I replaced my old Vista computer with a brand new Dell Studio XPS 8100 64-bit computer running Windows 12.

I re-installed Studio 12 from my original DVD.  Now I have (at least) two problems.

I can't install the Studio 12 patch because I get this error:

"The upgrade patch cannot be installed by the Windows Installer service because the program to be upgraded may be missing, or the upgrade patch may update a different version of the program.   Verify that the program to be upgraded exists on your computer and that you have the correct upgrade patch."

I suppose that's because Windows 7 installed Pinnacle here: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Pinnacle\Studio 12\Programs\Studio.exe", instead of on "C:\Program Files\".  I understand it had to do that because it needs to keep 32-bit applications separate from 64-bit applications.

Is there a Windows 7 - friendly version of the Patch available?

Also...  Now I Pinnacle 12 can't read .wmv files.  I have all my activation codes entered accurately.  Is this related to the patch issue?  Am I missing something else?  If I'm missing an activation code, which one am I missing?

I installed the 12.1 patch on my new I7 windows 7 64bit computer with no problems. It does install in the (X86) directory, but windows does this automatically. You might try turning of UAC controls in windows then running the patch, UAC has been causing problems like this in window 7.

As for you activation codes, you have a new mother board so you have to regenerate them using the studio pull down; help-regenerate activations keys.

Check your Studio version first, I have encounter similar error before it turns out that the installed Studio has the patch, HELP\About Pinnacle.

 What error do you get when importing the wmv files?

Raff_Uy:

Check your Studio version first, I have encounter similar error before it turns out that the installed Studio has the patch, HELP\About Pinnacle.

You may have a point there.  My Help/About screen shows that the DVD installed V 12.1.3.6605.  The download patch claims it is V 12.1.3.6605a.  I'll give them the benefit of the doubt about the little "a".

I suppose that means I already have the patch installed.  (If that's the case, I wish the error message was a little more clear.)

Raff_Uy:

 What error do you get when importing the wmv files?

Nevertheless, I still can't read wmv files when I was able to on my old computer.  I have regenerated and re-entered all the activation codes for Dream Glow, MP3, MPEG-4 Codec, H.264, Dolby Digital 5.1 Channel, and DivX.  When trying to view any wmv files, the preview screen shows only a large blue question mark (or exclamation point) and the directory listing says "Error Opening Video File".  If I double-click on any wmv file, I get a pop-up message that says "The video file pathname\filename.wmv could not be opened.

These are all files that I have used in the past on my old computer and which play perfectly in Windows Media Player.

Any other thoughts?

When trying to view any wmv files, the preview screen shows only a large blue question mark (or exclamation point) and the directory listing says "Error Opening Video File".  If I double-click on any wmv file, I get a pop-up message that says "The video file pathname\filename.wmv could not be opened.

Did you remove rename the WMV file? try to copy 1 wmv video files with problem  on your desktop then open it on Studio check if you still got the same error. Blue exclamation mark on Studio means Studio is unable to find the location of the file you used on a project. 

 Added: Yes you have the patch no need to install it. 

Raff_Uy:

Did you remove rename the WMV file? try to copy 1 wmv video files with problem  on your desktop then open it on Studio check if you still got the same error. Blue exclamation mark on Studio means Studio is unable to find the location of the file you used on a project. 

Here's an update...

I discovered I can open a wmv file if it is stored on my desktop.  I can also open a wmv file if it's stored in c:\users\public\whatever.  That includes Pinnacle's sample video.  That also means it's NOT the codec problem I first suspected.

BUT I can't open a wmv file that's anywhere under c:\users\myusername.  That's funny, because I can open all other formats there, just not a wmv.

I can navigate to those folders within Pinnacle, I can see the files in the directory, but I get an error when I try to open any wmv's there.

AND I noticed this: I navigate to c:\users\myusername\documents\whatever, but when I try to open a wmv file there, I get a message that referes to c:\users\myusername\my documents\whatever.

Bill Gates (in all his wisdom, bless his soul) changed "My Documents" to "Documents" in Vista and then changed it back to "My Documents" in Windows 7.

And here's an interesting quote from Wikipedia:

As of Windows 7, The "Documents", "Pictures", "Music" and "Videos" folder are displayed in Windows Explorer with a "My" prefix but are actually still stored in the file system without the prefix like in Windows Vista. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Documents)

Confused yet?

It appears that Pinnacle is using one pathing method to navigate to the files, and another pathing method to actually open them (at least with wmv files).  That's why I can "see" them, but not open them.

Anybody else notice this strange behavior with Windows 7?  Any thoughts on how to get around this mess?

BUT I can't open a wmv file that's anywhere under c:\users\myusername.  That's funny, because I can open all other formats there, just not a wmv.

I can navigate to those folders within Pinnacle, I can see the files in the directory, but I get an error when I try to open any wmv's there.

AND I noticed this: I navigate to c:\users\myusername\documents\whatever, but when I try to open a wmv file there, I get a message that referes to c:\users\myusername\my documents\whatever.

 That's not the case in my Windows-7 I can open wmv and other format, do you have other wmv to try.

Aha!  I think I have solved it!

After a lot of experimenting, I think my problem is related to the .cos2 files.  When I converted to my new computer, I arbitrarily copied over all the cos2 files along with my original directory structure.  When I was trying to figure out my problem, I copied only the wmv files to various directories, trying to find some combination that worked.

Of course, Pinnacle re-created the cos2 files each time I copied the clips around my computer.  But in the original directory, it was still trying to access the cos2 files that I had copied from my old computer.

On a whim, I deleted all the cos2 files from the original directory that I had copied from my old computer.  Shazaam!  Pinnacle re-created the cos2 files and now everything works perfectly.

Is that possible?  Is it possible that cos2 files from old computers just need to be deleted and then re-created?

I've always considered cos2 files to be somewhat of a nuisance.  If my hunch is really true, they're a nuisance that just caused me to lose several hours of productivity while trying to solve this problem.  <sigh>