http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&p=96097#96097 [sidefx.com]

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (Build 7600)
Video Card: EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 SC
Video Driver: 258.96 WHQL
Network Hardware: Realtek RTL8211B
Firewall: None
Anti-Virus: Avast 5.0.594
Problem: When installing Houdini, setup will stall with the current line in setup details reading Rename: C:\Users\Ross\Downloads\nssE040.tmp->C:\Program Files\Side Effects Software\Houdini 11.0.471\bin\zmore http://a.imageshack.us/img121/7696/setuplog.png [a.imageshack.us] checking task manager reveals gfont.exe is doing nothing. http://a.imageshack.us/img39/7670/gfont2.png [a.imageshack.us] (screenshot was taken after about 4 minutes of gfont “running” EDIT: After another install attempt, gfont froze after reading 45,074 bytes.) Ending gfont through task manager allows installation to continue through to completion with no more problems. After installation, trying to run Houdini results in behavior very similar to gfont, nothing really happens. http://a.imageshack.us/img819/1715/hmaster.png [a.imageshack.us] Same thing when trying to run licence administrator, nothing.

Given your symptoms, it looks like none of the Houdini executables start up for you? Can you at least start up the “License Administrator”? If not, try completely disabling Avast, rebooting to make sure that it takes, then try running the License Administrator again.

I can not run License Administrator. I will try what you have said, hopefully it will work as normally disabling Avast! has not worked. If it doesn't work after this, I think I may just do a clean install of Windows.

You could also try using the debugger to figure out where it is hanging for you when starting the License Administrator. See this thread:
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&p=79062&sid=21c65e79e2ff3d2c73009a5168e2371c [sidefx.com]

If you have the last Windows Live Messenger Beta installed, try to remove it. In my case, with the same symptoms as you, it was the solution !
Debugging hkey.exe give me the hint, thanks Edward to placed me on the right way.

Hm…ntdll.dll related? Or more….



> ntdll.dll!0000000077cc164a()

ntdll.dll!0000000077c8b7d8()
ntdll.dll!0000000077c8bae2()
ntdll.dll!0000000077c8efd4()
kernel32.dll!0000000077b616f9()
WLIDNSP.DLL!000007fefa21b089()
WLIDNSP.DLL!000007fefa21ae24()
WLIDNSP.DLL!000007fefa21b260()
WLIDNSP.DLL!000007fefa218ea8()
WLIDNSP.DLL!000007fefa219029()
ws2_32.dll!000007feff5e958a()
ws2_32.dll!000007feff5e94ac()
ws2_32.dll!000007feff5e93e8()
ws2_32.dll!000007feff5e3c5a()
ws2_32.dll!000007feff5e3a78()
ws2_32.dll!000007feff5ea9c4()
ws2_32.dll!000007feff5ea2d0()
ws2_32.dll!000007feff607f1c()
libtools.dll!00000000706e3a51()
libtools.dll!00000000706e3667()
libUT.dll!00000000701ba0d8()
libUT.dll!00000000701ba7a6()
libUT.dll!00000000701ba846()
libUT.dll!0000000070204a76()
libUT.dll!0000000070204f93()
libUT.dll!00000000701cbd53()
libCH.dll!00000000767de29b()
msvcr80.dll!0000000004321b3f()
libCH.dll!00000000767dd6f4()
libCH.dll!00000000767dd7d2()
ntdll.dll!0000000077cac138()
ntdll.dll!0000000077cb8168()
ntdll.dll!0000000077cb7423()
ntdll.dll!0000000077ca2e2e()

> ntdll.dll!0000000077cc009a()


I do not yet know enough about programming to really know what I'm looking at…

Yeah, WLIDNSP.DLL looks suspicious. A quick google shows that it is found here:

c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\windows live\wlidnsp.dll

So perhaps this is related to Windows Live?

In my debugging log, WLIDNSP.DLL was exactly the reason of the problems.

Working on that right now, I sure hope this works.

We just tried installing Windows Live Essentials Beta [explore.live.com] on Windows 7 Ultimate x64 and couldn't reproduce the problems. In fact, we can't even find WLIDNSP.DLL on the hard drive at all after installing it. Some google searches seem to point at OLD versions of Windows Live Essentials Beta. So another thing to try if you already have it installed is to update to the latest version of Windows Live Essentials Beta.

IT WORKS!!

And okay, not that it matters much, I hardly ever used it.

Thank you so much edward! Thanks for all the help and thanks for sticking with us for so long when nothing was working. ^_^ You are great.

Heydabop, so what did you do? Just uninstalled Windows Live Essentials Beta?

I'm just curious that if you guys install the latest version of Windows Live Essentials Beta, does it NOT work again?

edward
Heydabop, so what did you do? Just uninstalled Windows Live Essentials Beta?

I'm just curious that if you guys install the latest version of Windows Live Essentials Beta, does it NOT work again?

That is all I did.

I'll test for you sometime, probably not today, but I can do it tomorrow.

Last version of Windows Live Essentials Beta installed, and Houdini is still running well.
Seems to be good now, thank you again Edward.

Thanks for testing, Youen! I'm glad we got to the bottom of this problem.