I only run Seti on Boinc, so I'm not sure if this is a Seti or Boinc question. But when I add Seti to Boinc for the first time, it tries to down load a number of .exe and .dll files, astropulse etc. However I'm behind a firewall that does not allow the download of .exe and .dll files. I can copy all of those files manually to the correct location, but on every restart of Boinc, those files will be replaced by dummy files with the same names and 0 size.

How do I "tell" seti/Boinc that it already has the files, and not to try and download them again?

This happens regardless of Boinc or Windows version.

Current system in question:
Boinc 7.14.2 win x86_64
Window 10 Pro x64 build 1809

I'm not quite sure why BOINC would delete those files - they should be persistent. It might happen if the versions you installed manually were slightly different (different signature, perhaps) from the ones supplied by the server. Does the Event log show any errors at startup?

The best solution I can think of is to declare the files in an app_info.xml file, under the Anonymous Platform procedure. It's a bit messy to set up, although there are installation packages which would help - ask on the SETI message boards. You would have to do the same thing, probably without external help, for any other project you decide to join in the future.

I'm not quite sure why BOINC would delete those files - they should be persistent. It might happen if the versions you installed manually were slightly different (different signature, perhaps) from the ones supplied by the server. Does the Event log show any errors at startup?

The best solution I can think of is to declare the files in an app_info.xml file, under the Anonymous Platform procedure. It's a bit messy to set up, although there are installation packages which would help - ask on the SETI message boards. You would have to do the same thing, probably without external help, for any other project you decide to join in the future.

I can think of two possible reasons it might delete them. 1) a owner/permissions issue. 2) possible it is looking at create/modify date. As Richard has said if the signature/hash is different it should delete them.

Oh, duh, dumb question, you did kill the pending transfer of the files in the transfer tab, otherwise it is likely still trying to get them directly. If this is the issue you might try detaching from Seti, putting the files in the right spot with the right owner/permissions/dates and then reattaching. Then BOINC might see the files already there and not attempt to download them.

Log file will help.

I believe the .exe & .dll files are the most recent since I copied them from a functioning installation at home. It's possible that it's the file Date Modified field that keys the attempted download, and overwrite, but I can't change that manually to test the hypothesis. I have tried the manual copying of the files with and without Seti attached and Boinc running or shutdown. Possibly my base question is how does Boinc know it should/should not download files? Or is that a Seti function?

Boinc Log File from a restart:

