DAZ Upgrade Failure and My Plan to Repair Things

docbadwrench

After taking about 8+ months off doing 3D stuff, I’ve tried to revisit my Daz collection only to find that, after being prompted to update the software, I cannot load the UI. I have scoured the forums here and found a number of people with the same problem, but I'm no closer to loading into the functional interface.

It all started with the “DAZ Studio cannot be run with elevated permissions.” dialogue box which I’ve become accustomed to seeing. Yes, I log into my Admin account under Windows 10, but previously, that was no problem at all.

So I’ve created a basic access user account and have tried to load the application by holding Shift, right clicking on the shortcut, and choosing “Run as a different user”. This appears to work, but only just barely.

After I take this route, the app ‘sort of’ loads. I’m treated to the ‘Welcome’ dialogue box where it never remembers my login credentials. Also, the main application is curiously ‘white’, showing me the topmost horizontal menu bar but with none of the basic theming applied to the app.

I can’t open a single .duf file - which doesn’t surprise me considering I can’t see the workspace. And going to Window -> Workspace -> Select Layout opens a dialog box that looks thoroughly hosed. Again, no surprises as I wouldn’t expect from an app that doesn’t show me any of the 3D tools I’ve grown accustomed to seeing.

I’ve reconciled myself to the fact that I will need to completely reinstall this application. I have two questions for the much more knowledgeable users of this software:

1) Should I just wait to this until I have to upgrade to Win 11?

Just to save myself more headaches, I mean. I’m already exhausted by the idea that I’m going to have to start from square one.

2) Will I be able to reconnect to all my assets?

What I mean is this: I have all my Daz assets synced to my cloud storage backup service. This includes both the “My DAZ 3D Library” and “My Daz Connect Library” folders. In addition to all the packages I’ve purchased via the Daz marketplace, I have quite a lot of other packages that I purchased on third party sites.

I’m dreading the idea of having to reinstall each individually, so I just want to find out if I’ll at least save myself that volume of work.

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I mean, I’d love to think that I can somehow fix this install, but realize the odds are approaching zero. I just want to adjust my expectations appropriately.

Thanks in advance for reading this and any advice you have.

Take care,
DocBadwrench

Richard Haseltine

Runing from an admin account is not an issue, running the applicatiopn with admin privileges is.

The white UI usually means Daz  Studio was running, possibly in the background, when you last installed - the fix is to uninstall and reinstall. reinstaling will not touch content or settings (if it did they would have to be redone after each version update).

docbadwrench

Thanks very much for your guidance Richard. Follow-up question: Is there a preferred reinstall method? Like, should I just download the app from the main site or should I install via Daz Central? It appears that Daz Central is going away, but I just wanted to make doubly sure.

Richard Haseltine

docbadwrench said:

Thanks very much for your guidance Richard. Follow-up question: Is there a preferred reinstall method? Like, should I just download the app from the main site or should I install via Daz Central? It appears that Daz Central is going away, but I just wanted to make doubly sure.

Install Manager would be the recommendation - it should share the Daz Central settings automatically.

docbadwrench

Thanks again, Richard. Okay, last question (I hope): I can't run DAZ Install Manager without running it as another user with diminished permissions. Is this a problem?

Also, when I do run that program (again, as the lesser user profile), I cannot find DAZ Studio under any of the three tabs (Ready to Download, Ready to Install or Installed).

Richard Haseltine

docbadwrench said:

Thanks again, Richard. Okay, last question (I hope): I can't run DAZ Install Manager without running it as another user with diminished permissions. Is this a problem?

Various settings, for both DIM and DS, are stored in the %appdata% folder - which is, of course, different for each user. However, different users could in principle access thje same locations - permissions allowing, which may be an issue here.

Also, when I do run that program (again, as the lesser user profile), I cannot find DAZ Studio under any of the three tabs (Ready to Download, Ready to Install or Installed).

Well, if the manifests are in a different folder DIM wouldn't see them - but then it should see the application as not installed. Check that you haven't hidden it (though that seems unlikely on a new account).

docbadwrench

Well, I created this other user specifically because I could on longer just run the program with my admin account as I had normally for years now. But when I ran DIM, it looked precisely the same as I'd seen it when I accessed it before the update (which axed my ability to run with Admin).

I have confirmed that the folder is not hidden. Was easy considering how little is in AppData.

I was going to ask if I could just download DAZ using the regular app install, but when I click on "Download Studio" on the main daz3d.com site, I see that it just offers me DIM anyway. I guess I'll uninstall DAZ Studio via Windows Add/Remove Programs and just hope like hell that I can download via the alternate user. Then I'd go into settings and point to the relevant files where they live in my cloud storage folder....