loading library file in protel 99

[mikealanlee]

Hi to OP,

Not sure with 99SE but Windows 7 does not allow the user to mess with the files in program files. You might want to try installing 99SE in a different folder not in program files. I think all the support libraries are dumped in "program files" as well. I've had trouble with the newer Altium because of this.

Good luck!

[Dave]

OK figured it out, see attached zip file. You have to edit the ini files directly. The ones with copy in the name are the originals, the others are my new ones. Now when I open PCBs or SCHs in protel it loads the libraries I'm after.

Notice that in ADVPCB99SE.INI there is no .lib extension on the end of the library name as there was in the original file.

These ini files on my machine are located here

C:\Users\Standard\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Windo ws

Protel is installed at C:\Design Explorer 99 SE rather than in the usual program files folder. I haven't tried it in Program Files folder, I don't know if it would make any difference.

So far I've only just started using 99SE on windows 7, will see how I go.

[pcoates]

Tried the above, didn't work for me...what did work though was renaming the PCB and Schematic libraries you use to have no spaces in the filenames, despite this working on a standalone XP machine, in XP Mode on 64-bit windows 7 I changed "XXX PCB.ddb" to "XXX_PCB.ddb" and "XXX Schematic.ddb" to "XXX_Schematic.ddb". Perhaps it's a network addressing problem through the virtual space...strange, but it worked for me!

[pcoates]

The above didn't work for me, but what did work was ensuring your library names do not have spaces in them (must be a virtualisation network access issue). So by changing "XXX PCB.ddb" to "XXX_PCB.ddb" and "XXX Schematic.ddb" to "XXX_Schematic.ddb" I was able to load the libraries in straight away.

Also ensure your virtual machine networking settings are set to your actual network card (not internal or shared network) for Adapter 1.

I'm running Protel99SE on XP Mode within Windows 7 Pro 64-bit.

[thisisnewid]

Dave's solution work for me. First need to find out the name of the ddb and llb names that you are interested than close the program and edit the ini file. Save and load the program file again. There are two locations to change and those are [PCB Libraries] and [CachedFiles] sections. Below is my changes to include the Transistors.ddb(Transistors.lib).

Regards,

[PCB Libraries]
Path=*.ddb
Prompt=PCB Libraries
SelFileType=All files(*.*)
EditorName=All
Sel File Type=All files(*.*)
WholeProject=False
TypeCount=2
Count=2
File0=D>MSACCESS:$RP>C:\Program Files\Design Explorer 99 SE\Library\Pcb\Generic Footprints$RN>Advpcb.ddb$OP>$ON>PCB Footprints.lib$ID>-1$ATTR>0$E>PCBLIB$STF>
File1=D>MSACCESS:$RP>C:\Program Files\Design Explorer 99 SE\Library\Pcb\Generic Footprints$RN>Transistors.ddb$OP>$ON>Transistors.l ib$ID>-1$ATTR>0$E>PCBLIB$STF>

[CachedFiles]
Count=2
File0=D>MSACCESS:$RP>C:\Program Files\Design Explorer 99 SE\Library\Pcb\Generic Footprints$RN>Transistors.ddb$OP>$ON>Transistors.l ib$ID>-1$ATTR>0$E>PCBLIB$STF>
File1=D>MSACCESS:$RP>C:\Program Files\Design Explorer 99 SE\Library\Pcb\Generic Footprints$RN>Advpcb.ddb$OP>$ON>PCB Footprints.lib$ID>-1$ATTR>0$E>PCBLIB$STF>

[Charles Hansen]

OK, I spent a lot of time on this one and also contacted people on the PEDA (Protel EDA) Forum, dedicated to Protel 99SE users. It took a while and I finally got it to work, but it may be different for every machine. I am using Win 7 Professional 64 Bit with Protel 99 SE SP6.

I always use my own footprints as I hate the ones that Protel supplies. All of these are kept in a DDB. When you create a DDB, the default is that it creates a "Documents" folder and I have always put my files in that folder.

Don't do that. If you have done that, move your LIB file to the root directory of the DDB, delete the Documents folder and empty the Recycle Bin of that DDB.

That's the first step. The next thing I tried was to install the default Protel libraries to see if there was something wrong with my file. I rewrote the INI file to point to the "Transistors.ddb" as in ThisIsNewID's example just above. But when I did, the program automatically rewrote the INI file and installed the "Advpcb.ddb" with the "PCB Footprints" library.

No matter what I did, it would always install that one DDB, as if it were a magnet. So I tricked it.

I temporarily renamed the "magnet" DDB to something else. Then I copied my DDB to the same directory as the magnet DDB, renamed it to "Advpcb.ddb", and worked on the INI file. At this point it should already be pointing at the right place. You only need to change the name of the LIB file from "PCB Footprints" to whatever LIB is in your DDB.

At this point it should work fine. Once it is working, you can revert everything. You can delete the copy of your DDB altogether, rename the original Advpcb.ddb to the correct name, and finally, change the INI file to point to your original DDB, in its original location, with its original name.

I think all of this is necessary because somehow the system becomes confused if you tell it to use a DDB with the LIB file inside a folder instead of the root. Then you have to beat it over the head with a 17" laptop until it cries for mercy and does what you want.

There is probably a simpler method, but the one thing I am sure of is that you have to have the LIB file in the root of your DDB. I know because everything was working and I put it back into a new "Documents" folder and it stopped working and went back to the "magnet" DDB. Good luck!

[HomerNau]

My Protel doesn't even have the ini files. Where must they be and what is the correct names for them?

[gzwford]

I also have Protel 6.0.4 in Windows 7 with the same library problem and no ini files. The same version works just fine on Windows XP. Which version of Protel has the ini files? Anyone know how to get the upgraded version?

[Chris100]

On my system there were several versions of the .ini files and the key was to find the ones in use. I did this by opening a project and closing it then shutting Protel.
Next do a file search from the root for all files AdvSch99SE.ini (for schematic libraries) and ADVPCB99SE.INI (for PCB libraries).
When the search has finished look for the files which have data and time matching the moment you exited Protel - these are the ones to edit to add you library paths to as suggested by Dave and others in the thread.
Good Luck!

[usysinc]

The base Protel Client98 works on my Windows7 machine. The CLIENT98.EXE SP3 executable however breaks the library loading function.