[magusbuckley]

Hello:

I'll try to keep this long story short. Hopefully, someone can suggest a solution that doesn't require a lot of time and money.

I have a 10 month old little girl and have been, for several months now, making a slideshow video of her photos with Microsoft's Photo Story 3 for Windows XP. My old computer was unable to handle that much data. As the video grew larger, the quality grew smaller. The timing I had set up for audio/video was all off. From time to time, the system would lock up all together. To compensate, I built a new machine (it was time for that anyway) and donated the old machine to my mom. I'm running the new 64 bit version of Windows. So far, I've been able to install everything...excecpt Photo Story 3! Ironic, right? That's the program I built this system for. I'm praying I can finish this video and get it copied to DVD's in time for the holidays.

Do any of you have a suggestion as to what my next move should be?

So far, the best I can come up with is: buy Windows XP Pro and forget about the 64 bit OS for a while. This, of course, means I'll be spending another $150 for an OS, have to backup my data, format my drives, reinstall the new (older) OS, restore the backed up data..etc. It's just a pain. When After that, I'd probably uninstall XP Pro and reinstall the 64 bit version. XP Pro would go back in the box and collect dust. Waste of money for sure.

I have other older versions of Windows here at the house, but Photo Story 3 only runs on XP. I still have the older machine--the one I'm donating to Mom--here at the house as well. It is running XP Home. I thought about switching OS's with her until January, but you and I both know Microsoft isn't going to go for that.

Another possible solution, maybe, is to make a little partition on my drives for XP Home. I could install that OS and Photo Story 3 only. I could work on the video until the OS expires (because I will not be able to validate it while it's on my mom's PC too). After it expires (30 days), I'll just format that partition and reinstall XP Home. Think that could work?

Any and all information will be greatly appreciated.

For those of you who are interested....here is the link to my little girl's web page.

Jasmine's Webpage

Thanks,

Magus

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so, you are saying you cannot install it, or it installs and does not run?

[gerryf]

so, you are saying you cannot install it, or it installs and does not run?

[peterm]

If this is purely a space problem I would install the older drive as master
make the new drive slave and save all data on there. I hope this is what you are after

[magusbuckley]

gerryf: I am able to install Photo Story 3, but unable to run it...even with the emulator

peterm: thanks for the help, but I'm not having storage problems. I have plenty of hard drive space on both computers for this program and video file.


Hopefully, this will clear up some open ends I have in my first story.

I was running Photo Story 3 on my old Compaq, which was running Windows XP Home. The motherboard on that system can't be upgraded any more than it already is. The program ran fine until the video file I was working with got pretty big. I still have plenty of Hard Drive space on that system. The issue was with RAM and processor.

I built a new system running 64 bit Windows Pro. On this system, which has both enough speed and storage space for the video file, I am unable to get Photo Story 3 to operate. The install was crapping out almost before it got started. I finally ran the install routine with the WOW Emulator (part of x64 OS) and it seemed to work properly. The installation process now complete, I tried to run the program itself. The program, however, will not function properly on this OS even when running it in the WOW Emulator.

Since the program won't run on the 64 bit OS, I'm wondering what my options are. As I said before, the most logical option I've been able to come up with is to purchase the 32 bit XP Pro. If I install that OS on this new system, I will be able to run the Photo Story 3 program and ultimately finish this video project in time for the holidays. The downside to this, however, is that I just (2 weeks ago) purchased this 64 bit OS.

The analogy: It's like building a brand new computer system. You order Windows XP Pro and then, two weeks later, order Windows XP Home Edition for that same machine. Understand?

I really don't want to purchase another OS.

I'm not trying to do anything illegal here, I'm just wondering what my options are.

I still have my old computer, the Compaq, here at my house with it's XP Home OS CD. Do you think I can do this:

1. Install Windows XP Home into a seperate partition on the new system
2. Install Photo Story 3 while running XP Home
3. Use Photo Story 3 to edit the video until the 30 day Activation timer runs out on Windows
4. Format that partition and repeat the process until my video gets done around mid October
5. I would still have the 64 bit OS installed on this system for all other programs and would be using the same drives for saving the data so the video file would never come to harm from the format used in step 4.

I can't register this copy of XP Home on my new system because I have already registered it on the other system, the Compaq.

What do you think about this idea, or can you think of any other solution, or should I just get it over with and buy the 32 bit version of XP? Just trying to prevent having to purchase another OS for compatability when I only need that compatabitlity to last a few months. After I make this video of my little girl, I won't need Photo Story 3 any more. I'm sure I'll use it from time to time, but I won't need it like I do right now.

Thoughts? Ideas?

Thank you all so far for the quck responses.

Magus

[gerryf]

I am not 100 percent convinced that it will not run on x64....I know you tried a lot, but I cannot find any other person mention this compatibility problem....

Do you have the most current video/sound drivers (64-bit)

What version of Photo Story did you install (where did it come from and when? Did you download the latest?)

[peterm]

You own windows xp legal. I think if you read the ELA you can install on more then 1 machine.

