine where you can open them take the password
protection off and then save them.
>
> The non-password protected files open OK.
>
> I know it is an unusual combination but has anyone else experienced this
> on upgrade to Win 11
>
> MS seem unable to assist.

The other option (which is dangerous) is to go into the registry with a
flint axe and compare the various registry settings for Lotus 123 on
Win7 and the misbehaving Win11. Adding the right thing might fix it.

Create a backup and a restore point as insurance first!

OTOH software that old tends to assume that it can save settings in the
same directory as its own executable which may cause other problems.

Can you open the 123 files in an old copy of Excel 2003 or a free clone?

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/excel/open-lotus-files-in-excel/m-p/2533550

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

Jack Harry Teesdale wrote:

> I run Lotus Smart Suite on the laptop (for historic reasons)and on trying to
> open password protected files in Lotus 123 I get a registry error message and I
> can't access the file.

If you right-click and launch SmartSuite "as Administrator" does the error still
occur?

On 12/1/2022 7:34 AM, Jack Harry Teesdale wrote:
> I finally succumbed to MS pestering me to upgrade to Win 11 on my laptop.
>
> Do I now wish I hadn't.
>
> I run Lotus Smart Suite on the laptop (for historic reasons)and on trying to open password protected files in Lotus 123 I get a registry error message and I can't access the file.
>
> The non-password protected files open OK.
>
> I know it is an unusual combination but has anyone else experienced this on upgrade to Win 11
>
> MS seem unable to assist.

If C:\Windows.old exists, you can "revert" to the old OS.

That folder auto-deletes after around ten days or so.

Windows.old is more than just a copy of C:\Windows, and the
revert process repairs some other damage during the operation.
Settings on a revert are "mostly" preserved, and users will find
the odd few items not set to their advantage. It's not really
sufficient to just "lets rename Windows.old to Windows", as
that will not do the job properly. There is a button to push,
to revert.

*******

Legacy applications can save to C:\Program Files , but it is a
subterfuge. it's possible the actual storage for such saves is...

C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\ProgramName\

They've been doing this for a while. Program Files should be
owned by TrustedInstaller. Whereas that suggested directory
name is owned by you.

When the program wants to read the file it saved out, the
OS makes it look like the Program Files directory and the
ProgramName directory, have been merged. This technique is
a way of making legacy applications feel "welcome".

*******

If you give the *exact* registry error message, perhaps someone can
track down a previously-discovered root cause. Taking a screen
snapshot is one way to do this, if you hate writing the stuff
down in a hurry. This is one reason I keep Snippingtool.exe pinned
to the Task Bar. Right-click in the pane of the snippingtool window
to access the "Save As" option.

When Windows 11 installed, it "migrated" applications and
it is always possible the registry was not handled properly
and some stuff got lost. If an application is a "blocker",
the Windows installation advisor will list the things
it will be removing because they are known to not be compatible.
If an installation goes ahead, and nothing is tossed over the
side, then it is assumed to be compatible.

If a program were to be removed, parts of it might be in
C:\Windows.old, for as long as Windows.old exists.

*******

You should always do a backup of C: , before an OS upgrade
comes in. As it's frequently faster to do a restore, than
to wait an hour for Revert to finish.

Paul

On 01/12/2022 14:24, Andy Burns wrote:
> Jack Harry Teesdale wrote:
>
>> I run Lotus Smart Suite on the laptop (for historic reasons)and on
>> trying to open password protected files in Lotus 123 I get a registry
>> error message and I can't access the file.
>
> If you right-click and launch SmartSuite "as Administrator" does the
> error still occur?
>
No

On 01/12/2022 14:24, Andy Burns wrote:
> Jack Harry Teesdale wrote:
>
>> I run Lotus Smart Suite on the laptop (for historic reasons)and on
>> trying to open password protected files in Lotus 123 I get a registry
>> error message and I can't access the file.
>
> If you right-click and launch SmartSuite "as Administrator" does the
> error still occur?
>
Thanks that seems to have done the trick!

Jack Harry Teesdale wrote:

> Andy Burns wrote:
>
>> If you right-click and launch SmartSuite "as Administrator" does the error
>> still occur?
>
> Thanks that seems to have done the trick!

Now you have a choice ... either treat that as a fix, or treat it as a clue that
your user needs more permissionsto the 123 files, or registry entries;
personally I'd guess that Mitch Kapor didn't set it as a trap for you 40 years
into the future and run the one program as admin.

On 01/12/2022 19:14, Andy Burns wrote:
> Jack Harry Teesdale wrote:
>
>> Andy Burns wrote:
>>
>>> If you right-click and launch SmartSuite "as Administrator" does the
>>> error still occur?
>>
>> Thanks that seems to have done the trick!
>
> Now you have a choice ... either treat that as a fix, or treat it as a
> clue that your user needs more permissionsto the 123 files, or registry
> entries; personally I'd guess that Mitch Kapor didn't set it as a trap
> for you 40 years into the future and run the one program as admin.
>
>
I'll take it as a fix, I've opened the files I wanted and saved them,
having removed the p/w's I can also open them now without running as
Administrator. Happy days and thanks for the suggestion.

On 12/1/2022 12:22 PM, Jack Harry Teesdale wrote:
> On 01/12/2022 14:24, Andy Burns wrote:
>> Jack Harry Teesdale wrote:
>>
>>> I run Lotus Smart Suite on the laptop (for historic reasons)and on trying to open password protected files in Lotus 123 I get a registry error message and I can't access the file.
>>
>> If you right-click and launch SmartSuite "as Administrator" does the error still occur?
>>
> Thanks that seems to have done the trick!

Registry entries have "ownership".

The tough ones to deal with, are owned by TrustedInstaller.

When you have malware on a computer, the malware
when it changes the Registry, uses TrustedInstaller
ownership as a means of "showing off" :-)

I've helped people clean off a couple of those, and it's
a nuisance.

What it means to be Administrator, is you have an "impersonation privilege".
That's the main power of Administrator. Things are set up, such that
using Administrator account directly, hardly ever solves a problem.
But using your powers of impersonation, you can become other accounts
and fix stuff that way. (psexec to become SYSTEM)

Running utilities that have vulnerabilities, as Administrator, is
generally a bad idea. If you want to trace Registry activity, you
can use Process Monitor for that. Then maybe, if you filter
on the name of the SmartSuite executable, you can see what
areas of the Registry it is accessing, and perhaps, how they
got messed up.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procmon

When you install a program, it can be installed "for you" or
"for everybody on the computer". Whether this makes a difference
to the Registry settings and permissions, maybe someone else knows
the answer to that.

Paul

Is this UAC again? I think this little goody though meant to aid security,
seems more likely to get itself turned off and therefore damages security.
Brian

--

--:
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Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Jack Harry Teesdale" <noreply492000-medic@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:tmamop$2r6er$1@dont-email.me...
> On 01/12/2022 14:24, Andy Burns wrote:
>> Jack Harry Teesdale wrote:
>>
>>> I run Lotus Smart Suite on the laptop (for historic reasons)and on
>>> trying to open password protected files in Lotus 123 I get a registry
>>> error message and I can't access the file.
>>
>> If you right-click and launch SmartSuite "as Administrator" does the
>> error still occur?
>>
> No