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Zoombrowser EX software will not process CRW files

Started Mar 11, 2018 | Discussions
madkiwi Forum Member • Posts: 60
Zoombrowser EX software will not process CRW files

So I lost a hard drive that had a lot of JPEGs on it that were from photos taken with my first camera (PowerShot G1) and my 2nd (PowerShot G6). I was freaking out until I remembered I had backed up all the .CRW files to DVDs.

So I installed Zoombrowser 5.0 (from my original CD) and attempted to convert the CRW files to JPG. Only problem is, I get a message box saying- "File Viewer Utility is not installed. Download the latest version of File Viewer Utility from the Canon Digital Camera home page and install it".

Well, I can't find "File Viewer Utility" on the Canon website. I found an update to File Viewer Utility on the Canon Hong Kong website, but it won't install on my computer because I don't have the earlier version installed.

I have several thousand photos taken with my PowerShot G1 and G6 that only exist in RAW format, and I am unable to convert them to JPEG, TIFF or anything else. I emailed Canon Support today, explained what is happening and mentioned that I have owned Canon cameras since 2001 (first a G1, then the G6 and now a Rebel EOS T4i) and the response was ridiculous- the guy thought my T4i files were the problem and suggested I download "EOS DIGITAL SOLUTIONS DISC SOFTWARE VERSION 29.1A. This includes our Digital Photo Professional software which is designed for our .CR2(RAW)files".

Mentioning the T4i was only to point out that I am still a Canon user, but obviously the poor fellow was so confused by it he glossed over the Product name at the top of the submission as well as my thorough discussion of what was happening.

Anyone know what I need to do next?

FYI- Zoombrowser was updated to 5.5 (had the updater in my downloads folder), this is on a Windows 7 (64 bit) computer.

Thanks for any help...

Canon PowerShot G1 Canon PowerShot G6
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RA40 Contributing Member • Posts: 706
Re: Zoombrowser EX software will not process CRW files

I believe the file you want is the full version, V 6.6.0 is here:

https://www.usa.canon.com/nw3s/CanonUSA/DownloadContents/English/0200123301EN.htm

(I just tried to DL, that link is dead.)

ZB660INST_E full

Then you'll be able to install the later update to 6.9. If that doesn't work post back, I have some of the older solutions disks from the G6-G9 and G15 that I can look for.

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Mike:)

 RA40's gear list:RA40's gear list
Canon PowerShot G6 Canon EOS M3 Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Canon EF 50mm F1.4 USM Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM +10 more
OP madkiwi Forum Member • Posts: 60
Re: Zoombrowser EX software will not process CRW files

I was able to find ZB660INST_E.exe by going to the G6 page. I entered the serial number from my G6 (I still have it) and was able to download it. Before running it I Uninstalled every Zoombrowser program I found in Control Panel. Installed and rebooted.

Now when I try running Zoombrowser the option to "Process RAW images" is not available under Tools. I only have "Process RAW images by Digital Photo Professional..." which of course doesn't work BECAUSE DPP CAN ONLY HANDLE CR2 FILES.

This is getting crazy. While the process RAW images option didn't work before, at least it was there.

I believe it got broken on my laptop when I installed the software for my T4i, but I never installed the T4i software (and DPP) on my desktop computer, yet Zoombrowser does not work there either.

I don't understand any of this and nothing makes sense.

RA40 Contributing Member • Posts: 706
Re: Zoombrowser EX software will not process CRW files

Wow, quite an ordeal to go through.  What should work, doesn't.   My suggestion would be to call Canon and see what will get this working again.  For the heck of this may see if the update to V 6.9 will install the additional software.

A ways back, I swapped to a larger hard drive and to rid myself of some bloat I didn't clone the drive but did a clean install of relevant programs. Used the 6.60 file, then did the 6.9 update. As far as I can tell the features work properly from  photo stitch and converting the CRW files which I just did one to test.

One of the clean installs the software for photo stitch wasn't installed so going back to the full version then updating this feature became active again. I didn't remove the program through Windows remove software. I let the Canon software determine on install.

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Mike:)

 RA40's gear list:RA40's gear list
Canon PowerShot G6 Canon EOS M3 Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Canon EF 50mm F1.4 USM Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM +10 more
OP madkiwi Forum Member • Posts: 60
Re: Zoombrowser EX software will not process CRW files

I actually just used Adobe Elements 14 to do the conversions of the 2200 RAW files I had in one folder, I will try it on the rest later.

Just upsets me that the company I trust (Canon) lets this happen. I am going to try phoning them tomorrow.

mdmarqphoto Senior Member • Posts: 1,455
Re: Zoombrowser EX software will not process CRW files

Will DPP 3.x open your files?  It supports CRW files from some PowerShot models.

 mdmarqphoto's gear list:mdmarqphoto's gear list
Canon PowerShot S5 IS Casio Exilim EX-ZR800 Canon EOS M Canon EOS 90D Canon EF 85mm F1.8 USM +7 more
OP madkiwi Forum Member • Posts: 60
Re: Zoombrowser EX software will not process CRW files

No, it will not. I think my Powershot cameras used an older file format.

Ironically, Zoombrowser on my laptop used to work fine with those CRW files. Until I installed DPP when I got the T4i in 2013. Zoombrowser has not worked since.

RA40 Contributing Member • Posts: 706
Re: Zoombrowser EX software will not process CRW files

Tried V 3.13 (2013) and the CRW files have "X" on the preview. ZoomBrowser 6.9 side processing is normal.  My particular install allows ZoomBorwaser to process CRW files even with DPP 3.13 accessible from the ZoomBrowser drop down Tool menu. My thought is that they should be independent from each other.

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Mike:)

 RA40's gear list:RA40's gear list
Canon PowerShot G6 Canon EOS M3 Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Canon EF 50mm F1.4 USM Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM +10 more
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