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[7SP1Pro x64] On Screen Keyboard (OSK) not starting

Re: Win 7 X64 SP1 On Screen Keyboard (OSK) not starting

Hi,

Magdalene said:
HI All,

Just ran Process explorer with filters for OSK.exe Utilman.exe Consent.exe ( the last two are associated with the running of osk.exe apparently.
See results attached at tis link: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AnDhvaal73o_gQNbAttoTIrRm16O
Any info here that's useful as noticed several files not found
Click to expand...

The OneDrive link above doesn't work for me :huh:

Result: This item might not exist or is no longer available
 
Re: Win 7 X64 SP1 On Screen Keyboard (OSK) not starting

SleepyDude said:
Hi,

Magdalene said:
HI All,

Just ran Process explorer with filters for OSK.exe Utilman.exe Consent.exe ( the last two are associated with the running of osk.exe apparently.
See results attached at tis link: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AnDhvaal73o_gQNbAttoTIrRm16O
Any info here that's useful as noticed several files not found
Click to expand...

The OneDrive link above doesn't work for me :huh:

Result: This item might not exist or is no longer available
Click to expand...


Try this one: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AnDhvaal73o_gQSABfWIaT9_I59a
 
Re: [7SP1 x64] On Screen Keyboard (OSK) not starting

StruldBrug said:
I'm not surprised at the result ... it would have been too easy! The next library area we should pursue is .Net Framework and now updates come into the picture. A scary scene. I need some time to look into Framework. More info is here ... What Is the Microsoft .NET Framework, and Why Is It Installed on My PC? Considering the age of OSK, version 3.5.1 seems to be of most interest. I'm not sure if its best to try and fix things now or wait for DefCon 3 in a couple of weeks. By now, you should have been notified by WU that KB4099633 is waiting in the wings. It is a package rollup of 3 updates for versions 3.5.1, 4.5.2, and 4.6.1 Maybe the update, which is cumulative, will fix the issue. If you want to do a repair now, howtogeek gives a link to an MS repair tool, you can use. I've never had call to run it myself, but if get some time later, I might check it out. Possibly, others will shed more light on the situation.
Click to expand...

Hi StruldBrug,

Downloaded 'Microsoft .NET Framework verification Tool' and ran. Looks OK to me but see One Drive link for the two files it created for your more experienced eyes.
Then downloaded and ran 'Microsoft .NET Framework repair Tool and ran, to see if it changed anything. This Repair Tool does not generate a log of what it has/has not done, so ran the verification tool again to compare (with first run) and nothing seemed to have changed from result of first verification.
Tentatively Conclude from all this that Microsoft .NET Framework is probably robust.

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AnDhvaal73o_gQn7u7CVkbMyGYYp

Magdalene.
 
Re: [7SP1 x64] On Screen Keyboard (OSK) not starting

Three of the four Windows 7 computers in our home only have up to and including .NET 3.5 SP1. I haven't checked all of them but I will to see if osk works on all. If that is the case, then higher versions of .NET aren't needed for osk to operate correctly.

I'll be back once I turn on the computers and test them. osk is working on all
1. 32 bit Win 7 Pro desktop
2. 32 bit Win 7 Home Premium desktop
3. 64 bit Win 7 Home Premium laptop
 
Last edited:
Re: [7SP1 x64] On Screen Keyboard (OSK) not starting

@plodr, thank you for the check you did on your machines. It seems to confirm 3.5.1 is the .Net of interest for OSK as I suspected.

@Magdalene, I've been going over the verification report. I found some items, which drew my attention and I want to investigate further at my end. Unfortunately, I've got much offline stuff to do over today and tomorrow and won't be able to devote much time here until about Wednesday. In the meantime, I think it is still important for you to get a check/scrub done in the Security Arena forum, probably by Corrine. Normally, more than one thread on the same topic isn't allowed, but I think the staff will be forgiving in this instance, since things/ideas are close to a standstill, here. Malware should always be ruled out in a tough troubleshooting situation. Read and do the "Malware Removal Posting Instructions" at the top of that forum. I'm also interested in what your plans are to bringing your system updates forward from Dec17.
 
