SNAP-Plus and the Windows Vista Operating System

Last edited March 17, 2008

The SNAP-Plus nutrient management planning software program is completely functional with Windows Vista. Due to Vista's security system, however, SNAP-Plus users will need to move farm data files and reports in their computers' directories so they are not stored with the SNAP-Plus program.

The problem: Vista does not allow modification of any files in the Program Files directory where SNAP-Plus is installed by default.

The default location of Snap-Plus farm data and report files is in the Program Files directory (C:\Program Files\SnapPlus\MySnapPlusData\ and C:\Program Files\SnapPlus\reports\). If the farm data and report file settings are left in these default locations in Vista, sooner or later you will run into a problem with accessing them because Vista will actually store the farm folders and reports in a "virtual" directory. The "virtual" directories are user account specific, so if users log in using different accounts, they will not see data edited or added by other users. You can see and manage these "virtual" files by using the "Compatibility" button in the Windows Explorer when you are looking in the Program Files directory. The "virtual" files are actually located in C:\Users\YourAccountNameHere\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\SnapPlus.

Solution: The easiest way to avoid problems is to save your SNAP-Plus data and reports to a directory other than Program Files. We would suggest making a "SnapPlusUser" directory somewhere on your hard drive with "data" and "reports" subdirectories under it. Directions for SNAP-Plus and Vista upgrades and for creating SNAP-Plus data directories are given below.

If you have SNAP-Plus installed on a computer running Windows Vista and have worked on any data:

• If you have Snap-Plus data located in C:\Program Files\SnapPlus\MySnapPlusData then you will need to move it. You can find the current database path in the Snap-Plus green bar near the top of the screen where it says "Farm data directory".
• You need to use the Snap-Plus "Copy" function from the "File" menu to do this, once for each database in the folder listed above. Copying the directories using the File Explorer may not work, since new data contained in the "Compatibility" folders will not be copied.
• Copy the databases to a folder that is available to all users such as C:\SnapPlusUser\FarmData

If you are installing SNAP-Plus on a new Windows Vista computer:

• Before running SNAP-Plus, you need to create directory folders for your SNAP-Plus data and reports. Hint: Since SNAP-Plus is designed to have its data and configuration available to all users of a computer, you should create directories that have permissions for all users. Other than that requirement, you can create the directory anywhere. One possibility is to put these folders in the root of the "C" drive, i.e. C:\SnapPlusUser\FarmData and C:\SnapPlusUser\Reports.
• If you need to transfer data and/or reports from your old computer, copy them to the appropriate directories you just created.
• Start up SNAP-Plus, choose the menu item File, then Open, and then navigate to the new data location you just created to find your farm data files.

Creating new databases in SNAP-Plus under Windows Vista:

• In the SnapPlus menu, choose File, then New.
• In the dialog box, type in or navigate to the SNAP-Plus farm data directory you created (e.g. C:\SnapPlusUser\FarmData) before typing in the new database name.

Creating new reports in Vista:

Near the bottom of the Snap-Plus report setup box, there is a cell labeled "Report filename".

Use the Browse button to navigate to the new report directory you just created (eg C:\ProgramData\UWSoils\SnapPlus\Reports).

If you are upgrading your computer to Windows Vista and have existing SNAP-Plus databases:

• Do the upgrade to Windows Vista.
• Before running SNAP-Plus, create new directories for your data and reports as described above.
• Use My Computer or Windows Explorer to navigate to C:\Program Files\SnapPlus.
• Select the "MySnapPlusData" folder, copy it, and paste it to your new SnapPlusUser\Data directory.
• Copy the "reports" folder from the old location and paste it to SnapPlusUser\Reports.

Upgrading and reinstalling SnapPlus on Windows Vista computers

If you had a previous version of SnapPlus installed on your Vista computer, you will need to delete the file moses.snap.gdb in your "Compatibility" files folder before a new version of Snap-Plus will calculate soil loss. You need to do this every time you upgrade, but it does not matter whether you do it before or after upgrading SnapPlus.

• Navigate to C:\Program Files\SnapPlus\models\WI\R2 with File Explorer and click the "Compatibility" button.
• You should see the file named moses.snap.gdb. Some people might see this file as moses.snap -- Delete it.
• SnapPlus should now run and calculate.