Announcing: MobiHandler (a Windows program)

[Alissa]

This is an announcement/advertisement of my small Windows program for Kindle users (including K4PC): Alissa's MobiHandler.

Once installed, this small program makes your Windows Explorer to handle .azw/.mobi/.prc files better; cover images are shown as thumbnails, and you can see the book titles and authors on the list of files. You can also see the Properties of the books. It helps managing Kindle contents on Windows PC, especially when you download a lot of (probably free) .mobi files from the internet (including this site )

See the screen shots below.

It works on Windows XP (SP3) and Windows 7, including 64 bit editions. It should also work on Windows Vista, although I have not tested yet.

The installable file is available on my SkyDrive page at http://cid-88858bc052aea782.office.l...ic/MobiHandler. Download the file "mobihandler-1-0-setup.msi" on the page and double-click on it to install. (The ".msi" part of the file name may not be shown, depending on your settings.) You should review the Readme.txt file before downloading. It is attached below for your convenience.

If you are a programmer, the set of source files is also available on the same page as "mobihandler-1-0-src.zip".

This is the first public release, so you need to expect bugs. Please let me know if you find one. Don't install it on a PC for important purposes. Use it on your own risks.

I love to hear your feedback. Post any questions and comments here, or you can write me at <alissa_sabre@yahoo.co.jp>.

Have fun!

-- Alissa

After this initial announcement, I updated the program several times. Grab the latest file with the largest version number when you try. -- Alissa

Note added on 2011-9-19: After almost 6 months, I released the version 1.1 of MobiHandler. Many problems have been solved. It is on a same SkyDrive page as before.

[DiapDealer]

Very nice! Useful for browsing the "My Kindle Content" folder which rarely has filenames that are meaningful to humans.

I'm using Windows Vista, and have had no issues--I do have to manually add the columns to the "details" view, but that's not an issue at all. The covers only seem to work on medium or above icons, but that makes sense.

Thanks for the effort... and for sharing it (and the source).

[Blossom]

Nice extension!

I installed it and in Vista 64 the custom columns work fine but the Thumbnails do not show. I had to open a 32bit version of Windows Explorer to see the thumbnails of the Kindle books.

Forgot to add: Avira seems to think a tmp file in the MSI setup is a trojan. I had to disable it to let it install. I thought you might want to know. It's obviously a false positive but other Antivirus programs might think so too.

[wallcraft]

Since you asked in the Readme - I have MobiPocket Reader associated with .mobi files under Windows XP and this does not seem to interfere with your program and MobiPocket Reader still works.

I like that the properties -> MOBI page includes indicators for samples and encryption.

[TallMomof2]

Big thanks!

[bZkindle]

Very nice. thanks!

[Mike4672]

I'm running Windows 7... the 64 bit version. I can't get it to install. When I attempt to install the program I get the following error message:

There is a problem with the Windows installer package. A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected. Contact your support personnel or package vendor.

[Histerius]

That's good! Karma up

[Alissa]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I installed it and in Vista 64 the custom columns work fine but the Thumbnails do not show. I had to open a 32bit version of Windows Explorer to see the thumbnails of the Kindle books.

Forgot to add: Avira seems to think a tmp file in the MSI setup is a trojan. I had to disable it to let it install. I thought you might want to know. It's obviously a false positive but other Antivirus programs might think so too.

Thank you for the report.

On the second point: Generally speaking, you should not simply assume such virus warnings are false and quickly disable it; you should have asked experts for judgement, especially in the case like this: the file in question appeared in the net recently and you don't know the submitter of the file well... In short, you should not believe person like me easily.

But I digress. I guess your Avira considered one of the two small programs (or both) inside the .msi file and run during the installation a Trojan. They are extraordinarily small .exe files, with unusual prologue codes (unless you are a programmer you don't know what a prologue code is; never mind), and one of them modifies 64 bit only registry entries through 32 bit APIs. It sounds suspicious enough even to myself.

I think I should contact Avira support team for a solution.

On the first point: Well, it should be a bug. I tested it on Windows 7 64 bit, and thumbnails worked fine. At this moment, I have no idea why it works only with 32 bit explorer on Vista. Blossom, please be patient while I examine this bug.

