TechNote

How to install or uninstall the Authorware Web Player ActiveX control

This TechNote describes how ActiveX controls are registered and unregistered, and specifically, how to register and unregister the Authorware Web Player ActiveX control.

Note: The information contained in this TechNote is correct for historical versions of the Authorware Web Player, but not necessarily correct for Authorware Web Player, version 2004, released in June 2004. All users are encouraged to upgrade their web player.

There are many different ways to register and unregister an ActiveX control (OCX files). Every ActiveX control has at least two built in functions: DllRegisterServer andDllUnregisterServer. Typically an ActiveX control is copied to the \Windows\OCCache or \Winnt\System32 folder and registered using the DllRegisterServer function. This is performed seamlessly.

Installing the ActiveX control

If there are no collateral DLLs that need to be installed or otherwise registered, the OCX (or DLL) file can usually be manually copied to a specified location on the hard drive. There are then several ways to register the ActiveX control:

• REGSVR32 (a Windows executable).
• AUTHORWARE (loading the DllRegisterServer() from the ActiveX control).
• AUTHORWARE (running the functions that are included with the ActiveX Xtra).

The easiest way is to run REGSVR32 from the Start Button.

To install the Authorware ActiveX Control from the Windows Start menu:

1. Click the Start button
2. Click RUN
3. Type: Regsvr32 {path to .ocx}\awswax.ocx
   Note: There is a space between Regsvr32 and the path to awswax.ocx. Also, the exact path will be specific to the operating system platform. This is typically the following:
   • Windows 95, 98, ME: The default path is C:\Windows\System\Macromed\Authorwa, so type Regsvr32 C:\Windows\System\Macromed\Authorwa\awswax.ocx
   • Windows NT, 2000, XP: The default path is C:\WinNT\System32\Macromed\Authorwa, so type Regsvr32 C:\WinNT\System32\Macromed\Authorwa\awswax.ocx
   • Windows XP: The default path is C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Authorwa, so typeRegsvr32 C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Authorwa\awswax.ocx
4. Click OK
   A message box should appear, informing that DllRegisterServer was called successfully. If it fails, check the path to make sure there are no extra spaces and that the whole path is correct.

Removing the ActiveX control

Removing ActiveX controls is not simply a matter of deleting the ActiveX Control file (Awswax.ocx). ActiveX controls are registered in the System Registry and the system will still assume that the control is available after the file is deleted unless it has been unregistered.

If the control needs to be tested, disabled or to ensure that any problems are not being caused by the OCX file, the file does not have to be deleted from the system. It can be temporarily or permanently unregistered. There are at least three ways to unregister ActiveX controls:

• REGSVR32
• AUTHORWARE (loading the DllUnregisterServer(),through the ActiveX control control.
• AUTHORWARE (running the functions that are included with the ActiveX Xtra).

The steps below describe using the REGSVR32 method.

To unregister the Authorware ActiveX Control:

1. Click the Start button
2. Click RUN
3. Type: Regsvr32 {path to .ocx}\awswax.ocx /u
   Note: There is a space between Regsvr32 and awswax.ocx and /u. The exact path will be specific to the operating system platform. Following are listed typical paths on Microsoft Windows platforms:
   • Windows 95, 98, ME: The default path is C:\Windows\System\Macromed\Authorwa, so type Regsvr32 C:\Windows\System\Macromed\Authorwa\awswax.ocx /u
   • Windows NT, 2000, XP: The default path is C:\WinNT\System32\Macromed\Authorwa, so type Regsvr32 C:\WinNT\System32\Macromed\Authorwa\awswax.ocx /u
   • Windows XP: The default path isC:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Authorwa, so typeRegsvr32 C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Authorwa\awswax.ocx /u
4. Click OK.
   A message box should appear, informing thatDllUnregisterServer was called successfully. If it fails, check the path to make sure there are no extra spaces and that the whole path is correct.

Note: The steps above only unregister the file. To uninstall, remove the unregistered file from the system.

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