Fix: Re-enable ClickOnce deployment at Mozilla Firefox

When you try to run a ClickOnce Windows application from Mozilla Firefox, on some machines you may see it try to save a .application (ClickOnce deployment manifest) instead of running the ClickOnce application installer/updater/launcher.

To fix that issue you can open Firefox add-ons dialog and search among available to download/install add-ons for "net framework assistant". From the results list select to install "Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant" (version 1.3.1 shown at the screenshot below).

You can try the ClickOnce installation process with ClipFlair‘s WebCapture tool.

Eco-unfriendly Philips shipping empty software CD with just a URL in it

I just got an (overpriced) Philips PTA01 USB adapter the other day to make my Philips Smart TV also work wirelessly (apart from via Ethernet cable) and it came with the Philips MediaConnect software on a CD, or at least I thought so till I placed the CD in my computer.

I then found out the CD just contains an icon, a URL shortcut and the autorun.inf file that tells Windows to launch that URL shortcut and open a webpage where you can download the MediaConnect software. The activation key is on a label at the front of the CD paper sleeve.

They haven’t heard of auto-updating software it seems, neither about eco-friendly practices and sustainability. Philips sure gets a prize for the worst practice there. They could have just placed a sticker with a short URL and a QR code for downloading the software, together with the activation key at the instructions leaflet instead.

HowTo: Troubleshoot .MSI installations

Copying from Microsoft Web Deploy readme:

If you encounter any problems during installation, you can run appropriate command listed below for your version of Windows to create a log file that will contain information about the installation process:

msiexec /L install.log /I <path_to_msi>

You can analyze this log file after a failed installation to help determine the cause of the failure.

 

If you don’t have an .MSI but an .EXE, sometimes it’s a packed executable that contains an .MSI in it. You can right-click and open it with an archiver like WinRAR or 7-zip and extract one or more MSI files from there to troubleshoot them separately like above.