Re: [7SP1 x64] On Screen Keyboard (OSK) not starting

StruldBrug said:
@plodr, thank you for the check you did on your machines. It seems to confirm 3.5.1 is the .Net of interest for OSK as I suspected.

@Magdalene, I've been going over the verification report. I found some items, which drew my attention and I want to investigate further at my end. Unfortunately, I've got much offline stuff to do over today and tomorrow and won't be able to devote much time here until about Wednesday. In the meantime, I think it is still important for you to get a check/scrub done in the Security Arena forum, probably by Corrine. Normally, more than one thread on the same topic isn't allowed, but I think the staff will be forgiving in this instance, since things/ideas are close to a standstill, here. Malware should always be ruled out in a tough troubleshooting situation. Read and do the "Malware Removal Posting Instructions" at the top of that forum. I'm also interested in what your plans are to bringing your system updates forward from Dec17.
Click to expand...

Hi all, thanks for sticking with this for me.

Will get a good scrub up and shower of system as suggested.

As to moving forward with updates I think that as I am in the Group B Security only camp at the moment I am going to hold off all further patches (With exception Microsoft.Net Framework) until this problem resolved, unless further advised by you guys.
Have reasonable confidence in Avast Free together with Win Patrol and Sandboxie, in terms of current security.

Magdalene.
 
Re: [7SP1 x64] On Screen Keyboard (OSK) not starting

Magdalene said:
StruldBrug said:
@plodr, thank you for the check you did on your machines. It seems to confirm 3.5.1 is the .Net of interest for OSK as I suspected.

@Magdalene, I've been going over the verification report. I found some items, which drew my attention and I want to investigate further at my end. Unfortunately, I've got much offline stuff to do over today and tomorrow and won't be able to devote much time here until about Wednesday. In the meantime, I think it is still important for you to get a check/scrub done in the Security Arena forum, probably by Corrine. Normally, more than one thread on the same topic isn't allowed, but I think the staff will be forgiving in this instance, since things/ideas are close to a standstill, here. Malware should always be ruled out in a tough troubleshooting situation. Read and do the "Malware Removal Posting Instructions" at the top of that forum. I'm also interested in what your plans are to bringing your system updates forward from Dec17.
Click to expand...

Hi all, thanks for sticking with this for me.

Will get a good scrub up and shower of system as suggested.

As to moving forward with updates I think that as I am in the Group B Security only camp at the moment I am going to hold off all further patches (With exception Microsoft.Net Framework) until this problem resolved, unless further advised by you guys.
Have reasonable confidence in Avast Free together with Win Patrol and Sandboxie, in terms of current security.

Magdalene.
Click to expand...

Cant find link in Security Arena Forum to create new Post. No permissions enabled at bottom of page ?
 
Re: [7SP1 x64] On Screen Keyboard (OSK) not starting

"Cant find link in Security Arena Forum to create new Post. No permissions enabled at bottom of page ?"

When you first open Security Arena, on the first page are two blue rectangular boxes with white lettering, "Post New Thread." Both are on the left side of the page. One is near the top and one is near the bottom. Use either one. You need to be logged in.
 
Re: [7SP1 x64] On Screen Keyboard (OSK) not starting

StruldBrug said:
"Cant find link in Security Arena Forum to create new Post. No permissions enabled at bottom of page ?"

When you first open Security Arena, on the first page are two blue rectangular boxes with white lettering, "Post New Thread." Both are on the left side of the page. One is near the top and one is near the bottom. Use either one. You need to be logged in.
Click to expand...
Hi StuldBrug,
Sorry but don't have those 2 blue boxes and am logged in OK.
 
Re: [7SP1 x64] On Screen Keyboard (OSK) not starting

Strulbrug, I'm also in Group B with patching. I had January and February installed but because of problems, I removed them and have not put them back on. (64 bit computers and one of the 32 bit computers) I also did not install March patches because there were just too many problems affecting Windows 7.

