# Watir issue with AutoIt on Vista 64 bit

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/watir-issue-with-autoit-on-vista-64-bit/185868>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [March 27, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/watir-issue-with-autoit-on-vista-64-bit/185868 "2010-03-27T23:03:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![joe-dumoulin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/9dc877/32.png) [@joe-dumoulin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/joe-dumoulin)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/watir-issue-with-autoit-on-vista-64-bit/185868/1 "2010-03-27T23:03:15Z")

</div>

Installed Watir (v1.6.5) on top of Ruby (v1.8.6) on my 32bit WinXP and  
64 bit Vista systems. Ran into way too many issues trying to use Ruby  
1.9.1 (64-bit) and Watir(v1.6.5), so degraded to try these older  
versions, as Watir site recommends.

Are versions of Watir (v1.6.5) and Ruby (v1.8.6) for Vista 64-bit  
available? If so where?

This is the four line program that run OK on 32bit XP, but fails on 64  
bit Vista.

require ‘Watir’  
browser=Watir::Browser.new  
browser.minimize # Fails on this line  
browser.close

Here’s the irb session on the 64-bit Vista system:

C:\>irb  
irb(main):001:0\> require ‘Watir’  
=\> true  
irb(main):002:0\> browser=Watir::Browser.new  
=\> #\<Watir::IE:0x4c98a5c url=“about:blank” title=“”\>  
irb(main):003:0\> browser.minimize  
WIN32OLERuntimeError: unknown OLE server: `AutoItX3.Control' HRESULT error code:0x800401f3 Invalid class string from C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.5/lib/watir/ie.rb:114:in `initialize’  
from  
C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.5/lib/watir/ie.rb:114:in `new' from C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.5/lib/watir/ie.rb:114:in `autoit’  
from  
C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.5/lib/watir/ie-class.rb:438:in  
`autoit' from C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.5/lib/watir/ie-class.rb:435:in `set\_window\_state’  
from  
C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.5/lib/watir/ie-class.rb:416:in  
`minimize’  
from (irb):3  
irb(main):004:0\> exit

FYI: Here’s the output from gem’s env command:  
C:\>gem env  
RubyGems Environment:

- RUBYGEMS VERSION: 1.3.6
- RUBY VERSION: 1.8.6 (2008-08-11 patchlevel 287) [i386-mswin32]
- INSTALLATION DIRECTORY: C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8
- RUBY EXECUTABLE: C:/Ruby/bin/ruby.exe
- EXECUTABLE DIRECTORY: C:/Ruby/bin
- RUBYGEMS PLATFORMS:
  - ruby
  - x86-mswin32-60

- GEM PATHS:
  - C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8
  - C:/Users/Me/.gem/ruby/1.8

- GEM CONFIGURATION:
  - :update\_sources =\> true
  - :verbose =\> true
  - :benchmark =\> false
  - :backtrace =\> false
  - :bulk\_threshold =\> 1000

- REMOTE SOURCES:
  - [http://rubygems.org/](http://rubygems.org/)

Here’s relevant definition from the Watir file: ie-class.rb

414 # Minimize the window (appears as icon on taskbar)  
415 def minimize  
416 set\_window\_state :SW\_MINIMIZE  
417 end

434 def set\_window\_state(state)  
435 autoit.WinSetState title, ‘’, autoit.send(state)  
436 end  
437 def autoit  
438 Watir::autoit  
439 end

Here’s relevant definition from the Watir file: ie.rb:

108 def self.autoit  
109 unless @@autoit  
110 begin  
111 @@autoit = WIN32OLE.new(‘AutoItX3.Control’)  
112 rescue WIN32OLERuntimeError  
113 \_register(‘AutoItX3.dll’)  
114 @@autoit = WIN32OLE.new(‘AutoItX3.Control’)  
115 end  
116 end  
117 @@autoit  
118 end