8.3b reinstall - help with licence wanted

[fjs]

My friend has an installation of shop software on a W2000 system. It runs ok for many years now, but to be on the safe side, I want to install the software, which is using Progress 8.3b in a VM and W7. The manufacturer did give me some help in transfering the shop software and provided me with the progress installation files.
There is a licence file - the original paper licence got lost over the years - but the control number seams to be encrypted. It is not accepted, whatever I entered.
Could someone help me reviving this licence ?

 

[TomBascom]

To be on the safe side you should upgrade to a current and up to date release of both Progress and Windows. The current release of Progress is 12.1.

8.3 is unspeakably ancient. Windows 7 is also pretty long in the tooth.

 

[fjs]

You are right, even the supplier of the shop software has a new - expensive - software available. But my friend has a quite small fashion store and is already 70 years old, and he will soon close down the shop completely and therefore does not want to make big investments any more. The system by the way is stable and not connected to the internet.

 

[TomBascom]

That is a progress.cfg file for Progress 9.1D not for 8.3B

It is the result of successfully entering the control codes. It is not the control codes themselves.

Do you have the base 8.3B install package? (Probably a CD from Progress.) Or are you trying to "install" by copying stuff from one machine to another? Installing by copying stuff works for UNIX systems but Windows does all sorts of anti-social fiddling with the registry that generally makes that impossible to succeed at.

 

[fjs]

Thank you for your help. In the meantime I got a valid installation kit from the application supplier. How to stop the running DB software - the patches won't install while the DB is up ?

 

[TomBascom]

Open a "proenv" shell, cd to the directory that the db is installed in and:

proenv>  proshut -by dbname

It might be helpful to brush up on the local method of starting the db after a shutdown (everyone does it differently and the differences are important to success).

 

[TomBascom]

Also... I would install that stuff on your hypothetical w7 VM before I touch the working system.

You want to be sure that you have everything that you need and that it all works before you do *anything* to such an old and delicate install.

If you really have the proper install kit and patches from the vendor you should be able to install a fresh copy on w7 somewhere and then restore a db backup and the application code and get it running and tested *without* disturbing production.