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James Woodall

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4 On Demand

Overview: This post demonstrates how to install 4OD (Channel 4 On Demand) on Windows Vista. 

I was really excited about the prospect of being able to use 4OD to download and watch Channel 4 programming on my PC.  Unfortunately I hit a snag, 4OD is only available for XP!

 Now, being an early adopter I am using Windows Vista.  Unfortunately the website to 4OD wouldn't even let me download the software so I did a quick scour and found the URL for the download.  After some tweaking I was able to get 4OD to install on my Vista PC and after a bit more tweaking I can now download TV episodes.

 Here follows the instructions required to install and use 4OD on Windows Vista (please note that this is completely unsupported so chances are that any mistakes etc.. are your own fault!).  I am unsure as to whether or not it is legal to post my altered msi package so I will list the things you need to do in order to make it work.  The 'hack' does not alter the 4OD software at all, it merely changes the installation package to surpress any conditions (i.e. Windows XP only).

 Ok, disclaimers out the way.  You will need:

  • A Windows Vista PC (with administrator access if UAC is turned on)
  • The Orca Windows Installer database analyser (available with the Windows SDK)
    The Orca installation can be found within the SDK's install directory (search for orca.msi)

Update: For those who don't want to manually edit the installer a modified Vista-compatible installer (thanks to themoose) has been posted here http://rapidshare.com/files/36699462/Channel_4_on_Demand.msi

To download the 4OD installer you must goto: http://www.channel4.com/4od/installer/channel4_on_demand.exe

  1. Save the file to your desktop
  2. Run the file (it will fail but consequently will also extract the msi to a hidden location)
  3. Search your root drive (usually c:) for demand.msi (you will need to do an advanced search and specify the "Include non-indexed, hidden, and system files" option
    I found my copy in "C:\Windows\Downloaded Installations" (under a dir with a GUID)
  4. Once found, copy "Channel4 on Demand.msi" to your desktop
  5. Open the msi in Orca (right-click on the msi and select "Edit with Orca")
  6. In the "Launch Condition" table, drop the last row (right click on the row and selct "drop row")
    This prevents it from being installed on anything but XP
  7. In the "Signature" table, remove the "MaxVersion" value (delete the value) for the "DotNETVer" key
    This ensures that .NET 2 or later will suceed
  8. Save the installer in Orca and close
  9. Execute the installer from the desktop and run through the install
    It might moan about Flash9 or Windows Media Player but it will still succeed
  10. Run the software once (in administrator mode - right-click on the short cut and select "Run as Administrator")
    The first time the software runs it does not behave itself
  11. Restart your computer and try again. It should work perfectly.
Posted: Friday, June 15, 2007 7:18 AM by tenorwoody85
Filed under:

Comments

Ray Booysen said:

Very very nice!

# May 1, 2007 11:09 AM

simonp said:

Hi James,

When I try to install I get an error:

Error 1320: The specified path is too long C:\ProgramData\Documents\My Deliveries

Any suggestions?

Ta

Simon

# May 7, 2007 11:35 AM

sjackson said:

Yeah..I got the same error..not sure why but this worked for me...

open a command prompt..

 start -> search for cmd -> right click and 'run as administrator'

change directory to where the installer is located (this will be your desktop c:\users\<username>\desktop) if you followed the instructions above

now run..

msiexec /i "channel 4 on demand.msi" MY_DELIVERIES=C:\MyDeliveries

# May 11, 2007 6:44 PM

sjackson said:

..you should be able to set this to any directory you like!

# May 11, 2007 6:45 PM

djfost said:

Hi there, thanks for that, it worked great!

I was just wondering, aero seems to be disabled when 4od is enabled, is there any way to re-enable aero while 4od is running?

# May 23, 2007 3:04 AM

tenorwoody85 said:

Hi,

I haven't experienced 4OD wanting to run in classic (non-aero) mode.  When did you download the client?  Perhaps there is a newer one since I posted this article.

-james

# May 23, 2007 5:24 AM

djfost said:

Hi again, sorry it was my fault, as I had previously enabled the compatibility settings with a previous installation. Now disabled, 4OD works perfectly! Thanks again, great job!

Did you know that there's a link to this site on wikipedia? :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_4#_note-fourodvista

# May 25, 2007 12:50 PM

flabpack said:

I can't seem to get this to work. Everything goes as planned until I have to run 4oD from the desktop. When doing this, nothing happens!

Any ideas?

Cheers

# May 28, 2007 1:03 PM

Stevos said:

i can follow up untill i get the same message as simonp, tried the cmd route to no avail. Any ideas anyone?

Thanks

# May 29, 2007 2:52 PM

simonp said:

Thanks sjackson - that's worked for me ;)

# June 2, 2007 3:11 PM

themoose said:

I did everything, it installed fine, but when I run it says there's a javascript error and then nothing happens.

Oh and if anybody else can't be bothered to do install orca etc, here's the msi (everything up to step 9.)

http://rapidshare.com/files/36699462/Channel_4_on_Demand.msi

# June 12, 2007 9:22 AM

tenorwoody85 said:

Hi,

I've noticed this a few times on one of my installations.  Unfortunately the only way to fix this is to either:

1) Restart the 4OD software

2) If #1 doesn't work, restart the pc

Maybe trying in administrator mode might help but unfortunately this is one of the Vista bug that hopefully should be fixed when Channel 4 release a ful Vista-Compatible release.

# June 12, 2007 9:33 AM

Stevos said:

If you get the error

"Error 1320: The specified path is too long C:\ProgramData\Documents\My Deliveries"

and nothing above works whilst you have the download file open in orca.

1. go to the Directory folder,

2. In the directory tab the 4th column down delete the s on documents.

3. do the same on the very last column.

4. save the msi file and run from the desktop.

Should now install.

# June 30, 2007 9:38 AM

benenglish said:

Just want to say thank-you very much for this :) Really great indeed.

Somehow my Vista DRM had corrupted so after followin your steps it still didn't work .. but of course after I'd nuked the hidden DRM directory and lauched 4OD again it automatically updated everything has worked flawlessly!

Thanks again!

# August 6, 2007 6:51 PM

James Woodall said:

It took a while for me to get round to this but following on from the success of my 4OD and Vista tutorial

# August 13, 2007 9:42 AM
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