Okay, so my new laptop came with Windows Vista (64-bit), and it will not let me download Shockwave Player.

I go to the isketch page (Explorer 7), and there's a white box with a loading bar and the Shockwave logo. It says "installing now." Then Windows sends me a message asking me if I want to allow the process. I click "allow." The Vista equivalent of an hourglass appears on my cursor and everything's going fine. Right? Wrong. Windows then sends me an error message saying "Unable to load the DLL" something or other because the "side by side configuration" is incorrect. :/ I click ok.

Then Shockwave sends me a message saying "The installation was cancelled." It gives me two options "OK" and "Try Again." If I choose "Try Again" the exact same thing happens all over again.

I have taken the following steps: I went to the official Adobe Website and downloaded shockwave player directly onto my computer so that there was a little icon on my desktop. Again, the installation failed. Therefore, I am sure that the problem lies with Vista and not Explorer.

I sent an email to Adobe's tech support in which I detailed my problem as I have here, and they sent me multiple emails back to the effect that they did not have the answer to my problem. (Though I suspect no actual human being really read my email or tried to help)

I have met another person on iSketch who experienced technical difficulties with 64-bit Vista as well, but not with the other kind of Vista. They said maybe Adobe will fix the problem. However, I would really like to solve this crisis before August. So...if anyone has any insight that would be greatly appreciated! :D...Also thank you if you actually took the time to read that whole thing :)

Try Googling for "vista 64 bit shockwave"... a few sites come up with what looks like helpful information. However it seems it's an IE7 problem (not Shockwave) so you'll have to try Firefox or Opera... which people like me will tell you is no bad thing anyway!

Thank you JASR!

I followed your instructions and now iSketch works on my laptop! :D

I definitely suggest that anyone who is having the same problem with Windows Vista (64-bit) do the same.

(Sorry it's taken a while to reply)

If you have access to a WindowsXP computer (as well as your Vista64)...the following thread might help:

http://store1.adobe.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/messageview.cfm?forumid=44&catid=185&threadid=1248553&enterthread=y

Basically involves copying the file/folder structure, and then rerunning the install.

The installer is presumably failing to copy the files correctly, but is setting up the registry correctly.

:-)