@mac1 said:

When you fomatted your disk what did you use FAT32 or NTFS
The HDs in both machines (PC and laptop) are formated in NTFS. In laptop it works, in PC it does not.

@mac1 said:

By default XP does not make the Admin log on at its welcome screen available. Try at the welcome screen pressing cntrl+alt+delete twice; logon user; administrator; pwd the one you orginally set.
I am the only user and I have not set pass while loging in. WinXP starts without selecting user or seting a pass to proceed.

@tig said:

@mikaelo said:

Everything is same, but no result! It simply denies to make me happy.
I am at a loss too
Since I see to result, I am about to quit SketchUp-ing.

Importing non-SKP files (STL, OBJ, SLDPRT etc) into SketchUp by converting them into OBJ first, was the best solution for me. On the other hand, the DAE files are not an option, because it takes too looooong (many hours or days for big files) to import into SketchUp and the 3DS files look like damaged when imported into SketchUp.

I ll keep waiting for any possible ideas for few days more, but I see no other available way to keep dealing with SketchUp for easy modeling. Thanks for your kind answers.

@tig said:

I'm not sure about XP, but on newer PCs the Programs 'Control Panel' has an Uninstall/Repair option. By Repairing the installation it might fix some 'permissions' etc ?
When I first notice the problem few days before, the first thing I tried was un-installing and then installing again the FluidImport. No result! Then, I tried un-installing and then installing again the SketchUp. No result again! I also tried to install older "8" or "7" versions (as already mentioned in my previous post HERE), but no result!. Then, I tried to format my hard disc and install everything back again - not one time, but 5! Five formats, 5 Win XP installing procedures one after the other, 5 "fresh" SketcUp installings. Unfortunately, every time, the SketchUp denioes to import OBJ files. Every time! No result at all!

@tig said:

Are you 100% sure that all 'permissions' etc under 'properties' are the same on both machines, for all folders that SketchUp uses ?
200% sure. I placed the laptop side-by-side on PC screen to check one-by-one all 'permissions', 'properties', folders, subfolders, files etc in both machines. Everything is same, but no result! It simply denies to make me happy.

@tig said:

Have you tried 'Repairing' SketchUp ?
Please be more specific. How to "Repair" SketchUp? Keep in mind that at this point, after failing to fix the error myself, I need guidance like I am 5 years old boy. Its the first time after 15 years PC using that I feel completely unable to win the machine.

@tig said:

Folders can have limited security permissions. These can affect the permissions of the enclosed files. Check the security permissions of the two folders and see if they differ ? This relates to Windows itself, not SketchUp or any application...
After your advice, I checked. And then double checked. And then checked again. And found everything same in both machines. the only difference is that on PC, the SketchUp does not import OBJ files. Yes, I know, that it sounds very strange and you might think that I do something very stupid mistake here, but I am also confused and amazed of the problem. The Sketchup simply denies to accept any method of importing OBJ files. ANY method - not just FluidImporter!

@ TIG thanks for helping. You are an experienced user and I count on your oppinion.

@tig said:

If it installed OK on another XP PC, then it should install on this similar one.
Yes, on the old & slow laptop is intsalled and works fine. Actually (and that the most weird thing that drives me crazy) it WAS installed and used to work OK on THIS PC, few days ago, before disc format and installing again Win XP. Same XP, same everything. I cannot understand, HOW it is possible for OJJ importer to work fine on PC and after format and re-install everything (by using the exact same exe files, my SketchUp denies to import OBJ files? How can be?

@tig said:

Have you got the XP SP3 installed on both ?
Yes! From same CD. I "refresh" my PC / laptop once or twice a year, using always same Win XP features and always following same procedures. Never had problems before

@tig said:

Also do you have the same Security permissions set for the subfolders within the SketchUp folder ? That is == ALL subfolders, like Plugins, AND Importers etc...
Everything is set on same options. I had the laptop side-byside with PC, and check every possible option within SketchUp. All same. Also, checked files & folders. All same too.

@tig said:

Perhaps having limited permissions is affecting the importer's successful installation...
Hmmm, what exactly you mean with "limited permissions"? How can be one working and other not, when both using the exact same software?

