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Installing Affinity Designer


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I had a problem with Affinity Photo and Designer after a windows update, where I couldn't install new updates because for some reasons it couldn't find where I had it installed. I also couldn't uninstall it from the control panel. So I downloaded windows uninstall and install tool. It uninstalled it and everything is fine. But now when I try to install the new version, I get only one button to update Affinity designer, and it installs it on the C drive, but I don't want it to be installed there. I tried uninstalling it and reinstalling, and I always get the update button and nothing else. Any help is appreciated, thank you!

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Hi @Adoni,

Welcome to the forums :)

30 minutes ago, Adoni said:

But now when I try to install the new version, I get only one button to update Affinity designer, and it installs it on the C drive, but I don't want it to be installed there. I tried uninstalling it and reinstalling, and I always get the update button and nothing else.

Could you please confirm for me, do you still have a copy of Affinity Designer showing as installed on your computer? The results you're seeing sound as though the updater believes the Affinity app is already installed, if it's only offering you to update the version.

Could you please provide some screenshots of the dialog(s) you're seeing?

Many thanks in advance!

Please note -

I am currently out of the office for a short while whilst recovering from surgery (nothing serious!), therefore will not be available on the Forums during this time.

Should you require a response from the team in a thread I have previously replied in - please Create a New Thread and our team will be sure to reply as soon as possible.

Many thanks!

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Thank you, @Dan C

These are the screenshots you asked for. 

As you can see it's not installed or anything, the folder of the old install is still present on the drive that I want to install it to. I tried changing the name of this folder, and the name in the AppData of Affinity, to see if the installer is taking info from this, but it changed nothing. I restarted the PC after each changes that I made. 

Thanks again for your help!

Screenshot 2020-10-17 151722.png

image_2020-10-17_152032.png

image_2020-10-17_152111.png

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@Adoni my apologies for the delayed response here!

It sounds as though enough of the app is still installed that the installer is detecting this previous version, so I'd like to try using the Microsoft Uninstaller Tool once again.

Can you please download this from the latest link if you no longer have access to it:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17588/windows-fix-problems-that-block-programs-being-installed-or-removed

Once downloaded please run the tool, select Uninstalling and then Affinity Designer from the list of apps shown.
If you can't see Affinity Designer in the list, select the aptly named first option and then paste the following code in and select OK.

Depending on which version you most recently had installed, the code will be slightly different but I believe you'll require the first one below:
1.8.4 -  {D4E90228-5DDF-46DF-9B73-7BB12DB8621E}
1.8.3 - {6F0DC7EB-161A-409C-9B26-3EB3FE9ED69D}

Once the uninstaller has completed, please visit the following link and download a fresh copy of the latest exe, then navigate to the downloaded .exe right-click on the file and select Run as Administrator, this should hopefully install the app for you as expected.
https://store.serif.com/update/windows/designer/1/

I hope this helps!

Please note -

I am currently out of the office for a short while whilst recovering from surgery (nothing serious!), therefore will not be available on the Forums during this time.

Should you require a response from the team in a thread I have previously replied in - please Create a New Thread and our team will be sure to reply as soon as possible.

Many thanks!

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@Dan C no worries thank you for you time! 

Sorry to bother you this much about this. I've done everything like you said, redownloaded everything fresh, I still have the names of old Affinity folders changed (don't know if that actually changes anything) and it still give me the update button. 

If nothing works from this, is there an option to move the software to an other drive without having to uninstall it and reinstalling it? Because when I update, it installs it fine on the C drive. But my C drive is getting kinda full. 

Thanks again for your help!

affinity_install.gif

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1 hour ago, Adoni said:

is there an option to move the software to an other drive without having to uninstall it and reinstalling it? Because when I update, it installs it fine on the C drive. But my C drive is getting kinda full. 

No, on an update there is no option for a different drive or folder.

On the chance that you had 1.8.5 installed before, you might try feeding {9888CEE1-69DC-4FD2-900F-6D3099FE8BF6} into the Uninstall Troubleshooter.

Other than that, how comfortable are you with using regedit? If you find the registry key Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Serif\Affinity\Designer\1 one of its subkeys is Designer Install Path. Deleting that subkey will (I think) force a prompt for the installation directory during the next Designer install.

By the way, there will still be a significant amount of data stored on the C drive, and you cannot get that moved without playing more games.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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@Adoni, many thanks for trying these steps for both myself and Walt.

I'd like to see which 'version' is being detected as installed by the Affinity installer.

Please start the Affinity Installer, so that you see the below dialog -

image_2020-10-17_152111.png

With this dialog open, navigate to Windows Run (Windows Key + R) and paste the following:

%temp%\AffinitySetup

In the window that opens, please select the most recently created folder, then upload SetupUI.log to your reply here.
Many thanks once again :)

Please note -

I am currently out of the office for a short while whilst recovering from surgery (nothing serious!), therefore will not be available on the Forums during this time.

Should you require a response from the team in a thread I have previously replied in - please Create a New Thread and our team will be sure to reply as soon as possible.

Many thanks!

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Thanks for that Adoni! The Affinity installer is still detecting version 1.8.3 - even though you have tried to remove this version using the Microsoft tool.

Firstly, can you please try downloading version 1.8.3 from the below link, when you run this EXE you should hopefully see the options to 'Repair or Remove' the app.

