Category: Windows 7

Sage Payroll trying to upgrade previous installation

Sage Payroll trying to upgrade previous installation

Sage Payroll

Situation:

I came across an error recently whereby I was trying to Install Sage Payroll onto a Windows 7 machine which previously had Payroll on it.  The Payroll had been removed some time ago but they now wanted Sage Payroll re-installed on the machine.

When trying to run the Sage50PayrollV22 installer it was trying to do an upgrade of the existing (now removed) Sage Payroll instead of doing a new installation.

Resolution:

There was a Payroll.ini file located in C:\Windows which were being picked up by the Sage installer. During the Installation, the installer was detecting this and was trying to perform an upgrade instead of a new installation.

To Resolve the issue delete the payroll.ini and re-run the installer.

Additional Steps:

Before I got to the above solution I downloaded and installed the Windows Program Removal tool from here and removed all of the previous Sage Payroll Installations:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17588/fix-problems-that-block-programs-from-being-installed-or-removed

This isn’t a required step for the fix but I would suggest doing it if you’re sure that you no longer need the previous installation.

How to reset a forgotten local admin password in Windows

How to reset a forgotten local admin password in Windows

Problem:

Unable to access a local admin account in a Windows.

Resolution:

Reset the user password via cmd.exe – Using a Windows media boot CD

Gaining access to cmd.exe:

1) Boot from the Windows media DVD

2) Select Repair Your Computer (options are slightly different in each version of windows) to get access to command prompt

3) Run the following commands to replace utilman.exe with cmd.exe

>>>>WINDOWS VISTA/7/8/10

copy c:\windows\system32\utilman.exe c:\windows\system32\utilman-old.exe

(This will make a backup of utilman.exe)

copy c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe c:\windows\system32\utilman.exe

(This will replace utilman.exe with cmd.exe)

>>>>WINDOWS XP

copy c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe c:\windows\system32\sethc-old.exe

(This will make a backup of sethc.exe)

copy c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe

(This will replace the sticky keys exe with cmd.exe)

4) Reboot the computer

Resetting the user password:

1) When reaching the login screen, press the shift key 5 times (windows XP) or click the Ease of access button in the bottom left (Windows Vista/7). This will then open cmd.exe

2) Type the following command to reset the users password

net user username newpassword

Replace the ‘username’ with the administrators username and ‘newpassword’ with your desired password.

3) Close CMD and login with your new password.

Done

Once you are able to login, remember to reboot the PC and re-instate the original files:

>>>>WINDOWS VISTA/7/8/10

copy c:\windows\system32\utilman-old.exe c:\windows\system32\utilman.exe

(This will make copy the original exe to the right location)

>>>>WINDOWS XP

copy c:\windows\system32\sethc-old.exe c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe

(This will make copy the original exe to the right location)