Which steps are especially important during the program installation process?

1. When the setup informs you it will "Add Lotus Notes to system path (required)" just keep the checkbox in front of it enabled. This option is really required at least when you are installing DeskLook for Lotus Notes for the first time.
2. Setup will attempt to add this line to your notes.ini file:
   EXTMGR_ADDINS=nDlkPwd
   If this does not succeed or if you already have a line beginning with EXTMGR_ADDINS= in your notes.ini file then you will have to jump in and edit the notes.ini file manually as explained below.
3. Setup will attempt to copy the file named nDlkPwd.dll to the Lotus Notes working folder. If this does not succeed for any reason you will have to jump in and copy the file there by yourself as explained below.
4. After the setup is finished you get the program's shortcut on your desktop. Double click on it and if everything is ok you will (in most cases) get the login dialog box where you should enter your Lotus Notes password and after that the program will ask for your permission to create a view named DeskLookView in your Lotus Notes. That view is an essential component of the program's functionality so you have to agree if you want to see the program working.
5. Finally, you should be aware that after DeskLook is started it may take some time before you see your data on the desktop.

When I start DeskLook I get a DOS window on the screen prompting for password

This usually means that the program's installation process did not complete successfully, but you can still try the program. First click on the title bar of that DOS window to bring it in focus, then type in your Lotus Notes password carefully and press Enter. If you did not make a mistake while typing the password DeskLook will continue its startup and work normally. However, it is important to know that you can not close the DOS window while DeskLook is working because if you do that DeskLook will also close.

Can I get rid of the DOS window thing and have DeskLook working by itself?

The general answer is yes. What you have to do is edit your notes.ini file manually and add a reference to DeskLook's login dialog box.

Editing notes.ini file (manual program setup)

This is how you edit notes.ini by yourself:

1. First make sure Lotus Notes and all its processes are closed down.
2. Locate your notes.ini file. Here are some possible locations:
   C:\Program Files\lotus\notes\
   C:\Program Files\IBM\Lotus\Notes\
   C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\
3. Make a backup copy of the notes.ini file.
4. Open the original notes.ini file in Notepad or some other text editor.
5. Search for the line beginning with EXTMGR_ADDINS.
6. If you found it then just add the following suffix to its end ",nDlkPwd" without the quote symbols of course!
7. If you did not find it then add a new line at the end of the file like this:
   EXTMGR_ADDINS=nDlkPwd
8. Save and close the notes.ini file, then start Lotus Notes to check if everything is normal and finally start DeskLook.
9. DeskLook's login dialog box should show up and that means the manual setup was successful and you can enter your Lotus Notes password to start the program.

Don't prompt for a password from other Notes-based programs

You can avoid typing your Lotus Notes password for the second time in DeskLook's login dialog box if you enable this option in your Lotus Notes. The option is located in the File – Security – User Security dialog box. That way if Lotus Notes is already started you will not have to type in your password again when you start DeskLook.

DeskLook crashed, what can I do now?

Contact us at info@desklook.com and describe what happened with as many details as possible. Send us also the information about the version of Lotus Notes and Windows you have and the program's log file DeskLookLog.txt that you will find in this folder:

[Vista] C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\XemiComputers\DeskLook for Lotus Notes\
[XP] C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\XemiComputers\DeskLook for Lotus Notes\