Affinity Photo v2 .exe file location

[cybertec69]

On 11/10/2022 at 8:51 AM, jimh12345 said:

Can anyone tell me the purpose of all this obfuscation from Microsoft's point of view? Just making things difficult for users doesn't stop the malware guys from getting in.

I made a post with two video links so people can understand where this is all heading. This has NOTHING to do about malware. 

Another reason why I am avoiding W11 like the plague. 

 

 

[Dave61]

3 hours ago, Deschdy said:

Dear Affinity programmers, supporters, moderators etc, please add this little exe-file from Sangoma (above) to the next and very soon patch for Affinity Photo 2. It would be great!!!

 

Lets hope they take it on board what Steve has said, as it helps everyone.

[Mark Ingram]

9 minutes ago, myclay said:

@Mark Ingram

how would that aflaunch.exe be used when there is no way to add those arguments in the other program?

I've updated the binary to default to Photo now. Please try the new version.

[myclay]

9 minutes ago, Patrick Connor said:

we can change it so that Photo is the dafault for a as well then they will just pass the filename as the only parameter. I think that would work fine

to make it for your customers easier, could we get such exe files branded for every program?

the current version with its many arguments  seems perfect for relaying to other developers /plugin writers.

[thedakota]

6 minutes ago, Mark Ingram said:

I've updated the binary to default to Photo now. Please try the new version.

Sadly still doesn't work in ACDSee. It opens Affinity Photo 2 (yay!) but then attempts to open every parent folder as though it was an image, so I get a series of "failed to open file" errors. I think I'll wait for this to be formally patched. 

[Hans De Smaele]

Hello to all !

As we can see on the forum Serif is well aware about the issues we encounter with the msix install method.

Some of the topics are just annoying (e.g. selecting the install path, missing icons, ....) and other things are a kind of showstopper (the possibility to launch Affinity products from other applications like Adobe Bridge, Adobe LightRoom, Nikon NX Studio, .....).

As for now we have a - temporary - solution for this too : the (in)famous batch file and/or the 'aflaunch.exe' tool.

I suggest we hold our horses and gave the moderators a break until Serif comes with a 'real' solution for this in the coming days or so (as stated by P. Connor).

Until then.... weekend's coming.... relax, have a beer (or some beers) and we'll see....

I think Serif tried to bring a state of the art new product but as so often on the Microsoft platform there are so many flavors and tweaks that extensive testing is needed. And honnestly, the msix stuff is not very well known by ourselves neither (so the problems to move an app to another location, creating icons, ....).

Let's hope for a fast solution and maybe a document with best practices how to live with msix apps in the future.

In the meantime, let's stay calm and constructive on all this. As Patrick Connor says : "do not start to find workarounds yourself as this may break updates in the future too.". That we should - of course - avoid too.

Finally, it's very sad this happened as you never get a second change for a first impression.... But it is what it is for now.

Sincerely yours to all,

Hans.

[jimh12345]

Here's what really scares me about this:   sooner or later, my hard drive or PC fails, and I have to rebuild my system.   That might be a year from now and I won't remember any of this hoo-ha about how V2 installs as a app - so I'll have to figure it out all over again.  What a PITA.   

 

[bildbaendiger]

44 minutes ago, Mark Ingram said:

For anyone that would like to work around issues with launching our apps from third-party applications (e.g. DxO, ACDSee, etc), I have written a launcher utility that you can place anywhere on your system, and it will take care of calling our apps, with any required arguments.

Usage: aflaunch -a name -b build [args]

-a name    : One of the following
    Designer2
    Photo2 [Default]
    Publisher2

-b build   : One of the following
    Retail [Default]
    Beta
    MSStore

args       : [Optional] All remaining arguments to be passed onto the target application (must be last)

 

The -a and -b arguments are optional, so you can ignore them unless you want to launch a different app, or the beta or MS Store versions.

I have signed the exe as well, so it will have a valid digital signature.

Please let me know how you get on with this.

aflaunch.zip 9.56 kB · 2 downloads  

I get with every program the error: Failed to launch Photo2 (Designer2 or Publisher2). Check that the requestet App is installed.

All Apps are installed. What is wrong?

Edited November 11, 2022 by bildbaendiger

[thedakota]

Thanks @Hans De SmaeleI agree your approach.  Affinity have now acknowledged the problem and promised a solution early next week. I'm crossing my fingers this was just a tiny blip that we'll all have forgotten about.

 

[CliveH]

@Mark Ingram

Sorry but just tried this and unless I'm doing something wrong it doesn't work with Lightroom 6.14 (last perpetual version - I'm still hanging onto that hoping for an Affinity DAM). 

Like theDakota it launches Photo2 but then just gives a series of failed messages.  The only thing I've found to work is Walt's BAT file. 

Clive

[DRM]

22 minutes ago, jimh12345 said:

Here's what really scares me about this:   sooner or later, my hard drive or PC fails, and I have to rebuild my system.   That might be a year from now and I won't remember any of this hoo-ha about how V2 installs as a app - so I'll have to figure it out all over again.  What a PITA.   

I once had to rebuild my system disc manually after a slow hardware fault which led to my nightly backup already being corrupt. A nightmare which took me a week at 16 hours/day. I can only recommend having several off-line system disk image backups. I use Acronis and this saved my life when an SSD failed. 

