Installing XMetaL 6 on Windows 7 with both 32-bit and 64-bit system

[vanwagenenl]

Hi,

We're trying to install XMetaL 6 onto a computer that is set up to run both 32- and 64-bit systems. When we install XMetaL 6, it always installs in the Program Files (x86) folder. We've tried running the custom install and specifying that it be installed in c:\program files, but it doesn't work.

This would be fine, but we cannot build anything. We get the error saying that the file is open elsewhere.

What are we doing wrong?

Many thanks,

Lynne

[Derek Read]

I'm not sure what you mean by running "both 32- and 64-bit systems". Does this mean you are somehow running both Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit on the same computer? Is there documentation (perhaps from Microsoft) you can point me to that describes how this is done?

[vanwagenenl]

I'm not sure now, and he's now out of the office for the rest of the day. I'll try to get an answer tomorrow.

[vanwagenenl]

I finally got a reply. He's running a standard 64-bit installation of Windows 7 Enterprise.

The 32-bit stuff we're seeing is apparently the way Windows handles backward compatibility. XMetaL installs in the folder for 32-bit applications. That folder is Program Files (x86).

We're suspecting that something in the build process is expecting to find key files in the Program Files folder, and they're not there.

[vanwagenenl]

Do you yet have any information about installing XMetaL on a 64-bit system?

[Derek Read]

XMetaL Author Enterprise and XMetaL Author Essential (all versions up to and including 6.0 SP1) are currently only supported on 32-bit versions of Windows XP, Vista and 7.

The next major release of our software (7.0) will officially support Windows 7 64-bit.

For anyone that has issues installing and running our 6.0 and earlier versions on 64-bit machines we recommend "XP Mode", freely available here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

We are supporting this because XP Mode is essentially a 32-bit version of Windows XP (which is supported) running in a virtual machine.

Please see the file "install-readme.html" that ships with the installer as it may contain other information you may need to be aware of.

[dttanya]

When is Xmetal's release that will include support for 64 bit scheduled? We can't run Windows 7 in XP mode in our environment. Thus, I don't have Xmetal on my new Windows 7 machine. This is becoming a critical problem for us.

[mag3737]

XMetaL Author Enterprise 7.0 will be signed off by development before the end of this month (March 2012), and should be available for shipping shortly thereafter. Please contact your XMetaL sales/channel manager directly for download/release information when it becomes available.