And I need help from other 64 bit Vista users in this forum. Please try my MobiHandler and let me know whether the Thumbnails View worked only on 32 bit Explorer, or the Thumbnails View worked on both 64 bit (default) Explorer and 32bit Explorer.

Thank you for your corporation.

-- Alissa

[RainingLemur]

Good stuff with this!

[Alissa]

Originally Posted by Mike4672

I'm running Windows 7... the 64 bit version. I can't get it to install. When I attempt to install the program I get the following error message:

There is a problem with the Windows installer package. A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected. Contact your support personnel or package vendor.

Thank you, Mike, for giving me an accurate report. "A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected" is the key part of the message, although many people report it as "I got a message saying 'There is a problem with the Windows installer package.'" that doesn't help much... Anyway, as the message implies, my installer trys to run a program behind the scenes during the installation.

First thought popped up in my mind is antivirus software. Blossom kindly reported that her Avira antivirus considered my installer contained Trojan virus. I guess it mistook a program run during the installation as a virus. One possibility is that your antivirus considered same, and blocked execution of the suspicious program without explicitl warning messages.

I think I should not ask you to try installing with your antivirus turned off. (I rather advise you never obey such a request made by a person you don't know well...) So, just forget about it, at least for the moment.

Another possibility is the folder you downloaded the .msi file into. As you know, Windows 7 is more strict on security policies than its predecessors. I don't know all the details of Windows 7 security policies, but I know some (frequently abused) folders are restricted to run .exe files directly from.

Can you try downloading the .msi file in your Windows-default download folder (I guess it is the "Download" folder below your "Documents" folder), and running (installing) it from there, please?

If it doesn't help, I want to see the install log. I wrote previously "my installer trys to run a program", but actually it tries to run two separate programs during installation on 64 bit OS. I first need to know which of the two failed. It is appreciated if you can do the following (somewhat techie) steps and show me the last part of the generated log file.

1. Open "Command Prompt" from Windows Start menu.
2. Type "cd" command to go to the folder you downloaded the .msi file, e.g., "cd C:\Users\mike\Documents\Download" (without quotation signs.)
3. Type the following command: "msiexec /i mobihandler-1-0-setup.msi /l log.txt" (again, without quotation signs. The letter after the second slash (/) is "el", not "one" nor "capital i".)

The above steps should create a text file of name log.txt in the same folder as the .msi file. Open it with a text editor (e.g., Notepad), and copy-n-paste the last part of the file. Th record of the error should be near the end of the file and should be obvious. I need lines from several lines before the first indication of the error and to the end of the file. It will be 10-20 lines.

Thank you.

-- Alissa

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Alissa

Thank you for the report.

On the second point: Generally speaking, you should not simply assume such virus warnings are false and quickly disable it; you should have asked experts for judgement, especially in the case like this: the file in question appeared in the net recently and you don't know the submitter of the file well... In short, you should not believe person like me easily.

MSI9F9.tmp is the file and TR/Crypt.XPACK.Gen2 is what Avira calls it.
No worries I am not a novice when it comes to this stuff so I wasn't at risk of being infected if it wasn't a false positive. Avira is known for being a bit sensitive anyways.

All traces have been removed as it was set in try mode but it's a nice extension however Vista 64 is finicky so it's probably some minor difference in why Thumbnails aren't working for 64bit of Windows Explorer.

[paulroberthill]

Originally Posted by Alissa

Thank you, Mike, for giving me an accurate report. "A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected" is the key part of the message, although many people report it as "I got a message saying 'There is a problem with the Windows installer package.'" that doesn't help much... Anyway, as the message implies, my installer trys to run a program behind the scenes during the installation.

Hi Alissa,

I am running Windows 7/64bit also and have the same issue. I'm running MicroSoft Security Essentials and tried disabling that, but no difference.

