I am having a problem with trying to install a parallel version of LibreOffice. I have to keep 6.1.5.2 as my primary version because the succeeding version removed support for batch files, which are crucial to me. I have tried installing 24.2.4 64 bit (I am running Win10 Pro 64 bit) using the Separate Install GUI. Although I have specified the install path as a subfolder of Program Files, the GUI is installing it in Program Files (x86). 24.2.4 is also not showing up in Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features, and there is no new entry in the start menu for 24.2.4.
Could you please explain, what was batch files support?
After version 6.1.5.2 LibreOffice will not launch a batch file from a hotlink.
My batch files do two things. Each first loads a data CD-ROM ISO image into my virtual CD drive. Each then runs the executable needed to use the data on that CD-ROM. My 280 data CD-ROMs come from about a dozen suppliers, each of whom has a different data structure on the data CDs and each of whom has a unique executable to use their CDs.
I have a batch file for each of those 280 CDs, and a group of Writer files listing resources (some CDs have many individual resources such as individual volumes of a scholarly journal). Each resource has a Writer hotlink to a batch file.
I have not been able to find a way to accomplish multiple actions from a single Writer hotlink other than by using batch files.
Aha, I see; it’s your How do I run a batch file from LibreOffice 6.4.0.3 (x64) Writer?.
Since LibreOffice 7.4, where both tdf#128969 and tdf#140886 are fixed, I can launch a BAT file from a hyperlink normally (i.e., after a confirmation in a warning dialog, since the security consideration hasn’t disappeared).
Besides Mikes hint to the fixed bugs: You could rework your setup to start a batch via an own macro instead of hyperlink, as SHELL() can start batch-files.
That sounds like a lot of work. I am perfectly happy continuing to use 6.1.5.2 to launch the desired file of those 280 batch files.
The SI-GUI app is 32-bit itself; and Windows does some tricks, so that 32-bit apps think that it’s “Program Files”, when in fact that’s Program Files (x86). You may abandon using the SI-GUI, and run the command line that it runs, yourself (see below).
Indeed. What SI-GUI actually does, is (1) runs msiexec -a path\to\LibreOffice.msi (creating “administrative installation set”), and (2) edits one line in the resulting directory’s bootstrap.ini, to make it use a profile right inside the installation set.
The installation set is just “unzipped” MSI. It is not installed; it is not registered in the system; it doesn’t create shortcuts, it doesn’t advertise its capabilities, etc. If you hope that SI-GUI allows you to have two proper installations side by side, then you are mistaken. You can surely run the new install set (we create LibreOffice such as to allow simply copy its files, and they work, not requiring any system registration), but don’t expect all those additional little things that only the proper installation provides.
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I can live with that. 6.1.5.2 does everything that I normally need to do. I just want a way to handle the rare occasions when I run across a newer file format which 6.1.5.2 cannot handle. I will try the command line which you provided as I would prefer to keep 64 bit executables in Program Files and 32 bit executables in Program Files (x86).
I don’t miss the little things as the only one that counts for me is integrating LO 24.2 into the File Explorer context menu, and that is easily done. Everything is working fine with the parallel installation of 24.2 except for two annoyances - every time I use it it starts with a tip of the day, and unchecking “Show tips on startup” does not disable that. Also, the release notes banner is there at every startup. Are there ways to disable those?
These two phenomena shows that you use the same user profile with the two LibreOffice versions that co-exist on your system. Because of that, every time you start your version 6.1, it updates the profile’s registrymodifications.xcu, and only puts there the options that it knows about - thus, the “Show tips on startup” setting data, introduced in version 6.3, are removed from the configuration. And the “last used program version” is naturally set to 6.1. Then, when you start version 24.2, it opens the same profile’s registrymodifications.xcu, and there is no information to disable tips on startup, and the last used version is 6.1, so the “release notes” must be shown, because now an updated version is run.
To fix that, you may edit your 24.2 parallel installation’s program/bootstrap.ini, and replace the UserInstallation=$SYSUSERCONFIG/LibreOffice/4 there into e.g. UserInstallation=$SYSUSERCONFIG/LibreOffice/24.2. This will create a dedicated user profile for 24.2, and the settings (including extensions) that you define in 24.2 will be independent from settings of 6.1. Note this, because this may be both nice and annoying, when you have to make a change in settings twice - both for 6.1 and 24.2.
Note that, since you installed the parallel version into Program Files, you will need to run a text editor in administrative mode to edit the INI file.
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Thanks - that worked perfectly. I now have three editors. I use Vedit most often, as most of my editing is for the thousands of HTML pages in my two domains. Vedit is a programmer’s editor which I have used since MS-DOS 3.3, and its powerful macro language has allowed me to tailor it for HTML editing. I use LO 6.1 for most of my word processing because it supports hyperlinks for batch files. I installed LO 24.2 because I am the new Mill Lists Coordinator for the Society for the Preservation of Old Mills. My predecessor maintained the mill lists with the Microsoft 365 version of Word, and some of the formatting in those Word files does not display correctly in 6.1, but 24.2 is fully compatible. Going forward those files will no longer live in the cloud, but will be .odt files on my HD and backed up in several locations.