Side-by-Side Error Thing

[bezza]

After months of my computer working absolutely fine, I've today started getting an error saying:

"The application has failed to launch becuase its side-by-side configuration is incorrect"

I've tried searching the internet but I all can find is stuff about people making their own software in C++ or trying to run SQL servers. My problem is much more basic that that and seems to be whenever I run any 32-bit applications. I'm not 100% sure this is the case but Internet Explorer 32bit won't work, 32 bit games (GTA San Andreas) won't run, adobe reader, Office 2007 (no error message but tries to reinstall) etc. IE 64 bit does work as did Freecell. Also, can't uninstall as far as I can tell.

The event log says this:



Activation context generation failed for "System Default Context". Dependent Assembly Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls.Resources,language="*",processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df",type="win32",version="5.82.0.0" could not be found. Please use sxstrace.exe for detailed diagnosis.



- System

- Provider

[ Name] SideBySide

- EventID 33

[ Qualifiers] 49409

Level 2

Task 0

Keywords 0x80000000000000

- TimeCreated

[ SystemTime] 2008-10-06T21:00:58.000Z

EventRecordID 5232

Channel Application

Computer THANATOS

Security


- EventData

Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls.Resources,language="*",processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df",type="win32",version="5.82.0.0"

System Default Context




Rebooting didn't sort anything out
System restore won't work (attempts to restore, reboots and then says restore failed)
Same problem in safe mode

No new hardware or software added.
My virus scan (Kaspersky) would have run in the background yesterday but didn't notice any issues after it finished. Can't check any logs in there as won't run!

Running genuine copy of Vista 64 Ultimate.

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks as ever!

[NeilX90]

Hi Bezza,

Something *must* have changed with your set-up to cause this error. Firstly, un-install your Virus software and try everything again - quite a few virus scanners will cause this problem with Vista and as they self-update on a regular basis, that might have been your change. If this doesn't work, the solution to your problem is going to be very difficult to resolve over a forum as it involves checking a lot of MS installations and registry settings.

You won't like this, but reverting to XP 32-bit will make that error a thing of the past without complex investigations.

Cheers

[Nox]

nah, you can get that in xp 32 too if it's what I think it is... My guess is the winsxs directory in c:\windows - present in XP, and vista, though I think Vista has been feeding it steroids...

Nox

[Nox]

In addition, if this happens in safe mode, where no drivers and no software is loading up, the fault lies with the OS...

IF it is winsxs (WINdows Side X Side) this is pretty much unrepairable, its a very complex database of dll files, used for windows compatibility. Personally I think it's way to big a cache... 12.5GB on my laptop :(

Nox

[bezza]

I'll try removing the virus scan and then using System Restore and see what I can get out of that. Uninstalling the virus scan will be an issue in itself I think as that'll be a 32-bit uninstaller....

Nox - if you think something has screwed up in the winsxs folder, is there a way I can manually get into a historic version and restore files from there? I have XP installed on a separate partition so can have full access to all files without loading Vista up.

If all else fails, looks like I'll be spending the weekend reinstalling Vista :roll:

Thought the 64-bit version of the software was meant to be bomb proof if you didn't [urinate] about with things, which I haven't done. :evil:

[Nox]

There isn't a way to reduce the size of it, deleting it also trashes your system (I know, been there!)

Historic version? am suprised system restore didn't sort it, you could try google but I think you're going to be spending a couple of hours reinstalling...

bomb proof? nothings bomb proof!! though have you got a maxtor or seagate hard drive? If so you can get acronis for free, otherwise i'd suggest buying a copy when its on a deal - will let you backup your OS, onto, say an external usb or something.

Vista will be more bomb proof than XP though, if you don't believe it allready is.

Nox

[NeilX90]

A re-install will obviously cure the problem but I'm curious to know why you want 64-bit Vista. Are you using 64-bit applications or worried you'll lose a bit of memory ? I just cannot see the advantage of switching to Vista when XP out-performs it in 99% of situations.

Now.. I'm not a Vista nay-sayer - in day-to-day use it is more stable than XP but when it breaks, as you've found out, it really breaks. I was, like I'm sure many people were on this board, on the Vista Beta test program and followed it from the early Longhorn releases right up to the retail product. The memory footprint of Vista is enormous compared to XP and it is much more prone to slow-boot syndrome as your registry and hard-drive get abused.

My experience is that SxS errors are much more common on Vista installations than XP.

You pays yer money etc., and I hope it's not too much hard work !!

Regards

[bezza]

I think I'll just backup everything I need, reinstall Vista and all my software then take an image using Acronis and save this on an external harddrive.

Nox - What's the deal with the free copy? I have a Maxtor external drive so assume that would count.

As for using 64-bit, well it's more a case of I have it so might as well use it at the moment. Will be getting a few 64-bit progs (Lightroom 2) and games (Farcry 2) in the future as well and will undoubtedly be throwing in another 4GB ram once I've got some of those. Also, video editing software makes use of the extra ram.

To be honest, I just had different problems with XP and never seemed to be able to keep an install stable for more than 6 months.

I'm getting a Mac next :shock:

[Nox]

I think I'll just backup everything I need, reinstall Vista and all my software then take an image using Acronis and save this on an external harddrive.

Nox - What's the deal with the free copy? I have a Maxtor external drive so assume that would count.

As for using 64-bit, well it's more a case of I have it so might as well use it at the moment. Will be getting a few 64-bit progs (Lightroom 2) and games (Farcry 2) in the future as well and will undoubtedly be throwing in another 4GB ram once I've got some of those. Also, video editing software makes use of the extra ram.

To be honest, I just had different problems with XP and never seemed to be able to keep an install stable for more than 6 months.

I'm getting a Mac next :shock:

external drives count :)

Download maxtor maxblast, thats acronis, but renamed :) Seagate have a similar thing, I bought an external drive a while ago, made sure it was seagate or maxtor. Only annoyance is it needs to be plugged in, not a problem if thats the drive you intend to write to.

which mac? we have 3 in the house, maybe 4 soon :D

Nox

[bezza]

Well reinstalled Vista and things seem to be working ok. Getting Maxblast now as well so hopefully I can take an image of the drive and avoid all the reinstall issues later.

Must say that trying to work out if the 64-bit software is working properly is hard. iTunes has confused me - it's meant to be 64-bit but installs itself in the x86 directory and HL2 is meant to be 64bit but I have no way of telling.

Not getting a mac just yet but seems a sensible thing to do later on for music recording and photograhy stuff. If I had a spare £13k I'd get a fully maxed out one, just because I could. 2 or 3 quad cores and 32GB Ram, 4 GPUs - awesome! Just wish they supported games better and weren't so expensive.

Realistically though, I'd get a mini mac and use it as a media centre PC in the living room running through the TV. Then again, for the same price you can get a PS3 which would be just as much use but with gaming and a BluRay drive.

[Scotty]

i installed 64bit vista last night, tried to install AVG free and got the side by side error thingy as well, that coupled witht the fact that i couldn't get adobe flash player to install on it as well (yes i tried it in the 64bit iexplorer and the 32bit version, still didn't work) i just decided to install the 32bit version instead. but i did notice that the 64bit version was actually quicker on my system and when i did the windows perfomce rating, my ram did score a bit (0.2 or 0.3 higher) than it does now under the 32bit. i think that there is too much work still to be done by the software manufacturers on some of the simple things to use vista 64bit (at least there is for me personally to use it). i know a few people that havn't had any problems at all with vista 64bit, but these people are becoming few and far between. sorry i can't help much with your problem but when you do fix it please post the solution and i may give my 64bit install a try.

thanks
Scotty