I'm thinking it's a glitch in Impulse because it is the same OS [Win 7] on the same PC.  Oh, and the HDD I'm using is new... as in used once previously for an Acronis backup.

I did run chkdsk on the drive and all came back healthy there.  That was not the case on the previous [old] HDD, however... had bad sectors that seem to have corrupted some things, and why I had to migrate to this newer drive.  Yeah there were quite a few things that started to go wrong and I didn't want to replicate them... otherwise I would have simply cloned the partition to the new HDD or run a backup with Acronis and saved myself a heap of time having to reinstall everything from scratch,

Oh well, it'll all come out in the wash.

Okay, so I'm back to square one!!!!   Once my subscription was renewed I reinstalled all my apps via Impulse, but unfortunately I had to migrate my OS yet again due to another HDD failure, and again the archives do not work.  I thought: "Oh goody, I made a backup of my archives, so I won't have to re-download them all again.  Wrong!!!!  When I attempt to restore any archived app, it goes through all the motions and says it is installed for a brief moment, and then it goes back to being 'available'. 

All Object Desktops apps do it as well as my non subscription apps, CursorFX, ObjectDock and Natural Desktop, etc. Now I have tried resetting the data and running as administrator, yet the problem still exists and I'm fresh out of ideas, so if anyone from support is reading this, please advise as to how I can successfully archive and restore apps for future reference. 

For now, however, I am going to re-download the apps I most use as I have lost patience messing around with things... and understandably so.   After 2 HDD's dying and having to reinstall everything from scratch yet again, I'm simply not in the mood to be looking at naked Windows.  Sure Win 7 is prettier than XP ever was, but it is still a far cry from a screen dressed with Windowblinds, Iconpackager and CursorFX... three essentials to my desktop happiness.

Well I've ascertained that I can download and archive apps, then install them successfully from the created archive. So it's not that Impulse cannot restore archivest... it just won't restore those archives created by the right click on an app and archive method.

Now it wouldn't be that the archives were created on another HDD, would it?  I mean, hardware can and does die, so what would be the point of archives if you can't relocate to another physical drive?  It would be defeating the purpose, right?

I also figure that it shouldn't be because I'm trying to restore archives created on a mechanical drive to a SSD... both are capable of receiving data of all types so it shouldn't matter, right?

Another thing that 'd be good.... add 'Restore From Archive' to the right click menu in Impulse.  If the archive exists it would make things a bit easier... and if no archive exists it remains inactive.

Make sense?

The catch is that to 'download and archive' you need an active subscription.

If the only way an archive is restorable is by way of the 'download and archive' function, then that's the only way Impulse should allow/do it and Impulse should prompt you in some way.

Simply archiving an app should not be an option (unless it gets fixed), since doing so gives the entirely false impression that you have created a restorable archive.  It makes zero sense to me to have an archive function from which archives cannot be restored.  Whether this is a 'bug' or a 'feature' is becoming less & less clear over time.

Unfortunately, this will have to wait to get sorted out with whatever application SD develops to replace Impulse, since I doubt the Gamestop crew will take much interest in issues with the desktop enhancement apps (I could be wrong).

When you created the first batch of archives - the ones that won't restore - did you use the straight "Archive" function or the "Download and Archive" function?  I'm thinking the "Download and Archive" function would probably be what a person would have to use to switch (certain) hardware, otherwise a bunch of machine-specific settings are probably going to be included in the archives.  For example, I'm betting the machine doesn't see your new C: drive or whatever as the same drive, even though you've assigned it the same letter, or maybe it doesn't see your new login as the files owner even if you're using the same user name you were before.  (The user name isn't just the name you've picked, the machine also assigns an machine jibberish version to it.)  I've run into both of those issues before when trying to restore general backups using other software.

I don't really know the answer, but I would like to.  I'd hate to think I'm accumulating all these archives for nothing.

I'd imagine there's more than one way it could get screwed up.  His problem might not be your problem.

Dave, the archive function, so we were told some time back, is only OS specific, not hardware specific.... as in you cannot restore a XP archive in Win 7, but you can restore an archive on a HDD replacement.  Well that's what I understood from a previous thread on the matter.  And no, I'm not too impressed that I created and carried a couple of sets of archives for nothing

Yeah, that's a worry! With the direction Impulse has taken - 99% game oriented - I wonder if there'll be any Stardock desktop enhancements in the near future at all.  Yes, it certainly is all about gaming, and with Object Desktop playing second fiddle to games over the last couple of years or so, one might wonder if is has a use-by date... a planned obsolescence, so to speak.  I'd like to think I'm stressing over nothing, and I have raised this question before, but a definitive answer was never forthcoming.

Impulse is in the hands of GameStop now, it has no bearing on the future development of Stardock apps.  A new, simpler solution is in the works for updates and downloads, but I can't be any more specific as there is much work to be done.  

Probably better than Impulse was/is (hoping anyway) though Impulse served its purpose IMO the apps outgrew it.

There will be a replacement for Impulse to manage SD's apps (a la Component Manager or Stardock Central).  Just a matter of when & what they call it.  I'm sure their agreement with Gamestop provides for Impulse to continue as the distribution & update vehicle until SD's ready to replace it so I don't think we'll run into an 'sell by date' issues.

Thank you for the response, ID, I appreciate it.  At least now we know there is a future for desktop enhancements from Stardock.  PHEEEWWW!!!!  I am curious, though, who [or what] is GameStop?   More to the point, Impulse was Stardock's baby, how come control of it seems to have changed hands?

There was a, uh, relatively active thread about it a little while back.  I tried to fish it out for you but can't find it, so you'll have to settle for my seriously abridged version for now.

GameStop is a game retailer.  They didn't have a digital distribution platform, just brick and mortars.  They bought the Impulse piece of Stardock to get the game digital distribution.  A group of employees related to Impulse that used to be working for Stardock are now working for GameStop.

Don't know for sure, but I'd think that both Stardock and GameStop would somewhat anxious to get the desktop customization stuff split out of Impulse.  Makes sense that GameStop wouldn't particularly want to be bothered by it, and it seems like getting it out would simplify Stardock's life as well.

Think that's pretty much the gist of it.

Think EB Games, Starkers. It's the same guys.