JJClements.co.uk

I just had an issue where I was trying to install PowerDVD 5.1 onto a Dell laptop with a fresh Windows XP install. The PowerDVD software was on Dell branded media and I had reinstalled the laptop using a non OEM Dell branded version of Windows XP Professional. It seems that there is a check during the installation process of PowerDVD to verify that the software is indeed being reinstalled back onto a Dell branded computer. As I hadn’t used the original reinstallation CD that came with the laptop I had half guessed that PowerDVD was going to complain.

Here is a screen shot of the error I was presented with:

Being familiar with various forms of installers I started to probe into the contents of the files on the CD. I copied all files from the CD into a folder on the desktop. A quick inspection of all editable files revealed a file called Custom.ini with what looked to be a condition for the setup.exe Installshield installer.

Its contents included the following 3 lines of text:

[PowerDVD]
CLScan=DELL,Unbranded
RunDVDLauncherMCE=1

Immediately my attention was drawn to the ‘CLScan=DELL,Unbranded’ line. This seemed to be the condition of the installer. I tried changing the condition of the ‘CLCScan’ parameter into various forms such as:

CLScan=ALL
CLScan=ANY
CLScan=(blank)

None of the above seemed to work. Every time I changed the text the error message above would change to reflect the new condition but still not let me install the application. After changing the condition a few times I finally managed to get the application to install. I set the contidion to be:
CLScan=*

The asterisk saved in the Custom.ini file allowed the install to complete without any errors. I have also tried other symbols including an apostrophe and the ‘@’ symbol. These also allow PowerDVD to successfully install. A quick test afterwards revealed that the machine had PowerDVD installed and it was indeed fully functional.