Additions to manual/help: system requirements and installation

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Slavic
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Additions to manual/help: system requirements and installation

Post by *Slavic »

Currently these two subjects don't have a special chapter or article in the TC manual (help file). Although this info can be found on website, it would be much better to have explained this more systematically. A lot of existing info may be simply copied to manual, with some update if need. But some details are not yet properly explained, they may be helpful in uncommon situations.

System requirements
The information about work of TC in Windows PE/RE is still missed. But it's quite important because TC, from my practice, may be very helpful as a file manager for operations like system diagnostics and repair in the case of improper OS work, failure or restoration, because Windows Explorer cannot be start in this environment. I usually start TC immediately from Windows PE/RE command prompt, either from portable boot media or installed on internal drive. However, it's not clearly known how TC is compatible with such environment, is it a "happy coincidence" or a specifically designed and carefully tested feature. Also need to mention that TC x32 will work only on x32 Windows PE/RE and cannot start on x64 (it doesn't have x32 subsystem). Some other limitations may also apply like lack of drag-and-drop, no printing, no Help (CHM is not supported) etc.

Another detail is the mouse requirement. I still don't know exactly whether TC is fully functional without mouse: obviously, the button bar (toolbar) will not be accessible, but it's not critical; does TC have any essential UI part where mouse is irreplaceable or not?

Installation
This info is scattered across web pages on ghisler.com, somewhere the information may be outdated (old default directory). It may have reason to add the portable installation to this manual section (TC had a special utility for this, is it still actual?). Also it would be nice to add the info about installing TC for Windows PE/RE mentioned above; from my practice the configuration files like wincmd.ini cannot be saved for next sessions and they should be prepared in advance. If there is a way to avoid this problem, need to mention it as well.
Desktop: Windows 11 Pro 23H2, TC 11.03(RC). Mobile: Pixel 5a, Android 14, TC 3.42b5
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Hacker
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Re: Additions to manual/help: system requirements and installation

Post by *Hacker »

Slavic,
obviously, the button bar (toolbar) will not be accessible
Alt-Shift-F11.

Roman
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Slavic
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Re: Additions to manual/help: system requirements and installation

Post by *Slavic »

Hacker, thank you, I missed it! One less place where mouse presence is important.
What about access by keyboard to vertical bar, if it's visible?
Desktop: Windows 11 Pro 23H2, TC 11.03(RC). Mobile: Pixel 5a, Android 14, TC 3.42b5
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Dalai
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Re: Additions to manual/help: system requirements and installation

Post by *Dalai »

Slavic wrote: 2021-04-28, 21:44 UTCHowever, it's not clearly known how TC is compatible with such environment, is it a "happy coincidence" or a specifically designed and carefully tested feature.
Not sure if Ghisler uses TC in WinPE environments, so I can't say if it's a tested feature. But I can tell you from my own experience that "it just works", as Nvidia likes to say.
Also need to mention that TC x32 will work only on x32 Windows PE/RE and cannot start on x64 (it doesn't have x32 subsystem).
Well, it wouldn't do any harm to mention it, but if someone is about to build a WinPE system/medium, they certainly have to do some research what is going to work and what doesn't. All programs requiring an installation before using them won't work properly for example.
Some other limitations may also apply like lack of drag-and-drop, no printing, no Help (CHM is not supported) etc.
Drag'n'drop within TC works just fine, but you're right that it doesn't work to/from other applications because there's no shell present/running supporting it. Still, who would assume that WinPE just works the same way as a regular installed Windows? BTW, xCHM (SourceForge files) works fine in 32-bit WinPE environments after setting the file type association properly. Another alternative is SumatraPDF Viewer which is supposed to support CHM files as well, but I haven't tested that.
[...] from my practice the configuration files like wincmd.ini cannot be saved for next sessions and they should be prepared in advance. If there is a way to avoid this problem, need to mention it as well.
This is true when TC (or more specifically its INI files) are built into the WIM file. There's no such problem when running TC from a removable (USB) drive. And again, I think that people need to do some research when they're playing around with WinPE. Remember that WinPE isn't primarily targeted at end-users but rather IT personnel like systems administrators and professionals. Having said that, it's always nice to make things more accessible for people, but in this case it would have to start at/with Microsoft (and we all know how well that worked over the last couple of decades...).

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Dalai
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