9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | cc_config.xml not found - using defaults
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | Starting BOINC client version 7.14.2 for windows_x86_64
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | Libraries: libcurl/7.47.1 OpenSSL/1.0.2g zlib/1.2.8
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | Data directory: C:\ProgramData\BOINC
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | Running under account Z440BEN
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | CUDA: NVIDIA GPU 0: Quadro K2200 (driver version 431.70, CUDA version 10.1, compute capability 5.0, 4096MB, 3419MB available, 1439 GFLOPS peak)
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | OpenCL: NVIDIA GPU 0: Quadro K2200 (driver version 431.70, device version OpenCL 1.2 CUDA, 4096MB, 3419MB available, 1439 GFLOPS peak)
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | Host name: DESKTOP-S73PULU
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | Processor: 12 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-1650 v3 @ 3.50GHz [Family 6 Model 63 Stepping 2]
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | Processor features: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss htt tm pni ssse3 fma cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 movebe popcnt aes f16c rdrandsyscall nx lm avx avx2 vmx smx tm2 dca pbe fsgsbase bmi1 smep bmi2
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | OS: Microsoft Windows 10: Professional x64 Edition, (10.00.17763.00)
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | Memory: 15.91 GB physical, 18.78 GB virtual
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | Disk: 147.69 GB total, 113.09 GB free
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | Local time is UTC -7 hours
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | No WSL found.
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | SETI@home | URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/; Computer ID 8821500; resource share 100
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | No general preferences found - using defaults
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | Reading preferences override file
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | Preferences:
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | max memory usage when active: 8145.60 MB
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | max memory usage when idle: 14662.08 MB
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | max disk usage: 113.09 GB
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | don't use GPU while active
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | suspend work if non-BOINC CPU load exceeds 25%
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | (to change preferences, visit a project web site or select Preferences in the Manager)
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | Setting up project and slot directories
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | Checking active tasks
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | Setting up GUI RPC socket
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | | Checking presence of 286 project files
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | SETI@home | Resetting file projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu/setiathome_8.00_windows_intelx86__cuda50.exe: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | SETI@home | Resetting file projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu/cudart32_50_35.dll: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | SETI@home | Resetting file projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu/cufft32_50_35.dll: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | SETI@home | Resetting file projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu/setiathome_8.05_windows_x86_64.exe: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | SETI@home | Resetting file projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu/setigraphics_8.05_windows_x86_64.exe: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | SETI@home | Resetting file projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu/libfftw3f-3-3-4_x64.dll: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | SETI@home | Resetting file projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu/setiathome_8.00_windows_intelx86__cuda42.exe: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | SETI@home | Resetting file projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu/cudart32_42_9.dll: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | SETI@home | Resetting file projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu/cufft32_42_9.dll: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | SETI@home | Resetting file projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu/setiathome_8.08_windows_x86_64__alt.exe: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:36 AM | SETI@home | Resetting file projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu/setigraphics_8.08_windows_x86_64.exe: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:38 AM | SETI@home | Started download of setiathome_8.00_windows_intelx86__cuda50.exe
9/30/2019 5:51:38 AM | SETI@home | Started download of cudart32_50_35.dll
9/30/2019 5:51:39 AM | SETI@home | Giving up on download of setiathome_8.00_windows_intelx86__cuda50.exe: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:39 AM | SETI@home | Giving up on download of cudart32_50_35.dll: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:39 AM | SETI@home | Started download of cufft32_50_35.dll
9/30/2019 5:51:39 AM | SETI@home | Started download of setiathome_8.05_windows_x86_64.exe
9/30/2019 5:51:40 AM | SETI@home | Giving up on download of cufft32_50_35.dll: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:40 AM | SETI@home | Giving up on download of setiathome_8.05_windows_x86_64.exe: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:40 AM | SETI@home | Started download of setigraphics_8.05_windows_x86_64.exe
9/30/2019 5:51:40 AM | SETI@home | Started download of libfftw3f-3-3-4_x64.dll
9/30/2019 5:51:41 AM | SETI@home | Giving up on download of setigraphics_8.05_windows_x86_64.exe: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:41 AM | SETI@home | Giving up on download of libfftw3f-3-3-4_x64.dll: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:41 AM | SETI@home | Started download of setiathome_8.00_windows_intelx86__cuda42.exe
9/30/2019 5:51:41 AM | SETI@home | Started download of cudart32_42_9.dll
9/30/2019 5:51:42 AM | SETI@home | Giving up on download of setiathome_8.00_windows_intelx86__cuda42.exe: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:42 AM | SETI@home | Giving up on download of cudart32_42_9.dll: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:42 AM | SETI@home | Started download of cufft32_42_9.dll
9/30/2019 5:51:42 AM | SETI@home | Started download of setiathome_8.08_windows_x86_64__alt.exe
9/30/2019 5:51:43 AM | SETI@home | Giving up on download of cufft32_42_9.dll: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:43 AM | SETI@home | Giving up on download of setiathome_8.08_windows_x86_64__alt.exe: permanent HTTP error
9/30/2019 5:51:43 AM | SETI@home | Started download of setigraphics_8.08_windows_x86_64.exe
9/30/2019 5:51:44 AM | SETI@home | Giving up on download of setigraphics_8.08_windows_x86_64.exe: permanent HTTP error

I've noticed that the "client_state.xml" file has a record of exe & dll files downloaded successfully or not. Could that file be edited to tell Boinc that the files are downloaded? Does Boink parse that file on startup, or is it more a record the state, with no feedback to what might need to be done?

I've noticed that the "client_state.xml" file has a record of exe & dll files downloaded successfully or not. Could that file be edited to tell Boinc that the files are downloaded? Does Boink parse that file on startup, or is it more a record the state, with no feedback to what might need to be done?

I'd advise you not to try editing that file manually. It's the complete record of "Life, the Universe and Everything" as far as BOINC is concerned - a single slip and you're back to square one.

In the SETI Q&A, you were advised by Keith Myers to consider downloading and running the Lunatics application installer. I wrote that, so I recuse myself from advising it - but it's the simplest way of achieving a comprehensive set of compatible applications.

Client_state.xml is the active instantaneous state of the client at all times. It read and written to constantly when the client starts up. It is the file that notices that files are not present for the onboard applications and tasks. It is a bear/pain to manually edit. One syntax error or typo and you throw away all the tasks and the account.

Thanks for the help everyone, it would have been nice if there was an easy copy replace route, but guess not. I'll look into Lunatics, and/or go the hotspot to phone route.

Could that file be edited to tell Boinc that the files are downloaded?

It is not necessary to edit the state file for the client to become aware that required files already exist. The client is perfectly able to discover that for itself. A classic example of that is the action I take if I want to install BOINC on a new machine and minimise the initial downloads. I have complete template hierarchies for whatever BOINC version I intend to use. That includes complete project directories for whatever project I wish to run. In each project folder, I include all the files that BOINC would need to download from the servers of that particular project. When BOINC is first launched, there are always lots of messages of the form, "File xyz exists, skipping download."

For your situation, if you have known good copies of all the files you are unable to download, just stop BOINC and copy those files into place. When you restart BOINC, those files will be noticed and provided they do meet any validity checks (eg MD5SUM or other security checks) you should find that they will be accepted without you needing to touch the state file. Are you sure you have known good copies. That's the key.

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Cheers,
Gary.