Problems Updating Fast-Flex Plus - Flex Spending Software

Flex Accounts

The Flexible Spending Account Administration Solution

Errors during update of Fast-Flex Plus

Q: I get the following message when attempting to install Fast-Flex Plus:

"Setup cannot continue because some system files are out of date on your system. Click OK if you would like setup to update these files now. You will need to restart Windows before you can run setup again. Click Cancel to exit setup without updating system files".

A: This message means that our Fast-Flex Plus requires more current versions of some of your Windows system files. The Fast-Flex Plus installation program will attempt to update these files automatically, but you will need to reboot, as instructed, to continue with the installation.

If, after rebooting your computer, you continue to receive this message, you should try updating the Windows system files yourself by using your web browser. It is a good practice to do this on occasion anyway, since Microsoft frequently comes out with Windows security upgrades and bug fixes.

To manually update your Windows system files:

If you are using Internet Explorer as your browser, simply click "Tools" and then "Windows Update".

If you Use Netscape, click this link: http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp

Once this is done, Fast-Flex Plus should install with no problems. However, if you continue to get the above "system files out of date" message, please refer to the help article from Microsoft at this link: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;174135

Q: Fast-Flex Plus will not start up or immediately crashes. I might get the following messages when attempting to run Fast-Flex Plus:

Run-time error '401'.

Cannot automatically locate your word processor!

A: In Windows Vista, when you ran the Fast-Flex Plus setup program, UAC should have automatically prompted you to run it as an administrator using the UAC prompt (which Microsoft calls the "consent" prompt). If it didn't, please be certain to refer to: What version of Windows do you have?, below. First, try re-installing the software, being certain this time to run it as an administrator.

Next, using Windows Explorer, right-click on the C:\Windows\Temp folder and select Properties. You need to make certain that you have "rights" to create new folders and files within the C:\Windows\Temp folder. If the C:\Windows\Temp folder does not exist, you must use Windows Explorer to create it. (It is a necessary folder for various "scratch files" created by Fast-Flex Plus.)

Try starting Fast-Flex Plus again from either its desktop icon or Programs menu. If it still won't run, use Windows Explorer to look for these two files:

C:\Windows\Temp\FFPVers.gst
C:\Windows\Temp\SFFP4x.gst

If you cannot find these files, please download them here then click "Run" or "Open". Next, "Unzip" them into C:\Windows\Temp.

Q: I STILL get the following messages when attempting to install Fast-Flex Plus:

Run-time error '401'.

Cannot automatically locate your word processor!

A: Please answer the following questions and take the steps prescribed below:

1. Are you doing a default ("No questions asked") installation?

If No - Please make certain that the folder where you are installing Fast-Flex Plus on your computer or network has sufficient read/write access rights.

If Yes - Continue to Step 2

2. Do you get far enough along with the installation to see a "Flexing Arm" Title screen for Fast-Flex Plus? (It should appear automatically once the installation completes. When it does appear, you must be patient and wait for it to move on to the company selection screen. While you are waiting for it to move on, it is doing a one-time search for your word processor. When found, it automatically starts Fast-Flex Plus.)

If Yes - Do you have Microsoft Word (or Microsoft Office) already installed and working on your C: Drive? Are you able to start Fast-Flex Plus and select a company dataset? (Note: if you do not have MS Word on your C: drive, Fast-Flex Plus will attempt to find and use WordPad instead.) Go to Step 3.

If No - Continue to Step 3.

3. In your Fast-Flex Plus program directory (C:\Program Files\FFPRO4, if you used the "No questions asked" installation) there is a small file that ends in ".WPX" (probably named FFP_OUT.WPX). Can you find this file with Windows Explorer?

If Yes - If you load it into Notepad, it should show the location of your word processor - either Word or WordPad. Please verify that the location of your wordprocessor program is correct by using Windows Explorer. (Go to the file location and double-click it to fire up the wordprocessor.) If it isn't correct, please edit this file with Notepad to add the correct path/file location after using Windows' file search utility to locate either WINWORD.EXE or WORDPAD.EXE on your C: drive.