[magusbuckley]

gerryf: I am running the most current drivers for my hardware. In fact, I was unable to install the drivers for the video card that came with that product --ATI Radeon 9550. I had to download the latest driver to get it to install the driver and Catalyst software on the new machine. For now, I'm using onboard sound. I will check on the drivers for that later today. I'm feeling pretty confident when I say I have the latest drivers for sound too because I had to download and update my BIOS. Windows XP PRO x64 didn't recognize the RAID controller that came with the motherboard either. I'm using a beta version which I downloaded from the ASUS website. I downloaded and installed everything I could from them. I'll have to check that sound driver though. You also mention that you haven't heard of anyone else having this compatibility problem. While searching for help via Google, I came across another forum in which a user couldn't get the software to install. In all actuality, he was initially unable to download the software because the Windows Website can not authenticate this version of Windows. The site says you must have a valid copy of Windows XP running on your machine before you can download the software. After installing the ActiveX controller, a web page with an error appears letting you know that your copy of Windows couldn't be authenticated. He finally got around that part but got stuck again where I am now. He is able to get the program to install via the emulator, but can't get the program to run with or without the emulator. That's the only other instance of this that I've come across thus far. When I initially downloaded the software, I saved the install file on my HD. I moved this file over from the old machine to the new. When I couldn't get this version to run, I downloaded the latest version from the Microsoft site. There are two Microsoft Sites you can download this software from. On the one, you have to validate. This site, as I've already mentioned, does us no good because it is unable to validate our copy of the OS. The other site, however, lets you download without the authentication. After downloading the lastest version of this software, I am still unable to correct my problem. I think there haven't been any updates to the Photo Story 3 program since I initially downloaded it only a few weeks ago anyway. I'm thinking the one install program I downloaded is the same program I moved over from the Compaq. At any rate...neither of them will work on my 64 bit OS.

peterm: Yes, I legally own Windows. The Compaq came with Windows ME. Later, Compaq shipped to me (free of charge) the Windows XP Home Edition upgrade. I purchased Windows XP Pro x64 from NewEgg about a week ago while building the new machine. To the best of my knowlege, you can only install any Windows OS to one PC only. If I could install one OS to multiple systems, I wouldn't be having this issue. I'd just put both the XP Home and 64 bit Pro on my new machine.

When the Photo Story 3 program crashes, the emulator sends a report to Microsoft. This, to the best of my knowlege, is just like the error reporting technique used with other XP programs. I have yet to find an update for this particular situation however. I did download the latest updates, but did that as soon as I got the OS up and running. There were only 6 updates in all. Five of those six were security patches and the other didn't have a very descriptive name. I have checked for updates several times since then, but haven't come across anything.

All other software is running fine. No other compatability issues so far. We'll...none that I haven't been able to resolve I should say.

Any ideas now?

Thanks,

Magus

[gerryf]

right click MY COMPUTER, choose PROPERTIES, choose ADVANCED tab, click SETTINGS under Performance---select DATA EXECUTION PREVENTION.

What is the setting?

--------------

Also, I do not know this program.....does it use Windows Media Player in some way?

[magusbuckley]

gerryf: I am at work right now and will be unable to try those steps for a few hours. I will get right on it when I get home and post the information here for you. Photo Story 3 is a program used for making video slide shows from digital photographs. It does not use Windows Media Player for creating and/or editing a video file. However, you can save the video in the .wmv format at various resolutions so others can play back your video at full screen with Windows Media Player on their own machine.

This is how it works.
You add photos to a time line. Next, you add text on top of your photos if you so choose. Then, you can narrate the video with a microphone. The next setting allows you to change the transition type between any two photographs. Finally, you can add background music to the video. The audio volume can be adjusted accordingly. I find that you can just about let the program do all the work for you. When first trying the software, I drug about 20 photos to the timeline, added a song for background noise, and compiled the video. I was astonished at how well the default settings worked when creating the video. It's a really neat program.

I'm using it to create a video of my little girl, who is now 10 months old. I have many many digital photos of her. I've been using some of the best ones on her web page, but will use many more for this video. When I'm done, I have a friend with software that can convert the .wmv format into something I can use for DVD's. He will be creating a menu and such for the master. I'll copy that DVD and send out as gifts for friends and family for the holidays.

There is a video you can download that demonstrates the features, but it's a rather large file (almost 30 megs). Even easier, you can download the program, which is much smaller in file size, and try it yourself. All of the options presented to you are self explainatory. Try it...it's free and I think you'll like it. I know I did. I can say, however, that the 30 meg video demonstrates that very good programers worked on this program. I couldn't believe some of the stuff they talk about on that video. I can look it up and shoot you the link if you like.

I swear...I don't work for Microsoft. Ha. This post sounds more like an advertisement, doesn't it?

I'll check on that other for you when I get home. Let's see, it's a little after eleven here now. I'm central time. I'll get home around two. WIll post then.

Thanks,

Brian

[gerryf]

I wonder, though, if it uses any componants from WMP (encoder/decoder, for example)....I don't have a pc around with wmp8 any more...if one installed it on such a PC, would it say it needs wmp9 or 10, I wonder.

Some componants of wmp10 have issues with x64

[magusbuckley]

gerryf: I just checked those settings for you. Turned On is: Turn On DEP for essential Windows Programs and services only.

Thanks,

magus

[gerryf]

try adding it and wmp as an exception