Install Logitech Webcam on Server 2008 R2
So Logitech blocks the installation of their software on Server operating systems, apparently. When you try to run the installer from their site, you get the following error:
To get around this, we need to find the files that were extracted from the installer. In my case, the installer dumped them to: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp\Logitech_Webcam_2.25.1016.0 , but your path may be different depending on the version of the software you are installing. Once you find it, look for the setup.ini file (see below).
Open setup.ini in a text editor and look for the lines that look like the following:
[OSCheck_xpsp2_thru_70]
; verify OS is XP SP2 through a future 7.0 version of Windows.
Evaluate + (VerCompare(2,"5.1.2600","2.0",SysVer(),ServPackVer(),"6.2.0","0.0")&&(SystemEnum()<14))
MessageId = #IDS_WARNING_OS
MessageTitleId = #IDS_WARNING_TITLE
This is the spot where it checks the version of the OS you are running and dies if you are not on the correct one. Add the following line to the text:
NonFatalError=true
This tells it to warn you if you are on the wrong OS, but to allow you to ignore it. Save and close your text editor. Now run the setup.exe in the temp folder.
Now you can hit "yes" and proceed with your install.
Failing the Right Way
I saw a brilliant observation the other day, courtesy of John from DontEatTheFruit:
How to blow up your database, lose client data, and still retain customer loyalty: https://github.com/blog/744-today-s-outage
The most interesting thing about that link is the absence of negative comments on the site. Most people thank them for being honest and for their hard work and leave it at that. A couple of people give them a hard time for bad admin choices (the kind you have to learn about the hard way), but all in all, it is pretty good-natured stuff. Compare this to the multitude of fiascoes recently published where a !MEGACORPORATION has made a mistake and then tried to cover up for it.
Two weeks ago, I found out that, despite my honest recollection to the contrary, I had forgotten to click a button that caused a recurring backup to not occur. Now for all of our clients, we run test restores at least monthly to be sure that the backups are running correctly. I have run restores from BackupExec and Tape drives that ran with no errors and found that there was no data on them at all. Unfortunately, the client needed to restore a file pretty much immediately after the system was installed, so there was no oversight ensuring that the backups were running correctly. Furthermore, the client had just come to us and one of the big reasons was that they knew that their previous backup system was basically worthless in terms of restoring.
When I realized what I had done, I realize that I had two options. First, I could have pushed the blame off. It is (too) easy to hide behind terminology or technology and pretend that something happened that no one could have foreseen. In this case, the system we use for backups, when set up correctly, is rock solid. It has saved our clients so many times that i have lost count. Blaming the technology would be nothing less than lying, and I knew it. The other option was to come clean and admit fault.
I can honestly say that I didn't even think about lying about it. To be perfectly honest, I might have considered it (not proud of it, but there it is), except that I know that I work with men who can see through the smoke and mirrors and would call me to the mat in a second if I ever compromised our integrity with a client or with each other.
I called up my contact with the client and took full and personal responsibility for the data loss. I told him that it was my fault and that I had no excuse and I would not blame them if they wanted to cancel their contract with us. I then called the user that lost the data and explained the same thing to them. The two days that I spent exhausting every option possible to recover the file only added to the pain of having screwed up so badly.
I am used to being pretty good at what I do and really like being the guy with the answers and the experience to get things done correctly. This has been a very humbling and grounding experience for me.
In the end, despite my betraying their trust, they are still a client, and are working with us on some more projects. I don't know if I had anything to do with that, or if it was more the other great guys I work with, but either way, I know that they know that we are at least honest and that I didn't compromise anything with them.