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You may have heard some of your Windows XP
users asking what happened to the Kodak Imaging for Windows
application. Upon closer inspection you may have discovered that some
of the Windows XP systems have Imaging and others don't. The reason for
the discrepancy is that when you upgrade an existing Windows 2000
installation to Windows XP, Setup leaves Imaging on the system. But if
you have a brand new Windows XP installation, Imaging is nowhere to be
found.
Unfortunately, Microsoft didn't relicense the Imaging
application from Kodak for inclusion with Windows XP. It instead
replaced the functions that Imaging provided with the Windows Picture
And Fax Viewer and the Scanner And Camera Wizard. While these features,
along with others in the Windows XP operating system, will provide most
of what you need, there are some operations, such as scanning multiple
images into one document or applying a rubber stamp annotation, that
are no longer available.
If you have users who need and are
accustomed to using the Imaging for Windows application, there's a way
to extract Imaging's files from a Windows 2000 Professional CD and then
install Imaging in Windows XP. While you can perform these steps
manually, I’ve created a little batch file that you can run to perform
the entire operation.
The full version
If you’re really interested in the Imaging for Windows program, you
might want to investigate the full version of this product from eiStreamKofile called eiStream Imaging for Windows Professional Edition.
The procedure overview
To
run correctly in Windows XP, the version of Imaging that comes with
Windows 2000 requires a number of files. The following is a list of the
23 files that include executable files, ActiveX control files, DLL
support files, and the Help files:
- IMGADMIN.OCX
- IMGCMN.DLL
- IMGEDIT.OCX
- IMGHELP.HLP
- IMGMGT.CHM
- IMGMGT.HLP
- IMGSCAN.OCX
- IMGSHL.DLL
- IMGTASKS.CHM
- IMGTHUMB.OCX
- IMGVIEW.CHM
- JPEG1X32.DLL
- JPEG2X32.DLL
- KODAKIMG.EXE
- KODAKPRV.EXE
- OIENG400.DLL
- OIPRT400.DLL
- OISLB400.DLL
- OISSQ400.DLL
- OITWA400.DLL
- OIUI400.DLL
- TIFFLT.DLL
- XIFFR3_0.DLL
Of
course, these files are stored in the \I386 folder on the Windows 2000
CD in a compressed format. You’ll need to use the Extract command to
expand the files. You’ll then need to place the files in the correct
folders in Windows XP. The executable files go in the C:\Windows
folder, the Help files go in the C:\Windows\Help folder, and the
support files go in the C:\Windows\System32 folder.
Once the
files are extracted and placed in the correct folders, you’ll need to
register Imaging’s four ActiveX control (OCX) files as command
components in the registry. To do so, you’ll use the Regsvr32.exe
command line utility. Open a command prompt, change to the
C:\Windows\System32 directory, and enter the following four commands:
regsvr32 IMGADMIN.OCX
regsvr32 IMGEDIT.OCX
regsvr32 IMGSCAN.OCX
regsvr32 IMGTHUMB.OCX
After
you register the ActiveX controls, all you need to do to use Imaging in
Window XP, is create a shortcut to the executable file.
Windows 98’s version
I’ve been told that you can perform a similar operation to install
Windows 9x’s version of Imaging in Windows XP. I wouldn’t recommend,
however, going that route because the Windows 9x version of Imaging has
several incompatibilities with Windows XP.
The batch file
Now that you have a good idea of what the procedure involves, let’s take a look at the batch file, shown in Listing A, and see how it does its job. If typing in a batch file isn’t your idea of fun, you can download the file
from TechRepublic's Download area. Keep in mind that you may need to
edit a couple of lines to customize the batch file for your system.
In line 1 the batch file changes to the CD drive. If your CD drive
is assigned to a letter other than D, you’ll need to edit this line and
replace the drive letter. Line 2 simply changes to the i386 folder on
the Windows 2000 CD-ROM. In lines 3 through 25, the batch file uses the
Expand command to extract each file and copy it to the appropriate
folder.
Once all the files are extracted, lines 26 and 27 simply
switch back to the C: drive and change to the \Windows\System32 folder.
Then, in lines 28 thru 31, the batch file runs the Regsvr32.exe command
line utility to register the four ActiveX controls.
Performing the installation
When
you're armed with the ImagingInstall.bat batch file, installing Imaging
from the Windows 2000 CD to Windows XP is a snap. To begin, insert the
Windows 2000 CD into the CD-ROM drive. As you close the drive door,
hold down [Shift] to prevent the Windows 2000 CD’s Autostart program
from kicking in and to prevent Windows XP from recognizing the CD as
being from an earlier operating system.
Next, use Windows
Explorer to locate and run the ImagingInstall.bat file. As soon as you
do, a command prompt window will appear and you’ll see each of the
Expand commands being executed. Once that part of the procedure is
complete, you’ll see the first of four RegSvr32 dialog boxes, as shown
in Figure A. Just click OK to continue.
| Figure A |
 |
| The RegSvr32 utility displays a success dialog box after each ActiveX control is registered. |
Once
the registration part of the procedure is complete, you’ll need to
create a shortcut to Imaging’s executable file—Kodakimg.exe—in the
\Windows folder. To do so, use Windows Explorer to locate the
executable file. Then, right-click on the file and select SendTo |
Desktop (Create Shortcut). You can then place the shortcut on your
Start menu.
Running Imaging
As
soon as the installation procedure is complete, you can launch and
begin using Imaging—there’s no need to restart your system. Imaging
will work in Windows XP just the same as it does in Windows 2000. But
keep in mind that this little installation routine won’t revive any of
the file associations that a regular installation procedure would
perform. Fortunately, you can take advantage of Windows XP’s Open With
feature. To do so, right-click an appropriate file, select Open With,
and then select Choose Program. Use the controls in the Open With
dialog box to reconfigure the file association or to simply open a file
in Imaging.
Download our batch file that installs Kodak Imaging on WinXP
You can download the batch file mentioned in this article by following this link
or by clicking on the Downloads link in the navigation bar at the top
of this page. TechRepublic has many useful documents, templates, and
applications available for download, so be sure to check out our other
offerings.
This download includes the batch file and a Readme
file in both Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF format. To increase download
speed, we've zipped these files together into one file. You will need
an unzip utility such as WinZip or PKZIP
to expand the zipped file. You will also need either Microsoft Word or
Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the Readme files. You can download Adobe Acrobat Reader here.
