Installing and using MWS under Windows Vista

dafatdude · Joined: 26 Apr 2005 Posts: 14

This post is directed to those users who are having problems with MWS under Windows Vista.

For those who use it, you are likely aware of User Access Controls, or UAC. This dialog pops up every time you try to run something that requires administrator privileges, like installing a program or running an administrator tool. The problem is that older applications can be unaware of UAC's existence; case in point MWS.

MWS and the MTG game pack will install without any noticeable problems, but if you run MWS some users noticed that the game pack doesn't install or the pictures dont show up. This occurs because of file virtualisation. Read http://www.hanselman.com/blog/VistasShowCompatibilityFilesAndTheScrumptiousWonderThatIsFileVirtualization.aspx

Basically whats happening is because the MWS and game pack installers require administrator privileges to write to the program files directory but aren't aware of UAC. Vista allows the installation to continue but copies the files with lower permissions to a "virtual" program files directory. This is usually found under the C:\Users directory.

There are a few ways around this.

1. Disable UAC (not recommended for security reasons): See http://www.petri.co.il/disable_uac_in_windows_vista.htm

2. Be sure to install both MWS and the MTG game pack as administrator. You can do this by right clicking and clicking the "Run as administrator" menu item.

3. Finally, if none of the above work, you will require a USB thumb drive. Install both MWS and the MTG game pack onto the thumb drive. For example, you might install it to: E:\Program Files\Magic Workstation (obviously choose the right letter for the thumb drive). Once you've done this, install MWS and the MTG game pack again but this time install it to the C:\ of the Vista machine. This will ensure the registry settings required by MWS are created. Then copy the "Magic Workstation" folder under the E:\Program Files directory to the C:\Program Files directory and replace all files it asks you.

MWS should now work.

For problems with pictures, it's likely the same thing is happening. If you're experiencing problems, try copying the card images to another machine or thumb drive, then back into the Magic Workstation\Pics folder.