"Too many files in use by 16 bit programs" Error during install

[TheDonald]

We are exploring the capabilities of Click Team Install Creator (CTIC) before we pull the trigger on buying a registered copy and I've noticed a few things. There are a couple of separate issues, so I will post them in separate threads so as not to kludge up each topic.

The installation wizard created with CTIC seems to (mostly) work fine when executed by my main administrator user account on Windows 7. On first run, Avast! AV software will try it out in the "sandbox" to make sure it's clean, but then I can click "continue execution" and everything gets installed where it is supposed to.

However, when I run the CTIC-created installer under a standard (non-administrator) user account, it just sits and waits and doesn't do anything for a while. With the mouse over the desktop, the cursor is an arrow with a spinning circle. After a while it may or may not pop up the user access control (UAC) window for administrator privileges. After entering the appropriate admin info, it goes back to doing nothing with the "waiting" mouse pointer displayed.

When the non-admin user goes to log off/shut down/switch users, an error message window comes up with the following message:

"Too many other files are currently in use by 16-bit programs. Exit one or more 16-bit programs, or increase the value of the FILES command in your Config.sys file."

Why does this happen and how can I remedy the issue?

[Yves]

Hmm, I've never seen this error before...

About the long waiting time, it might be due to your anti-virus or Windows taking a long time scanning the file if it's big. In this case you can separate the data from the EXE by checking an option in the Build tab.

[TheDonald]

I think you're right, it must have had something to do with Avast, although I tried it with the Avast AV software disabled and the problem still manifested.

I ran it as a non-admin on another PC without Avast AV and it ran fine (although it didn't install any start menu short cuts at all).

This will be a dream to troubleshoot for users Hopefully "You must run the installer as an administrator" will suffice.