If No - Use Notepad to create a file that contains just one line, similar to the one below (with quotation marks included):

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE"

Save file as: C:\Program Files\FFPRO4\FFP_OUT.WPX

Note: Your line of text in this file might be different depending on the location of WINWORD.EXE or WORDPAD.EXE on your computer. Use Windows file search utility to locate either WINWORD.EXE or WORDPAD.EXE on your C: drive.

4. What version of Windows do you have?

If something earlier than Windows XP, please tell us about your operating system. We highly recommend upgrading to at least Windows XP. Sometimes Windows Vista exists in "lock down" mode that is unfriendly to new software installations. You will have to be certain that Fast-Flex Plus is given Vista's "administrator" ability to read and write to certain files and folders as described below:

Even if you log on as an administrator in Vista, you don't really have administrative rights, thanks to UAC (User Account Control). UAC runs almost everything using non-administrator rights to help protect you from bad software that would abuse those administrator rights to change your settings or install viruses. When you run the Fast-Flex Plus setup program, UAC should have automatically prompted you to run it as an administrator using the UAC prompt (which Microsoft calls the "consent" prompt).

Once Fast-Flex Plus has been installed, you can run it in Vista with Administrator Rights by "right-clicking" the Fast-Flex Plus program icon and selecting the option to "Run as administrator"

If all works well when Fast-Flex Plus is run as an administrator, you can opt to always run it as an administrator:

How to set Fast-Flex Plus to always run as administrator:

1. Right click the Fast-Flex Plus program icon and choose the properties option
2. Select the "Compatibility" tab from the window that appears
3. At the bottom of the window, under privilege level, check the box to run this program as administrator

Note: you may also want to try running Fast-Flex Plus in compatibility mode for another version of Windows such as Windows XP. To do this simply check the box to run this program in compatibility mode for: and then select the compatible Windows environment ("Windows XP Service Pack 2) from the drop down menu.

4. Once finished setting your options, click Apply to accept the changes

Windows 2000 (and sometimes Windows Vista) cause some special challenges that even Microsoft has struggled with, but we'll do our best to help. The error you have encountered is definitely a Windows "Rights" issue. If you followed the instructions above, you should have already created and given full rights to the C:\Windows\Temp folder. But two specific files that Fast-Flex Plus creates need to be given additional access rights.

Fast-Flex Plus will [try to] create two small files in the Windows\Temp directory: FFPVers.gst and SFFP4x.gst

You need to modify the "rights" to those two files so that you can read and write to them. So first, using Windows Explorer, can you find:

C:\Windows\Temp\FFPVers.gst ?
C:\Windows\Temp\SFFP4x.gst ?

If Yes - Give these files full rights. (Try right-clicking them, then select "Properties"). Also, refer to step 3, above, and try creating the C:\Program Files\FFPRO4\FFP_OUT.WPX file with WORDPAD.EXE instead of WINWORD.EXE.

If No - The Fast-Flex Plus operator (you) must be added to the "Local Administrators" group for the workstation. This should enable the files to be created during the software installation. Once they are created, you can modify their read/write rights. When this is done, you probably do not need to remain as a "Local Administrator".

To be honest, we no longer have a copy of Windows 2000 in-house to give you more specific instructions about modifying User Rights. If you have a network administrator, he can help do it. Otherwise, upgrading to at least Windows XP, or installing Fast-Flex Plus on an XP machine, will be your best bet.

5. If all above fails, have you tried installing Fast-Flex Plus on a different computer? Do you get the same results?

Occassionally we have heard about a "STAMIN32.DLL" error or some othery mysterious problem. (*.DLLs required by Fast-Flex Plus are installed in the C:\Windows\system32 folder.) Be certain your C:\Windows\System32 folder is not write protected! One easy thing to try is to install Fast-Flex Plus to a different computer to validate that it works. Then try to determine the differences in the two computer systems. Fast-Flex Plus writes its installation files to only the Windows\Temp and Windows\System32 folders and to the C:\Program Files\FFPRO4 folder that it creates. Please be certain that your computer is not "locked down" to the point that files cannot be added to these locations.

Please feel free to contact us if this does not solve your installation problems, and we will do our best to help! Please include answers to all of the questions above in your correspondence.