Home → Star Bill of Lading → Network Edition Installation and Setup Instructions. → Network Upgrade Instructions from a previous version.
3.2. Network Upgrade Instructions from a previous version.
To upgrade/update your software, follow these instructions:
1. BACKUP YOUR CURRENT DATA FILES. You can either run the Backup procedure in the software, or manually locate the data folder that contains the data files and make a copy of them. Better to be safe.
2. Find out what version of the Network Edition you are using. To do this, run the program, then click on the Help menu on top of the screen, then click About...
This will display a window with the version number listed.
3. BE SURE EVERYONE IS OUT OF THE SOFTWARE ON ALL WORKSTATIONS IT IS INSTALLED ON.
4. Download the latest version of the software from our website and install it on each workstation.
The latest version can be found here: Bill of Lading Software
Instructions for installing the software can be found here: Installing Network Edition
DATA CONVERSION ONLY IF UPGRADING FROM VERSION 5.xx AND EARLIER
5. Since you are upgrading the Network Version, you will need to convert the current data for use in the latest version. (If upgrading from version 6 to a newer version, this can be skipped as it is an automatic process)
First, you need to know where the old data resides for the previous version. We would assume it is somewhere on your network. If you are upgrading from version 5 or earlier, run the Workstation Configuration Setup Utility from the previous version. To do this, click the Windows Start Button then Programs (or All Programs) then Star Bill of Lading 4,5 then Utilities then Workstation Configuration Setup Utility.
This will tell you where the data for version 4, 5 resides on your network.
Second, you need to run the Conversion Utility. This does not need to be run if upgrading from version 6 or newer. Only versions earlier than 6. Click on the Windows Start Button, then scroll to and open the Star Bill of Lading folder and select Convert data from older version.
This will ask you what version you are converting from. Be sure to select the correct version, and click convert.
You will be prompted for the folders that contain your old data and where to place the converted data.
Be sure to select the folder that contains the old data. And, normally just leave the 'to' default location alone. This will tell the program to convert the data over to the local workstation. It is optimal to do this before installing the upgrade on the other workstations. If everything is correct, then just click on the Convert button. This will convert your old data and load it into the latest version database. Then click on Exit. You are finished with this step.
6. If everything went smoothly, then you should have a copy of the converted database on your local workstation under:
- Windows Vista or 7: C:\Program Data\StarreSoft\Star Bill of Lading\data
You can run the software and verify everything is working correctly. Then you will need to copy this data folder over to a place on your server, shared workstation, or wherever you plan on sharing this information on your network.
7. Then run the Workstation Configuration Setup Utility to point the current workstation to the converted data location.
WORKSTATION CONFIGURATION SETUP
This program was installed during the installation process and can be run by clicking on the Windows Start button, scroll to the Star Bill of Lading folder, then select Workstation Configuration Setup Utility.
This will display the Current Location of the data files. To configure the data pointer, you need to click on the Set Location button.
This will show you a layout of your folders and network drives. Select the Server/Workstation that you copied the original data files to: Our Example - F:\Star BOL Data\data.
Then click OK. If you did this correctly, and the files reside in this folder, you will be notified. Then click Exit. Your system should be setup correctly.
Afterwards, run the Star Bill of Lading program to be sure the current workstation is running and accessing the data. If this is correct, then we can proceed to the other workstations.
8. After you have upgraded to the latest version, you may be prompted for a registration key. If so, just request a new key, and we will make sure you are valid on your support license. If you are, then we will send you a new set of keys. Just enter them into each workstation. You are finished upgrading.
Please contact our Help Desk if you have any trouble with any of the aforementioned steps. We will gladly assist you.
WARNING:
One thing we must mention; if you have any data already in version11, this will be lost during the conversion, as the data from version 5 will overwrite everything in version 11. We just need to mention this in case you have any data already in version 11.