[Patrick Connor]

35 minutes ago, myclay said:

to make it for your customers easier, could we get such exe files branded for every program?

this is just a test to see if it helps. It can be made better yes

[Mark Ingram]

25 minutes ago, CliveH said:

@Mark Ingram

Sorry but just tried this and unless I'm doing something wrong it doesn't work with Lightroom 6.14 (last perpetual version - I'm still hanging onto that hoping for an Affinity DAM). 

Like theDakota it launches Photo2 but then just gives a series of failed messages.  The only thing I've found to work is Walt's BAT file. 

Clive

I imagine you might have spaces in your path? I’ll see if I can fix that… 

[Hans De Smaele]

Mark, I don't think it's about spaces. I don't have spaces in the path but it doesn't work on LightRoom 6.14 (at least not on my pc). I guess LightRoom cannot handle the parameters required by the aflaunch tool. Shouldn't we wait for a 'formal' solution next week and just use the batch file in the meantime ? (Of course, being a developer myself, I do understand you want to build a fix for this :-)).

[MikeW]

Programmers who live on the cutting edge aren't the ones getting bled...

Geez. Who cares what MS is suggesting. Regular installers aren't going away anytime soon. Just admit this was a boneheaded decision and reverse course before too much time passes.

[myclay]

1 hour ago, Mark Ingram said:

I've updated the binary to default to Photo now. Please try the new version.

The new version works now with 3Dcoat and this variant works also with Blender, thank you very much. 👍

 

[Balveda]

1 hour ago, Mark Ingram said:

For anyone that would like to work around issues with launching our apps from third-party applications (e.g. DxO, ACDSee, etc), I have written a launcher utility that you can place anywhere on your system, and it will take care of calling our apps, with any required arguments.

Usage: aflaunch -a name -b build [args]

-a name    : One of the following
    Designer2
    Photo2 [Default]
    Publisher2

-b build   : One of the following
    Retail [Default]
    Beta
    MSStore

args       : [Optional] All remaining arguments to be passed onto the target application (must be last)

 

The -a and -b arguments are optional, so you can ignore them unless you want to launch a different app, or the beta or MS Store versions.

I have signed the exe as well, so it will have a valid digital signature.

Please let me know how you get on with this.

aflaunch.zip 9.56 kB · 16 downloads  

Hi @Mark Ingram I tried the launcher and Affinity Photo 2 opened via Fast Raw Viewer but it failed to find the file I tried to open with it. I'm back to using the copied address that I snatched from the Microsoft folder while the ownership was temporarly switched to my user handle. I copied it into a new folder in the old Affinity Program File folder. That consistantly works for me.

[Patrick Connor]

@Sangoma

Thanks for trying to help but we CANNOT host EXEs made by customers on our forums in case they are malicious or are exchanged for malicious ones some time in the future. I understand that yours were likely fine but you must understand why we cannot have your hosted here, particularly when they are not digitally signed. 

[Hans De Smaele]

@Mark Ingram, @Patrick Connor,

Mark, the release with the 'Photo' default does work fine in LightRoom 6.14. So, as long as the 'laucher' doesn't require any parameters I guess it works just fine. This means you should make 3 of these things like that. Please think about some naming convention too (:-)) (e.g. AFPhotoLauncher, AFDesignerLauncher and AFPublisherLauncher or so). Thanks for this !

[Sangoma]

7 minutes ago, Patrick Connor said:

@Sangoma

Thanks for trying to help but we CANNOT host EXEs made by customers on our forums in case they are malicious or are exchanged for malicious ones some time in the future. I understand that yours were likely fine but you must understand why we cannot have your hosted here, particularly when they are not digitally signed. 

Understood, pity though as it was just what most people were looking for

Simple and easy to use.

I did not reply to the person who asked me how I made them and what they contained simply as if he could use the answers, he would know hot to do it himself

[bildbaendiger]

For me it is not working, I get the error: "Failed to launch Photo2. Check that the requestet App is installed."

What do I miss? All three Apps are installed. I can launch them from the Start menu and from the taskbar, but aflaunch gives me an error back. (Windows 11 Pro, last build, local user)

Edited November 11, 2022 by bildbaendiger

[Patrick Connor]

2 minutes ago, Sangoma said:

Simple and easy to use.

 

I am sure we can make one the same very soon

[Sangoma]

7 minutes ago, Patrick Connor said:

I am sure we can make one the same very soon

You did already.

PM'd you

[EduardoP]

This new installer approach has cost people (me included) a lot of wasted time and aggravation.  I reinstalled version 1 out of frustration. I am very disappointed.I have the whole suit and I will continue to support Affinity products and promote them as usual. However, being silent would convey the idea that this install methodology (and control by Microsoft) are a welcome decision. NO, its not.

Nevertheless, I do appreciate your efforts towards these wonderful applications. I sincerely hope that a solution comes sooner rather than later.

Thank you.

Kind regards.

[myclay]

14 minutes ago, Sangoma said:

I did not reply to the person who asked me how I made them and what they contained simply as if he could use the answers, he would know hot to do it himself

I just wanted to make sure that you (a fresh account with no name (yet) to it) are not trying to steal my and other peoples bank data.