I have installed April's patches but this was after Magdalene reported her problem with osk so we can rule out the lack of patches as creating the problem.


Since the standalone IE patch is cumulative, the April patch includes what was handed out in Jan., Feb. and Mar.
 
Re: [7SP1 x64] On Screen Keyboard (OSK) not starting

plodr said:
Strulbrug, I'm also in Group B with patching. I had January and February installed but because of problems, I removed them and have not put them back on. (64 bit computers and one of the 32 bit computers) I also did not install March patches because there were just too many problems affecting Windows 7.

I have installed April's patches but this was after Magdalene reported her problem with osk so we can rule out the lack of patches as creating the problem.


Since the standalone IE patch is cumulative, the April patch includes what was handed out in Jan., Feb. and Mar.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that post Plodr, glad to know I'm not the only one wary of anything put out by Windows updates at the moment.

Magdalene
 
Re: [7SP1 x64] On Screen Keyboard (OSK) not starting

Re: "Post New Thread". Have you checked this in any/all of the other forums on this site? The only thing I can think of for your end might be a browser addon blocker. Its something you can test and to try an alternate browser. If its a site issue, I've no suggestions.
 
Re: [7SP1 x64] On Screen Keyboard (OSK) not starting

Hi Struldberg,
Ok now, was Browser.
Thanks

Magdalene.
 
Re: .Net Framework. I don't think this is the OSK problem. If it were, it would have to be from versions 1.0, 2.0. or 3.5, since plodr runs OSK without 4.0. These early versions are components of the W7 OS. If one of them was at fault, it would have showed up in an SFC. Your last SFC was clean, so I rule them out. Actually, SFC is the prime tool to repair those versions on W7. As a matter of fact, the MS Framework Repair Tool won't do anything for those versions on W7. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2698555/microsoft-net-framework-repair-tool-is-available

Thanks for having Corrine do the malware check. I kind of thought if you were having malware issues, you would have been experiencing other problems as well, by now. Yet, thorough troubleshooting deserves a malware check by a specialist. I did browse the Lenovo forum W7 tags and didn't spot anything for OSK. Maybe you have better eyesight than me. Also, you may spot something of interest, related to your specific Lenovo configuration, in accordance with Corrine's advice.

Have you ever run Tweaking Windows Repair? It can do some good things. Yet, it has some caveats, in that things get set back to default settings of a new installation. Its something to think about, regarding OSK repair.
 
StruldBrug said:
Re: .Net Framework. I don't think this is the OSK problem. If it were, it would have to be from versions 1.0, 2.0. or 3.5, since plodr runs OSK without 4.0. These early versions are components of the W7 OS. If one of them was at fault, it would have showed up in an SFC. Your last SFC was clean, so I rule them out. Actually, SFC is the prime tool to repair those versions on W7. As a matter of fact, the MS Framework Repair Tool won't do anything for those versions on W7. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2698555/microsoft-net-framework-repair-tool-is-available

Thanks for having Corrine do the malware check. I kind of thought if you were having malware issues, you would have been experiencing other problems as well, by now. Yet, thorough troubleshooting deserves a malware check by a specialist. I did browse the Lenovo forum W7 tags and didn't spot anything for OSK. Maybe you have better eyesight than me. Also, you may spot something of interest, related to your specific Lenovo configuration, in accordance with Corrine's advice.

Have you ever run Tweaking Windows Repair? It can do some good things. Yet, it has some caveats, in that things get set back to default settings of a new installation. Its something to think about, regarding OSK repair.
Click to expand...

Hi Struldberg,
Also checked the Lenovo site and like you saw nothing of relevance.
As for Tweaking .com Windows repair. Yes I have run all repairs on that to no avail.
Think I am now at a point where either a 'Clean re-install or 'Repair-install is the only thing left.
Would like to thank you all for all the help you have given on this problem, it seems on the face of it ie: an .exe file cannot start would be not to hard to track down but
sometimes .....

Anyway on a positive note I have discovered your excellent site now, and that's a powerful tool to have in the box.
Thank you all again.

