[SOLVED]I can't install .rmskin files.

[Nox VII]

You need to uninstall the "standard" installation you did, so the association for .rmskin is removed, then install Rainmeter "portable" and manually create a file association between .rmskin and C:\Rainmeter\SkinInstaller.exe or wherever you installed Rainmeter.

The issue is that if you still have Rainmeter installed "standard", then a file association for .rmskin still points to that installation.

I'll try it.
How do I make a file association between .rmskin and C:\Rainmeter\SkinInstaller.exe?

[jsmorley]

I'll try it.
How do I make a file association between .rmskin and C:\Rainmeter\SkinInstaller.exe?

http://www.pcworld.com/article/208002/file_associations.html

Basically right-click a .rmskin and say "open with"

Then select the correct SkinInstaller.exe, and check the "always use this program" box.

[Nox VII]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/208002/file_associations.html

Basically right-click a .rmskin and say "open with"

Then select the correct SkinInstaller.exe, and check the "always use this program" box.

It works now, but the skins must not be in the user's file directory.
Thanks for the help.

[jsmorley]

It works now, but the skins must not be in the user's file directory.
Thanks for the help.

Right. Everything will be in C:\Rainmeter. It will have sub-folders for the skins, and the settings like Rainmeter.ini and the plugins, and everything else. It will all live in C:\Rainmeter, and never touch any other folder on your system.

It will work fine this way, once you get the Startup shortcut and file association to .rmskin sorted out, but we are still looking at your issue. It's a strange one, as I can't replicate it. It has something to do with having the language set to Greek, and setting your account name (and thus the C:\Users folder) to Μακης, and then changing to English but leaving that folder name. That has confused something in Windows, but I'm not sure what.

[jsmorley]

The only real difference is that while a "standard" Rainmeter install looks like this in About:

4.1.0 beta r2833 64-bit (Jul 26 2017)
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (build 15063)
Path: C:\Program Files\Rainmeter\
IniFile: C:\Users\Jeffrey\AppData\Roaming\Rainmeter\Rainmeter.ini
SkinPath: C:\Users\Jeffrey\Documents\Rainmeter\Skins\

Yours will look like:

4.1.0 beta r2833 64-bit (Jul 26 2017)
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (build 15063)
Path: C:\Rainmeter\
IniFile: C:\Rainmeter\Rainmeter.ini
SkinPath: C:\Rainmeter\Skins\

Everything, including all built-in path variables will work fine either way.

[jsmorley]

We have taken a look at this issue and think we have found the sequence of events that can cause it.

What happens is that the routines we are using get confused and angry when a folder or filename used by the Skin Installer consists of a sequence of characters that are a mixture of:

1) Regular ASCII chars from decimal 0-127, like a, or M, or 2
2) Characters using a CodePage, which are Extended ASCII chars, from decimal 127-255, like Ä, or Ü, or Æ
3) Unicode characters, like 族, or Ц, or அ

So if you create a .rmskin with this filename:

fooÄ民族.rmskin

or have a folder name using a similar construct:

C:\Users\fooÄ民族\Documents

then when the Skin Installer tries to install the .rsmkin it will fail, with the unfortunate and misleading error message that the .rmskin was not created by, or was modified after, the skin creation tool in Rainmeter.

We are looking at resolving this for an upcoming beta.

[jsmorley]

Fixed for the next beta of Rainmeter.