Latest update (11:45): I finally managed to install Update 1. Though I still think the update experience is not as smooth as it could be (most of the points I mention below are still valid), and the error message I was getting was in no way related to what was actually wrong, the original fault was probably my own. I already mentioned that I moved the installation folder over to another drive using a junction point to reference it from its original location. Well, the moved folder was missing one quite important file (setup.exe). I must have missed it when moving the folder, I cannot think of another explanation. After copying it from the original XE7 ISO, and a reboot after the (now successful) uninstallation, XE7 Update 1 is currently installing in the background.

Below is my original rant.

Embarcadero: your Delphi or RAD studio update experience sucks. So, got that off my chest. Here’s how I spent this morning so far.

Yesterday I learned that XE7 now has an update “Update 1” available. So, I happily launched my XE7 installation to see if the the update was announced or offered. Nothing of the kind. Strange, but there’s another way. So I closed Delphi again and explicitly launched the Check for Updates icon from the start menu.

Errr…? Right. Over to the Embarcadero website then. From there I learned that installing Update 1 would involve a complete uninstall and reinstall of XE7. That was annoying, not only for the time it takes to get all of my settings right every time*, but also because of the trouble I had to get XE7 to install on my laptop the first time. My laptop has limited free space available on the program files drive (an SSD). You see, during installation you need about 2,5 times the space it takes after install, which is already a lot. (There’s plenty of storage room on the D-drive (HDD), but the installer insists that if the program files go to the C-drive, so must all the installer scrap files… yuck… see this trick with junction points for a workaround btw.) I only managed that first time by removing other software, installing the bare minimum of XE7 features I needed, and then reinstalling the other software.

*) Correction to myself: It appears the (un)installer should let you keep your settings going from XE7 to XE7U1, so that is no longer a problem. I still stand by my argument over the disk space usage on my laptop’s 128 Gb SSD.

Still, there are plenty improvements in the update so I want it. So I clicked the link to the update installer, which then requires EDN login, which logs me in and… says I am not authorized to view the contents of the page. Argh. (Turns out, this was my own fault. I clicked the link for the Delphi XE7 update. I should have clicked the RAD Studio update — which includes Delphi — that I do have authorization for.)

I instead went to my maintenance portal. The download page still says XE7 but from the download link file name I get that it is correctly referring to “upd1”. I download it and start it. It kindly informs me right away that continuing will result in uninstalling XE7.

Well, here we go, go ahead. I click Next to start, then accept the license agreement, and click Next again.

Excuse me!? Not only do I really have a valid serial number which I pay an increasing amount of euros for each year (Embarcadero’s idea of rewarding loyal customers is by charging them more with each renewal.), I didn’t even get the chance to enter any serial number yet. So what invalid serial number is it talking about? I click OK. A message appears.

Err…. OK. The error just reappears. Every time I click OK, it reappears. After 20 times, I gave up (yeah, I can be hardheaded sometimes). The only way to get it to quit, was to ignore the serial number error message dialog, go to the installation wizard window underneath which is strangely accessible (which would indicate that it is not the parent of the license error dialog?) and click Cancel there. Yes I am sure I want to Cancel. Now the Cancel button greys out and the wizard just sits there. I wait, nothing happens. I had to alt-tab to the latest serial number error dialog that was still around, clicked OK one last time, then got

and it finally stopped.

Boy, one really has to love Delphi to go through with all this. Fortunately, I still do, after all those years. Bottom line is I don’t have XE7 update 1 installed yet. I think I’ll call support or wait for XE7 update 1 hotfix 1 to be released.

Visual Studio 2013 update 4

For comparison, last week, update 4 for VS2013 came out. I was shown a notification of that while working in Visual Studio. The notification contained a link that downloaded the installer. For the update to install, I closed VS, agreed to the license terms and clicked the one big Install button, nothing else. I waited for half an hour (ok, that was a bit long, even on my fast SSD), rebooted the machine, and then it just worked.

** Ad 1. (9:45)

Perhaps the installer on the maintenance page is wrong. Let me try the one from EDN again, now I found the right link. Alas, that doesn’t work either:

** Ad 2. (10:30)

I still had an installation of XE6 on that same machine. The projects I had in XE6 have since all been upgraded to XE7 so I no longer need it. Removed XE6 and then attempted installing XE7 update 1 again. Same result unfortunately. Also, Update 1 appears to install fine with other users, so it is not a global problem, it is something specific to my machine. Great.

I also have XE installed on that same machine, but I cannot remove that because I need it to support a couple of legacy projects.

** Ad 3. (11:45)

See top of this blog post, managed to fix it. It had nothing to do with XE6 or my license.