@box said:

I don't know about the rest of it but the .rbz file is an installation file used to install extension from within sketchup. If you go to Window/Preferences/Extensions tab and click install extension you can navigate to the file and install it that way.
As said before, even if the plugin seems to be installed correct and then select an OBJ file to import, NOTHING happens, even for small files, even if I wait 5, 10, or more than 20 minutes for 500Kb sized OBJ files! Feel free to have a look on the following screenshots (for example by installing and using TIG's "obj_importer_v2.2.rbz" plugin).

@box said:

If you don't have a new enough version of SU the install extension button won't be there, either update SU or install the .rb manually.
As already said, I have installed the v 8.0.15158, which I believe is the most recent "8" version before the "2013" version. The point is that the laptop, works with same SketchUp version, same Win XP version, can import OBJ files with any kind of method (plugin or FluidImporter) but is old & extremely slow to use for such purposes.

@box said:

To get the .rb from the .rbz rename it to .zip and you'll find the .rb inside and you can extract it to your plugins folder.
Already tried that. No result!...

@tig said:

Have you been in touch with the author ?
Already did that, few days ago. No answer yet.

@tig said:

It might be an XP issue ??
Could be, could be not. I have an old laptop, operating with same XP pro SP3 version, same SketchUp version 8.0.15158 and same FluidImporter version 1.0.5 and the OBJ files can be imported. You might ask me why I do not use this old laptop, to do all the import hard work to translate OBJ into SKP files. Well, its an old laptop as said before, not capable for hard work and able to handle only small (not more than 1-2 Mb) OBJ files without crashing Sketchup.

@tig said:

If all else fails my slower Ruby based OBJimporter will work ?
I guess you mean THIS one. Right? Already download it and seems to be the "obj_importer_v2.2.rbz" file (5.2 kb). Placed it into "Plugins" folder, but nothing happened. Should I place it into another folder? On the other hand, I ve alrady tried Jim Foltz's "obj_import.rb" file, which seems to give me an option to inport an OBJ file but it does not work (Sketchup does not respond (even if I tried small files 0.5-1 Mb)...

The last few days I have this problem, I formated the hd 5 times, install everything again another 5 times, do everything by the book as I did dozens of times all these years before when need to re-fresh my Windows, tried different versions of Sketchup (v 7.0.08657 / 7.0.10247 / 7.1.04871 / 7.1.06087 / 7.1.06860 / 8.0.03117 / 8.0.04811 / 8.0.11752 / 8.0.14346 / 8.0.15158) tried to install again and again the FluidImporter 1.0.5, but nothing happens...!!! No OBJ file import option appeared into menu.

@mikaelo said:

HELP WANTED - OBJ IMPORT OPTION DOES NOT APPEAR
Any ideas or advices please?
Anybody? Come ooon people. Am I the only one person facing this problem? There MUST be a way! OBJ files importing option is still not available and I have no idea what should be done to make it work...

...ANY idea, ANY advice could be usefull

HELP WANTED - OBJ IMPORT OPTION DOES NOT APPEAR
I am a happy SketchUp user (version 8.0.16846), mostly for hobby purposes. I used the FluidImporter (v 1.0.5 32 bit) to import OBJ files into SketchUp with no problems at all for more than one year. I am running Win XP pro SP3 32 bit.

Last week I format my HD and start installing again all programs - no problem so far. After installing the SketchUp (version 8.0.16846) & FluidImporter (v 1.0.5 32 bit) which I used to work for long time without problems, I found that I cannot import OBJ files. Actually, under the "Import" table, the "OBJ files" options is now missing (screenshots follwoing). The FluidImporter seems to be installed normaly, the files "FluidImporter.dll" and "Uninstall.exe" seems to be OK under C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 8\Importers folder (exactly as before HD format and Win XP new instalation)... but the OBJ importing option is missing!

As said before, I am running a SketchUp 8.0.16846 with FluidImporter 1.0.5 (Win XP 32 bit version downloaded from http://www.fluidray.com/downloads link) on a Win XP SP3. The most weird is that I installed the exact same setup files as before HD format and new Win XP, so it should work but unfortunatelly it does not!

Any ideas or advices please?