I have two Lenovo M93P Tiny PCs, brilliant bits of kit, size of a hard
back, i5 CPU, 8 GB RAM and 1 TB SSD.

I have two because I saw a second one with WiFi and a second graphics
connector and thought it would be easier to get that than buy the bits
(mistake, but there you go).

I can't remember the exact order of events but when second one arrived I
installed Win 8.1 on it so had two identical machines with 8.1 on. Then I
realised that I wanted to swap the machines to make best use of WiFi and
second graphics connector so I just swapped the SSDs.

They both ran ran fine but Windows had de-activated so I entered a new
product code - effectively using the code for the original mobo on the
second machine and vice versa, fine Windows activated and all seemed well.

But....

The main piece of software I run (for an Akai EWI which is a Wind
Controller) will not save its settings which is a PITA as there are quite
a lot of them. I have run "Take Ownership" a couple of times but it
doesn't help.

Is it likely that the SSD and product code swap have screwed the
permissions in some major way? If so I'll re-install, there's only the OS
and this software on there. Otherwise I suppose it may be an issue with
the s/w that was originally written for W2K and hasn't really been updated.

Many thanks.

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK
This is as bad as it can get, but don't bet on it

On 4 May 2021 at 22:49:27 BST, ""Jeff Gaines""
<jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

>
> I have two Lenovo M93P Tiny PCs, brilliant bits of kit, size of a hard
> back, i5 CPU, 8 GB RAM and 1 TB SSD.
>
> I have two because I saw a second one with WiFi and a second graphics
> connector and thought it would be easier to get that than buy the bits
> (mistake, but there you go).
>
> I can't remember the exact order of events but when second one arrived I
> installed Win 8.1 on it so had two identical machines with 8.1 on. Then I
> realised that I wanted to swap the machines to make best use of WiFi and
> second graphics connector so I just swapped the SSDs.
>
> They both ran ran fine but Windows had de-activated so I entered a new
> product code - effectively using the code for the original mobo on the
> second machine and vice versa, fine Windows activated and all seemed well.
>
> But....
>
> The main piece of software I run (for an Akai EWI which is a Wind
> Controller) will not save its settings which is a PITA as there are quite
> a lot of them. I have run "Take Ownership" a couple of times but it
> doesn't help.
>
> Is it likely that the SSD and product code swap have screwed the
> permissions in some major way?

No, so you can skip that. Generally a bad idea trying to do the
disk-swap thing, don't expect it to work in general - Windows stupidly
ties itself into the hardware during installation and gets very confused
when you swap the machine out from under it. Often results in
aggravating issues like USB being really flaky. So if you get that sort
of thing, do a reinstall.

Win10 is better at it, but still not trustworthy.

That aside: Most likely is that the Akai software is trying to save it's
crap into Program Files which is read-only, but Windows built in "lie to
dumb old apps about where they're writing their data" compatibility
layer hasn't silently redirected it to your home folder for some
reason.

> and this software on there. Otherwise I suppose it may be an issue with
> the s/w that was originally written for W2K and hasn't really been updated.

Yep, that'll be it.

I'd try Take Ownership on the Program Files/Akai Software (whatever it's
called) folder, and check that stops it inheriting the protected
read-only status from the parent Program Files.

Or reinstall the software in another folder of your choice, like c:\akai
- that should work fine, unless (again) the software is exceptionally
dumb.

Cheers - Jaimie
--
"History repeats itself. Has to. No one listens."
-- Steve Turner

On 05/05/2021 10:53, Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:

>
> Generally a bad idea trying to do the
> disk-swap thing, don't expect it to work in general - Windows stupidly
> ties itself into the hardware during installation and gets very confused
> when you swap the machine out from under it. Often results in
> aggravating issues like USB being really flaky. So if you get that sort
> of thing, do a reinstall.
>
> Win10 is better at it, but still not trustworthy.
>

Anecdotal: I've only done it once with Win10 and it has been stunningly
successful. Everything just worked, which was surprising given the wifi
had been buggy under win7 and the machine had failed hardware
compatibility when I tried to upgrade from 7 to 10.

I was very surprised as it was pure coincidence, serendipity, I was
intending to wipe the disk and do a Linux install.

On 5 May 2021 at 11:17:55 BST, "Pancho" <Pancho.Dontmaileme@outlook.com>
wrote:

> On 05/05/2021 10:53, Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
>
>>
>> Generally a bad idea trying to do the
>> disk-swap thing, don't expect it to work in general - Windows stupidly
>> ties itself into the hardware during installation and gets very confused
>> when you swap the machine out from under it. Often results in
>> aggravating issues like USB being really flaky. So if you get that sort
>> of thing, do a reinstall.
>>
>> Win10 is better at it, but still not trustworthy.
>>
>
> Anecdotal: I've only done it once with Win10 and it has been stunningly
> successful. Everything just worked, which was surprising given the wifi
> had been buggy under win7 and the machine had failed hardware
> compatibility when I tried to upgrade from 7 to 10.
>
> I was very surprised as it was pure coincidence, serendipity, I was
> intending to wipe the disk and do a Linux install.

It's the threat that makes it work :D

Cheers - Jaimie
--
Imagine there were no hypothetical situations.

On 05/05/2021 in message <iff88gF8nj9U1@mid.individual.net> Jaimie
Vandenbergh wrote:

>No, so you can skip that. Generally a bad idea trying to do the
>disk-swap thing, don't expect it to work in general - Windows stupidly
>ties itself into the hardware during installation and gets very confused
>when you swap the machine out from under it. Often results in
>aggravating issues like USB being really flaky. So if you get that sort
>of thing, do a reinstall.
>
>Win10 is better at it, but still not trustworthy.
>
>That aside: Most likely is that the Akai software is trying to save it's
>crap into Program Files which is read-only, but Windows built in "lie to
>dumb old apps about where they're writing their data" compatibility
>layer hasn't silently redirected it to your home folder for some
>reason.

Many thanks Jaimie, I re-installed 8.1 with no issues.

The Akai/Aria software seems to save its settings (in my data directory)
but doesn't load them back. Really weird. Anyway I have dropped a question
to Aria, see if they have any ideas.

Thanks again :-)

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK
It may be that your sole purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others.

On 06/05/2021 in message <xn0mxkg9fvk8jr501v@news.individual.net> Jeff
Gaines wrote:

>The Akai/Aria software seems to save its settings (in my data directory)
>but doesn't load them back. Really weird. Anyway I have dropped a question
>to Aria, see if they have any ideas.

Had to run it as administrator once then it was fine. Very clever bit of
programming :-(

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK
There are 10 types of people in the world, those who do binary and those
who don't.

On 6 May 2021 at 14:38:21 BST, ""Jeff Gaines""
<jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> On 06/05/2021 in message <xn0mxkg9fvk8jr501v@news.individual.net> Jeff
> Gaines wrote:
>
>> The Akai/Aria software seems to save its settings (in my data directory)
>> but doesn't load them back. Really weird. Anyway I have dropped a question
>> to Aria, see if they have any ideas.
>
> Had to run it as administrator once then it was fine. Very clever bit of
> programming :-(

Pffffft. What rubbish!

That's hardware manufacturers for you, awful at software. For hundreds
of further examples, see every printer ever.

Cheers - Jaimie
--
It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye. Then it's a scavenger
hunt.