These installation notes cover the following XMetaL installations:
All installations of XMetaL Author are now pre-configured to operate in an environment where end-users are assumed have ‘Limited User’ account privileges. Programs running under such user accounts are normally restricted from writing to Program Files and similar folders along with writing to Windows HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT registry hives. XMetaL Author still has some features that require operating under a Local Admin user account in order to write to the Program Files folder. A prompt will appear warning the user of this restriction.
For all installations, features requiring Local Admin privileges are disabled. Here are the features that are disabled:
You can use these features by running XMetaL in Administrator mode. Follow these steps:
Note: The disabled features also require you to configure XMetaL Author for Local Admin privileges.
Note: Regardless of being qualified as limited-user or local-administrators, users MUST chose ‘Run as Administrator’ on Windows Vista operating systems. Under Windows operating systems prior to Vista (and its UAC feature), users qualified as a local-administrator are not required doing the ‘Run as’ option.
XMetaL Author is set up assuming users have only Limited User account privileges. If your users have Local Admin privileges, or your XMetaL customization is not Vista/UAC compatible (eg. writes data to Program Files folders), or if you want to enable disabled features, you must set the following variable in the XMetaL configuration file (xmetal.ini):
user_setting_mode=default // Use this value for local-admin environments
OR
user_setting_mode=per_user // Use this value for limited-user environments - default setting
Note: Local Admin can modify the XMetaL settings and behavior. This will affect all the users.
This installer will automatically detect and remove XMetaL Author 5.0 or 5.0 SP1 installations ONLY. Any other versions or variants of XMetaL products must be uninstalled manually before this version can be installed. Backup any currently installed customizations and re-deploy as needed.
Windows Vista users must right-click on the application icon or shortcut and choose ‘Run as Administrator’ in order to use XMetaL Author.
You must remove the following before installing:
If you are installing the trial version of XMetaL, and switch to another program using Alt+tab (for example, to copy a serial number), you cannot switch back to the XMetaL Activation dialog using Alt+tab. Minimize all other applications in order to reveal the Activation dialog once again.
You can re-run the installer from the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel.
If you have already installed XMetaL Author, the installer gives you various options if you run it again, including the option to uninstall XMetaL Author (see below).
If you have already successfully installed this version of XMetaL Author, a dialog box appears with two options: Repair and Remove.
Select Repair if you suspect that the currently installed product has become corrupted in some way. Repair reinstalls the same set of components installed in the previous installation.
Note: The files that you downloaded must still be available if you choose this option.
In some cases there may be two or more choices that the installer can make when installing certain components. In this situation a dialog box appears asking for your preference.
Select Remove if you want to uninstall the complete product.
Other types of user data, such as files that were created directly by the user or that contain preferences that a user might want to re-use in a later version installation, are not removed at uninstallation time. If you want to remove them, you must delete them manually after uninstallation has completed. Such files may exist here:
You can install XMetaL Author silently from the command line. You need to supply the product serial number as a parameter value. Optionally, the ALLUSERS parameter should be provided, as shown below, if the software will be used from multiple login accounts. Without the ALLUSERS=1 parameter, the software is only usable from the account active during installation. The syntax is as follows:
setup.exe /s /v"/qn SERIALNUMBER={serial number} ALLUSERS=1"
Use the following syntax to silently uninstall:
setup.exe /s /x /v"/qn"
or
setup.exe /s /v"/qn REMOVE=ALL"
Note: The "setup.exe" referred to above is the file within the 'xmetal' folder from the redistributable, not the setup.exe beside the 'xmetal' folder.
Note: The "XMetaL Author Essential.msi" file within the 'xmetal' folder can be run silently too and requires the same parameters.
This release of XMetaL Author automatically installs all supported languages for spell checking and the thesaurus including the following:
The XMetaL Author Installer Setup program warns you if you do not have permission to install XMetaL Author (for example, if you are logged in as a normal or restricted user). The solution is to install XMetaL Author on Windows XP or Vista by logging in as a user who has administrator privileges.
XMetaL Author is now certified on Citrix Metaframe Presentation Server 4.0. The Citrix-compatible version of XMetaL uses the MSI-type installer and has specific installation prerequisites. There are also some minor functional differences in the software. These and other differences are detailed below.
The Citrix Installation Manager will install the MSI installer silently, so there is no user interaction.
The MSI installer cannot be modified or repaired through Add/Remove programs. It should be removed only from the Citrix Installation Manager.
The following components must be installed on your server before XMetaL Author will operate correctly:
Note: Version numbers noted above are minium versions.
You can create a silent installer packages for Citrix installations. To create a silent installer from Installation Manager, add the product serial number as a command line parameter.
SERIALNUMBER={serial number}
ALLUSERS=1
No command line parameters are required to un-install.
XMetaL Author has been tested and operates properly when the Citrix drive remap feature is configured. Please ensure XMetaL Author is installed only after drive remap has been applied.
In Citrix environments, it is expected that the administrator will setup XMetaL Author prior to publishing the application to the Citrix users. If specializations or some pre-configuration is required using these features, the Citrix admin needs to toggle the 'user_setting_mode' variable (see Configuring XMetaL Author).
The Citrix Presentation Server requires you to do a ‘publish application’ in order to make XMetaL Author visible to your end users. The following settings are recommened or suggested minimum settings:
Application Limits: Check 'Allow only one instance of application for each user'
Application Appearance: Session Window Size: 1024x768
Application Appearance: Colors: High Color (16-bit) or better
If you encounter problems, it is possible that the XMetaL document customization you are using is not Citrix-aware. In addition to the above ‘Publish Application’ settings, adjust the following setting:
Application Location : Check 'Isolate Application'