Guitar Tracks Pro 4 Installation Troubles

Hello all,

I have tried unsuccessfully 3 times to install GTPro4 and to have everything be installed and in the right locations. Not sure what is up, as I have been a GT user since 2.0 and have never had any issues. Wondering if it's something system-related. Okay, here goes...

I put the install CD in and run the setup. My C:/ drive is only 40GB so I want to install EVERYTHING on my 1TB external drive E:/. Each time I've tried to install it copies the actual GTPro4 program on E:/ and sets up a Cakewalk Projects, Audio Data and Images folder on that drive. But then it copies all effects and virtual instruments—everything else apparently—on my small C:/ drive. I only have about 21% of that drive free, so after the install it's pretty full.

I should also note, during the final third part of install I get a message that "Service Executable has encountered a problem and needs to close." The install appears to keep going, but I am concerned that something crucial is not being installed. When the install stops and I open GTPro4 it can't find any of the VST instruments or effects to apply to my tracks; a message comes up saying that they can't be found. I did the usual scan for plugins and specified the normal directory so it could find my pre-existing VSTs. I should add, to conserve C:/ drive space I moved my VSTPlugins folder to my 1TB E:/ drive, too, and told GTPro where to find them.

My initial weird thing was when I followed the Quick Start Guide to try opening the demo project and couldn't locate that. I did an entire system search for the file name and turned up nothing. So it seems like not everything is getting installed.

As if this wasn't enough, :) I should mention that I recently had an external hard drive crash and lost the last year and a half of my music project files. I wanted to start anew with GTPro4 as my DAW. When I first ran the GTPro install it wanted to install everything to the nonexistent crashed drive, but I was able to adjust the default location to the E:/ drive via the registry, thanks to some Googling.

So, in summation: PLEASE HELP, MY CAKEWALKING COMRADES!

:) Thanks everyone for any help you can provide.

Also: I am running Windows XP SP3, Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz, 2GB RAM. Thanks again...

Hi Doc! Thanks for your message.

When I searched for VSTs and other files on that last install, it seemed like it was installing SOME of the components like VSTs, but then with others I would try to patch into a track in GTPro4 it would give me the "cannot find this, going to put a placeholder here in the meantime" error. Some of the VSTs and demo files I would search for would not be anywhere on my hard drive though. Maybe when it crashes on install it just cuts its losses and finalizes whatever was successfully installed?

I received an e-mail from Cakewalk Tech Support that confirmed that many of the components are set to install to the C:/ drive and apparently can't be changed. But it's possible to then move the components and redirect to them inside GTPro4. I think I made a rookie mistake last night with the registry or some system-related settings, as now I'm having further issues with that pc.

Just for the record, I am actually on a desktop with a 40GB internal drive and two external 1TB drives. I managed to clear 25% of the internal to make plenty of room for the apparent 6GB of GTPro4 and its components, but then encountered aforementioned other system errors (can't connect to Web or start up anti-virus again—a little bit more pressing of concerns right now :)  Since nearly nothing but XP is installed right now, I am considering just getting a new, bit larger internal drive and reinstalling XP SP3 on it, but I need to download a new ISO of it (I have genuine Windows key from this pre-installed box, but don't have onboard i386 folder .exe nor install CDs—man, when it rains it pours... haha).

Just in case anyone is reading this and having some kind of similar issue, here is the great response that the helpful support folks sent to me:

----

Thank you for contacting Cakewalk Technical Support. GTP4 must install
user account specific components to the C drive. In fact, it's best to
install the entire program to the C drive, then move and redirect the
larger folders to the other drive. You can do this under Options |
Global | Folders tab and the Audio Data tab.
 
For a clean installation of GT Pro 4 please try the following:
 
1) Completely un-install GT Pro 4 from your computer. This is normally
done from Start | Programs | Cakewalk. This will not remove any of
your project files or audio data.
 
2) Next you will want to open the Run Command 
            a) In Windows XP this can be done by going to Start | Run
            b) In Windows Vista this can be done by holding down the
'windows' key and pressing 'r'
 
 3) At the prompt type regedit and click OK.
 
***Backup your Registry before making edits - you do this by clicking
the File menu, Export Registry File.
 
4) Now delete the following Registry keys:
 
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music Software\Guitar Tracks
Pro\4.0
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Cakewalk Music Software\Guitar Tracks
Pro\4.0
 
*Please note that this will remove any effects presets and key
bindings you may have made in Cakewalk.  You can back these up
separately if you like, using Options | Key Bindings, Tools | GT Pro 4
| Plug-in Manager, and Options | Colors.  Hit F1 in these views for
detailed instructions on how to do this.
 
5) Open the 'Run' command again. 
 
6) Copy and paste the following into the prompt:
 
%appdata%\Cakewalk
 
7) This will open your Cakewalk Application Data folder, right-click
on the GT Pro 4 folder and choose rename.
 
8) Rename this folder GT Pro 4 Backup.
 
9) Restart your computer, and log in with an administrative user
account.  If there is no other User Account to log into, please create
a new one with Administrative rights.  This issue may be related to
the permissions your current user account has.  A new user account
will have fresh privileges, and hopefully work for you.
            a) XP: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/279783
            b) Vista:
http://www.vista4beginners.com/Manage-User-Accounts
 
10) Open the 'Run' command again and type msconfig Click OK and then
click on the Startup tab at the upper right of the window that opens. 
 
11) Uncheck all items listed, click OK, then restart your computer.
You can always recheck those items again at a later time.
 
12) Then reinstall GT Pro 4.
 
This should eliminate any software irregularities that are causing
your problem, but let us know if it does not.

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