SOP 2021 r1032 x64 - Cannot Re-install; W7 x64 SP1+

[KurSve]

Hello SoftMaker Developers,

I have just happily bought a permanent license for SoftMaker Office Professional 2021.

However,I had a hand on the heart moment, or two, or three, when I tried to install the latest SOP 2021 r1032 x64, on Windows 7 x64 SP1+.

I had SOP r1022 x64 installed in trial mode, I did not uninstall it.

I then attempted an installation of SOP r1032 x64 - it was a custom install, update module disabled, and no file associations - it uninstalled the previous version (imperfectly, in hindsight), and attempted to install the current revision, but it did not complete and apparently "rolled back".

Subsequently, when re-running the SOP r1032 x64 installer, all it did was a cycle of uninstall mode, and then exit. This was the same upon reboots and repeated re-runs - I could not get r1032 to install!

I then cleaned the 'system drive' and 'my documents' of any obvious 'softmaker' directory structures, and did similar in the registry, removing any 'softmaker' related keys. Even then, when re-running the r1032 installer, it remained in uninstall mode.

Hand in heart stuff, given I'd just purchased a license!

My workaround, stab in the dark, was to re-run the *SOP r1022 x64* installer, which gave me three familiar options: Install, Repair, or Remove. Upon choosing 'Remove' it attempted to uninstall, however, given that the existing installation had already been uninstalled, there wasn't much to uninstall, but the r1022 uninstallation process was well-behaved and ploughed along until completion, complaining of missing files, but carrying on regardless.

Clearly, there was somethings somewhere, that the r1032 installer missed, because, in subsequently re-running the r1032 installer, it successfully installed SOP 2021 r1032, and I was, finally, an happy camper.

However, if I didn't have the SOP 2021 r1022 x64 installer handy, my goose would have been well cooked, with extreme prejudice.

This problem is serious, and may be replicable, in any case the behaviour needs to be escalated to the developers, so that they can explore refining more robust install, uninstall, and re-install, processes. A FAQ entry would also be wise.

Thank you for your attention.

Happy to be onboard the SOP 2021 experience (after that adventure!)

[SuperTech]

Thanks for reporting this problem. I have forwarded the details to our product management...

[KurSve]

@SuperTech: Danke.

[martin-k]

A later revision of SoftMaker Office uninstalls an installed older revision. It does so by running the cached installer of the old revision.

If you ran some unofficial "cleanup" utility that promised to reclaim "tons" of wasted space, it might simply have deleted the old cached MSI files, and then you would run into such trouble. The way to repair this is indeed to run the old installer to repair the old installation.

Generally, I'd stay away from these snake-oil "system improvers".