Magdalene
 
Sorry we didn't find the root cause yet. Before you reinstall/in-place upgrade, there are a couple last ditch efforts that can be done. First, get your updates current. Using, the askwoody AKB2000003, Topic: 2000003: Ongoing list of "Group B" monthly updates for Win7 and 8.1 @ AskWoody compare it to your installed updates (not history) and make sure no OS update is missing up thru last December. If any are, then download from the catalog and install. PKCano has been very active for over a month, bringing foward Goup B'ers that either stayed at or rolled back to Dec. These can be found on askwoody Search forTopics>Recently active topics. You need to go back a few pages, now. A good one to follow is Topic: Win7-Group B. Haven\’t updated since May\’17. What do I do to get updated? @ AskWoody Maybe this will result in kicking something loose on OSK.
Another option is to use an alternative OSK app. There are some available, but the one that caught my eye claims to use the pre-installed one as its basis. It is portable and just right for a pendrive toolbox. My thought was if it fails to work, it might give a more meaningful error code than that by MS. On-Screen Keyboard Portable Free Download (The download links mirrored to SourceForge for me).
Finally, if you haven't done so already, work out a tested disk imaging scheme. Popular ones can be found on MG Download Drive Cloning & Imaging Tools for Windows - MajorGeeks Image regularly to save yourself a lot of time, when dealing with the ongoing buggy MS updates. I don't expect MS will change things before W7 EOL.
 
:smile9:
StruldBrug said:
Sorry we didn't find the root cause yet. Before you reinstall/in-place upgrade, there are a couple last ditch efforts that can be done. First, get your updates current. Using, the askwoody AKB2000003, Topic: 2000003: Ongoing list of "Group B" monthly updates for Win7 and 8.1 @ AskWoody compare it to your installed updates (not history) and make sure no OS update is missing up thru last December. If any are, then download from the catalog and install. PKCano has been very active for over a month, bringing foward Goup B'ers that either stayed at or rolled back to Dec. These can be found on askwoody Search forTopics>Recently active topics. You need to go back a few pages, now. A good one to follow is Topic: Win7-Group B. Haven\’t updated since May\’17. What do I do to get updated? @ AskWoody Maybe this will result in kicking something loose on OSK.
Another option is to use an alternative OSK app. There are some available, but the one that caught my eye claims to use the pre-installed one as its basis. It is portable and just right for a pendrive toolbox. My thought was if it fails to work, it might give a more meaningful error code than that by MS. On-Screen Keyboard Portable Free Download (The download links mirrored to SourceForge for me).
Finally, if you haven't done so already, work out a tested disk imaging scheme. Popular ones can be found on MG Download Drive Cloning & Imaging Tools for Windows - MajorGeeks Image regularly to save yourself a lot of time, when dealing with the ongoing buggy MS updates. I don't expect MS will change things before W7 EOL.
Click to expand...

Hi StuldBerg,



All my updates (Group B) installed up to and including May 2018 (including IE 11 & NET Framework.)
Installed Virtual Keyboard (Portable)

Happy with my existing Backup system. Problem was that I keep three latest ones (monthly) ,and as this problem goes back further than that, they were of no use.
The OSK was rarely used in the past and hence not known to be not working.
When you create a monthly backup as I have, I should not have just overwritten the oldest of the three images, but kept one 'Histrical' archived one for just this sort of problem. Who knows when you re-image, if that image reflects a 100% good system, unless you have methodically checked every function/combination and setting
of that system.
Anyway, I can live without Microsoft's OSK for now, and when get time will get round to re-installing.
Again thank you all so much for your time and efforts.

Magdalene
 
Magdalene, you save too few and I save too many backups!
Today is "get my ducks in a row" day.

I have 7 portable external hard drives and I keep backups from the 6 computers in the house on them. I'm now removing some Windows 7 backups from 2014 and 2015 that I'm sure I won't use.

I just fired up the XP partition after almost 4 months and updated it, then decided I needed to image it. That lead to looking at the images on the 4 oldest hard drives to see what can be removed.
 

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