Uninstalling 2008 Business for 2010 Home Lux

[dacos]

Give Away of the Day, Win XP SP3.

I am rather surprised at the lack of good information needed to go from 2008 to 2010! I noticed a lot of people talking trash about install problems with 2010 and so I decided to try the install on my other machine first. BOY WHAT A DISASTER!!!!

First of all I did read that 2008 had to be uninstalled. OK, did that, except when I got to the part about deleting the virtual drive (RVSYSTEM.IMG). You could NOT POSSIBLY mean that it had to be removed TOO! I mean there is a lot of information on that drive! So I did NOT delete it! I started the install and got far enough that I thought the process was about to finish. THEN I NOTICE the message at the top of the install screen saying something about "ROLLBACK" install failed!

ZERO reason for the failure and NO resulting log file and a second attempt at installing resulted in a program in use, must reboot, error. Found some kind of file in the C:\RETURNIL directory 3xx.blabla.looksLikeAZip.extension. Could not delete it so rebooted and was able to delete the file.

Started the install program again and exact same story again complete with the rollback. Went back into C:\RETURNIL to see if it was the same file but C:\RETURNIL -- NO LONGER EXISTED!!!!!!!!!!!! The rollback removed everything it created and everything it did NOT CREATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RVSYSTEM.IMG was now deleted which means that EVERYTHING that was on that disk was now gone!!! -- "BAD PROGRAM!!! http://www.wilderssecurity.com/images/smilies/puppy.gif" Lucky that I had the drive space and smarts to make a backup of it!

So now any evidence of Returnil is completely removed from my machine and I did another reboot and another install and this time it went to completion.

So now after surfing for the last 2 hours trying to get more info and finding no other mention of it, I will ask here.

1. Does the old RVSYSTEM.IMG need to be deleted? Can it NOT be used with 2010?

2. Should the C:\RETURNIL directory have been deleted during the "ROLLBACK"? Am I REALLY the FIRST person this has happened too?

3. These are important issues; should they not have been addressed or am I missing something?

I thought I would give the antivirus a shot and let it do its thing after installation. I bring up the GUI and see that 3 of my 4 mail notices are regarding virus (trojans) FALSE POSITIVES!!! Don't want to play that game so decided to shut down the AV.

4. Does unchecking the box - Activate the Real Time Virus Protection really shut down the AV software so it is not using any system resources?

5. 2008 never needed to talk to the outside world and I do NOT want 2010 to either! So I turned OFF updates too. Is there anything else I need to turn off so that 2010 will NOT even think about trying to Phone Home?

I would like to install 2010 on my main computer but I cannot afford to loose the virtual drive on this one!

--Steve

[Coldmoon]

Hello dacos and welcome to the forums

...ZERO reason for the failure and NO resulting log file and a second attempt at installing resulted in a program in use, must reboot, error...

Please be sure to turn off any other security programs temporarily during the install/uninstall of RVS as they can cause interference with the process. After installing, you can reactivate your other programs.

1. Does the old RVSYSTEM.IMG need to be deleted? Can it NOT be used with 2010?

You should be able to open your RVS 2008 VP with RVS 2010. You should however make sure all data in the VP(2008 ) or VD (2010) as well as your entire computer is backed up on a regular basis just in case you experience any issues or encounter an emergency.

2. Should the C:\RETURNIL directory have been deleted during the "ROLLBACK"? Am I REALLY the FIRST person this has happened too?

Yes, if the installation fails, the installer should roll back and remove anything it tried to install. Active AV's can cause issues that result in a failed uninstall so should be deactivated until after the installation of RVS is completed.

3. These are important issues; should they not have been addressed or am I missing something?

I thought I would give the antivirus a shot and let it do its thing after installation. I bring up the GUI and see that 3 of my 4 mail notices are regarding virus (trojans) FALSE POSITIVES!!! Don't want to play that game so decided to shut down the AV.

I thought your install failed and RVS was rolled back...

Regardless, you can turn off detections for potentially unwanted content by changing the Real-Time analysis in preferences > Virus Guard tab to "Do not use Advanced rules analysis".

4. Does unchecking the box - Activate the Real Time Virus Protection really shut down the AV software so it is not using any system resources?

Yes

5. 2008 never needed to talk to the outside world and I do NOT want 2010 to either! So I turned OFF updates too. Is there anything else I need to turn off so that 2010 will NOT even think about trying to Phone Home?

First, deactivating client - server communications will remove our ability to provide some types of product support such as lost password and license recovery so please be careful afterwords with this information!

To turn off all communications:

1. Deactivate Virus Guard signature updates
2. Deactivate the malware Data-collection setting: preferences > Virus Guard Tab, Data collection policy section
3. Deactivate the "Allow remote control" option on the preferences > communication tab. Note: Network administrators are cautioned that deactivating this option in their clients will remove their ability to control their clients from the Returnil Commander management console so please be aware. This warning is also for those who have purchased RVS 2010 Home Lux with Returnil Commander...

Mike

[dacos]

Thanks Mike, and greetings again!

I got the program to install on the 3rd reboot after the rollback had deleted the C:\RETURNIL directory. (do not know if it was my avg program, the Comodo firewall, or the fact that I still had remnants of the 2008 floating around.) Once ALL remnants of the 2008 were gone, the program installed correctly! (Even with the avg and firewall still running.)

My point on the rollback deleting the directory was that the install program had NOT created that directory - it already existed and some of the files in there were not created by the installer either. My development experience in programming rollbacks is to target ONLY those files and directories that the installer actually created.

It is dangerous for a rollback program to make the assumption that since the directory exists, that it was the installation program that created it!

Please pass this on to your developers.

--Also, it would have been nice to have had a log of the install and reason for the rollback.

Also please pass along to whomever, that it is important to include in your documentation this info about the older Virtual Disks being compatible with 2010, and that it is a good idea "mandatory?" to RENAME the C:\RETURNIL to something like C:\RETURNIL-old, if you want to keep and use your current VD with 2010.

Thank you for the communication information. I had already dug through the program and applied all the changes you mentioned. I was worried that I might have missed something.

The antivirus feature is a nice idea but I do not need it because I have so much protection going on in my computer that no one else in my family can use it. AND I LIKE IT THAT WAY!!!! I am a computer tyrant because, I do not want any of my programs talking to the outside world unless it is absolutely necessary!

I should add, Returnil IS one of the foundations of my security strategy! (Has been since I first read your helpful posts on the first GAOTHD, when people were giving you crap because of their misunderstandings about what Returnil was and how it worked. Glad you were so patient and clear.) I have been using and proselytizing for it ever since.
--Steve

[Coldmoon]

...My development experience in programming rollbacks is to target ONLY those files and directories that the installer actually created.

This is what to expect from RVS as well. I misunderstood your post so assumed that the directory was created by 2010 and was not a 2008 remnant...

--Also, it would have been nice to have had a log of the install and reason for the rollback.

* C:\Windows\rvs3inst.log

Mike