Here's the output from the installer:

=== Logging started: 03/04/2011 11:18:37 ===
Action 11:18:37: INSTALL.
Action start 11:18:37: INSTALL.
Action 11:18:37: ValidateProductID.
Action start 11:18:37: ValidateProductID.
Action ended 11:18:37: ValidateProductID. Return value 1.
Action 11:18:37: CostInitialize. Computing space requirements
Action start 11:18:37: CostInitialize.
Action ended 11:18:37: CostInitialize. Return value 1.
Action 11:18:37: FileCost. Computing space requirements
Action start 11:18:37: FileCost.
Action ended 11:18:37: FileCost. Return value 1.
Action 11:18:37: CostFinalize. Computing space requirements
Action start 11:18:37: CostFinalize.
Action ended 11:18:37: CostFinalize. Return value 1.
Action 11:18:37: ExecuteAction.
Action start 11:18:37: ExecuteAction.
Action start 11:18:51: INSTALL.
Action start 11:18:51: ValidateProductID.
Action ended 11:18:51: ValidateProductID. Return value 1.
Action start 11:18:51: CostInitialize.
Action ended 11:18:51: CostInitialize. Return value 1.
Action start 11:18:51: FileCost.
Action ended 11:18:51: FileCost. Return value 1.
Action start 11:18:51: CostFinalize.
Action ended 11:18:51: CostFinalize. Return value 1.
Action start 11:18:51: InstallValidate.
Action ended 11:18:51: InstallValidate. Return value 1.
Action start 11:18:51: InstallInitialize.
Action ended 11:18:53: InstallInitialize. Return value 1.
Action start 11:18:53: ProcessComponents.
Action ended 11:18:53: ProcessComponents. Return value 1.
Action start 11:18:53: UnpublishFeatures.
Action ended 11:18:53: UnpublishFeatures. Return value 1.
Action start 11:18:53: RemoveRegistryValues.
Action ended 11:18:53: RemoveRegistryValues. Return value 1.
Action start 11:18:53: RemoveFiles.
Action ended 11:18:53: RemoveFiles. Return value 0.
Action start 11:18:53: InstallFiles.
Action ended 11:18:53: InstallFiles. Return value 1.
Action start 11:18:53: WriteRegistryValues.
Action ended 11:18:53: WriteRegistryValues. Return value 1.
Action start 11:18:53: Reg64.
CustomAction Reg64 returned actual error code 1 (note this may not be 100% accurate if translation happened inside sandbox)
Error 1722. There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected. Contact your support personnel or package vendor. Action Reg64, location: C:\Windows\Installer\MSIB60F.tmp, command: {BA91BBAF-9243-49BD-B0DA-97BFC25EB976} "c:\Program Files (x86)\Alissa\MobiHandler\mobihandler64.dll" "Alissa's MobiHandler Shell Extension (64 bit)"
MSI (s) (2C:A4) [11:18:54:573]: Product: Alissa's MobiHandler -- Error 1722. There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected. Contact your support personnel or package vendor. Action Reg64, location: C:\Windows\Installer\MSIB60F.tmp, command: {BA91BBAF-9243-49BD-B0DA-97BFC25EB976} "c:\Program Files (x86)\Alissa\MobiHandler\mobihandler64.dll" "Alissa's MobiHandler Shell Extension (64 bit)"

Action ended 11:18:54: Reg64. Return value 3.
Action ended 11:18:54: INSTALL. Return value 3.
Action ended 11:18:54: ExecuteAction. Return value 3.
Action ended 11:18:54: INSTALL. Return value 3.
=== Logging stopped: 03/04/2011 11:18:54 ===
MSI (c) (50:C0) [11:18:54:690]: Product: Alissa's MobiHandler -- Installation failed.

MSI (c) (50:C0) [11:18:54:691]: Windows Installer installed the product. Product Name: Alissa's MobiHandler. Product Version: 1.0.1094. Product Language: 0. Manufacturer: Alissa Sabre. Installation success or error status: 1603.

[booklover6]

It seems to be working well on my XP system. Thanks for sharing!

[dwig]

Originally Posted by Blossom

... Avira seems to think a tmp file in the MSI setup is a trojan. ...

My Norton 2011 didn't flag anything though it warned, after checking their site, that I was "one of the first" to install/run this program and suggested caution.

Its running fine, so far, on my XPsp3 system. I did note that the Thumbnails folder view is rather slow when there are hundreds of books, perhaps a bit than a folder full of the same number of JPGs. That's somewhat expected given the amount of data processed.

In general, though, its a great little add-in.