Install DigitalPersona on Dell with Windows 8 (Dell Personal required workaround)

 Windows Guides  2 Responses »
Jun 012014
 

I just upgraded my laptop from Windows 7 to Windows 8, and in the process, I was required to uninstall DigitalPersona since it is not compatible with Windows 8. I expected to be able to download a newer version from Dell after the upgrade completed, but that’s not the case. You may be able to apply this update before upgrading, but I didn’t try beforehand.

  1. Visit My Dell Downloads and download DigitalPersona. You may need to register your laptop using Internet Explorer to get a list of software
  2. Install DigitalPersona and restart your computer
  3. Right-click on this link and select Save File As or Save Link As
  4. After you save the file, double-click it to add the changes to the registry. This creates a key that the DigitalPersona installer looks for. If it’s not found, it throws the Dell Personal not installed error
  5. Download either the 32-bit or 64-bit DigitalPersona v6.2.1.309 installer (originally from a forum post here)
  6. Restart your computer
  7. DigitalPersona should now be working. You may need to enroll your finger prints still

Additional information:
The DigitalPersona upgrade checks the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DigitalPersona\Products\Personal\OEM for the value 020. If the key is missing, which was the case on my computer and apparently other peoples, the installer stops reporting a “Dell Personal is not installed. This package can only be installed as an upgrade.” error. The above instructions add that registry key so the installer will work. Additionally, you can use Orca to remove the Dell Personal check launch condition from the installer MSI.

Fix Internet Explorer printing HTML

 Windows Guides  No Responses »
Aug 232011
 

Problem:
When printing from Internet Explorer the web page is printed as HTML code instead of as the rendered web page.

Cause:
According to online forums and a few quick searches it looks like it is commonly caused by AOL or Windows Updates.

Solution:
The HTM and HTML file associations have become incorrect and need to be fixed. In the registry under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.htm the (Default) key should be set to htmlfile. In my case the .htm key didn’t exist and creating (by saving a web page as a .htm file, going to the file’s properties and changing the program to IE) and then setting it to htmlfile switched the problem from printing code to nothing. Under Internet Explorer Options menu on the Programs tab select the button to make Internet Explorer the Default browser. This should fix the problem and printing along with print view should show the rendered webpage instead of the raw code.