Select Remove, then restart your PC when completed and try installing 1.8.5 again.

https://store.serif.com//update/windows/designer/1/

If this doesn't change the behaviour, can you please open Windows Run once again then paste the following:

msiexec.exe /x {6F0DC7EB-161A-409C-9B26-3EB3FE9ED69D}

This will hopefully manually force uninstall any remainder of the app from your system, after a restart try installing 1.8.5 again and let me know if either of these help :)

Please note -

I am currently out of the office for a short while whilst recovering from surgery (nothing serious!), therefore will not be available on the Forums during this time.

Should you require a response from the team in a thread I have previously replied in - please Create a New Thread and our team will be sure to reply as soon as possible.

Many thanks!

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32 minutes ago, Adoni said:

This is weird right?

Absolutely! This isn't something I've seen happen before and I must apologise for any inconveniences caused.

If you're happy to search and edit your Registry (please do not attempt this if you are not comfortable), then I have one more thing to try.

 

Considering the significance of the registry on your computer, we strongly recommend that you back up the registry, before you do anything.

 

Please open the Registry and search (CTRL + F) for: {6F0DC7EB-161A-409C-9B26-3EB3FE9ED69D} it should find the below location(s) and give you a sub folder tied to the GUID.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{6F0DC7EB-161A-409C-9B26-3EB3FE9ED69D}

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\<RANDOM NUMBERS HERE>

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\<RANDOM NUMBERS HERE>

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\<RANDOM NUMBERS HERE>

Please delete any keys that appear in these folders, once you've searched through the full registry return to the top most folder and search for the code once again - to make sure that nothing has been missed.

Once completed, please restart your machine and attempt installing again - hopefully this should resolve the issue once and for all for you :)

Please note -

I am currently out of the office for a short while whilst recovering from surgery (nothing serious!), therefore will not be available on the Forums during this time.

Should you require a response from the team in a thread I have previously replied in - please Create a New Thread and our team will be sure to reply as soon as possible.

Many thanks!

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Okay just to be sure so I don't do anything wrong here, I backed up the registry. 

For the first time I search for the code string, I get this 

Under Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MATS\WindowsInstaller\{6F0DC7EB-161A-409C-9B26-3EB3FE9ED69D}

image.png.f144a5afaee3dad762c871e43d3a0021.png

I do find next, I get 

Under Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Folders 

image.png.01e9c3c7a002d9829e14745c5f3bc46c.png

image.png.e097630b69ce1e14a0bba739692ad6dd.png

And I only find these two. Do I just delete them?

 

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20 hours ago, Adoni said:

Under Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MATS\WindowsInstaller\{6F0DC7EB-161A-409C-9B26-3EB3FE9ED69D}

I do find next, I get 

Under Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Folders 

And I only find these two. Do I just delete them?

Thanks for that!

The first key is a log of the Microsoft Uninstaller tool, the second key is just a reference for the Windows installer and deleting these will not likely help the issue here.

The three folders listed below should be present for any 1.8.3 install - I appreciate that the search did not find these in the registry, but can you locate them manually?

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\BE7CD0F6A161C904B962E33BEFE96DD9
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\BE7CD0F6A161C904B962E33BEFE96DD9
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\BE7CD0F6A161C904B962E33BEFE96DD9

If you're unable to find these, then I'd like to try a slightly different approach.

Please run the setup again for 1.8.3 and while the window is up asking to Update, go to the setup folder in Temp (%temp%\AffinitySetup) and copy the Affinity.msi file to the desktop. Cancel the setup and then navigate to Windows Run once more and enter:

MsiExec.exe /x  C:\Users\<USERNAME>\Desktop\Affinity.msi

replace your PC username with the above USERNAME and press OK. It should ask to uninstall the app.

Please do let me know if this works! :)

Please note -

I am currently out of the office for a short while whilst recovering from surgery (nothing serious!), therefore will not be available on the Forums during this time.

Should you require a response from the team in a thread I have previously replied in - please Create a New Thread and our team will be sure to reply as soon as possible.

Many thanks!

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Sorry for the late reply,

16 hours ago, Dan C said:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\BE7CD0F6A161C904B962E33BEFE96DD9
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\BE7CD0F6A161C904B962E33BEFE96DD9
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\BE7CD0F6A161C904B962E33BEFE96DD9

I manually searched for these and couldn't find them.

image.png.e6df993b82f65186c157c42738b6848b.pngimage.png.ce0fc4ba31cdfa210fd527cdf2b2a981.pngimage.png.5ece62082a5b76512da1367341e54465.png

i don't even have "CurrentVersion" under Microsoft :D

I did your second solution and it did this 

image.png.0b9d27794f1d7903261d666d22d776c2.png

I have a strong feeling that it's my windows that is messed up.. I guess I'll have to do a clean install of that :D I'm sorry to have bothered you! If you find any other things I could try I'm up for it! 

Thanks a lot for your help and time!

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/22/2020 at 9:06 AM, Adoni said:

i don't even have "CurrentVersion" under Microsoft

It’s not “Microsoft\CurrentVersion”, it’s “Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion”.

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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  • 1 year later...

I had exact same problem, broken install missing MSI file, use MS tool to fix uninstall but could not get it to install in previous E: location, Changing the registrry <product> Install Path keys and adding them when they were missing to point to E: rather than C 😄 fixed it.

Side note the software update process is a nightmare I've had it break before and had to jump through hoops to fix it. Adobe does it much simpler in the background - I don't use Adobe now but it was a lot better at updates.

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