* PC disaster - struggling to reinstall FH v6

[billor]

Hi I have had FH since version 3 and have purchased 'upgrades' for each version through to version 6. I have the licence keys for the version 4, 5 and 6 upgrades.

Yesterday I had a self inflicted PC disaster and lost all my programs but I still have my data files thank Goodness!

I have read the guide for reinstalling FH at http://fhug.org.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=how ... tion_guide but I'm failing at the first step - installing the version 4/5 upgrade. Where is it? I have tried installing the version 5 free trial but my V5 licence key is not recognised.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks,
Bill

[E Wilcock]

I am the worst person to answer this question as only now beginning to seriously use the software. And if anything can be missed or mis-handled I probably do that too.

However, like you I found re installing a big problem. Like you I have bought many on-going versions of FH. And trying to install FH6 on my lap top last Dec-Jan proved a total nightmare. Enough to put me off the program.

Even when I started to use FH, a couple of months ago, I dreaded having to repeat the installation. So I was dismayed that due to a technical problem with the accents pane on my lap top, it seemed sensible to uninstall and reinstall.

Last January I received a kind email from the designer, telling me (too late) that I could have installed in a far simpler way. Without installing countless earlier versions. Remembering this, I asked for and received very simple instructions for doing this.

The only software you need to install is version 6. If you lost your download of version 6 upgrade in your computer crash, then I imagine one can download the upgrade version of FH 6 (version 5 to 6) again. The tech people sent me a link, so I used that. If one cant download from the normal FH site , I would mail them for help.

When you install the FH 6 in the upgrade from 5 version, it will open showing a registration screen in which you will be asked your user name and key for version 5, and also for version 6.

I keep my user name and passwords for all software permanently in a Paper notebook and in MS One note so I can cut and paste them in.

As a new user, I might guess that more complex methods for reinstalling FH will be needed and are provided in order to preserve your previous settings, plug ins, queries etc? But I needed a clean installation to test for corruption.

[billor]

Thanks for the information. I can remember entering both version 5 and 6 passwords into the upgrade program but the link they give you to the upgrade program is only valid for a couple of weeks.
Sounds like I have to contact Calico Pie to get some help.

[PeterR]

Have you seen this article: how_to:family_historian_licence_problems|– Family Historian Licence Problems and related pages?

[billor]

Thanks Peter - I have sent an email to the support address so no doubt this will get sorted over the next couple of days.
Bill

[tatewise]

Bill, you say you have all your data files, which I presume means Project backups.

But have you got all your customisation & preferences settings from C:\ProgramData\Calico Pie\Family Historian\, the Windows Registry, and elsewhere?

I know it is too late now, but in future use the Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings Plugin, and if you use AS then backup its settings too.

[billor]

Mike - No I haven't! Bother!! As you say, it's too late now but I'll back them up when I've worked out what they all were!
Thanks for the pointer to the utility.
Bill

[E Wilcock]

Mike - I think that is right about the plug in and settings.

However the instruction page to which you linked, still has the instruction which led me to grief.

"If you have a Full License download for any earlier version, you can use its Free Trial version to re-install on your computer. "

Because I had a full licence very early, followed by a succession of upgrades - that meant going back almost to the historic start, and installing upgrades through version after version.

It takes a long time, drove me round the bend and thank goodness Calico Pie told me it was not necessary.

Uninstalling and reinstalling FH last week did not clear the Windows 10 accent pane problem, but I think the simpler the better when installing software. And the advice on line might be altered?
If one is not permitted to re-download the upgrade versions, it might also be a good idea to warn users of FH to keep a back up of the FH progamme files they have downloaded? And to rename them? So one knows what they are and which is which? These are difficulties which certainly put me off using the programme.

[tatewise]

OK, I see what you mean about that paragraph. It needs to reiterate what is said elsewhere, that unlike previously, the Upgrade V4 to V5 and Upgrade V4/5 to V6 products do NOT need the preceding Versions to be installed, and thus only that latest download needs to be obtained from Calico Pie, and any earlier Full/Upgrade Licence details & files can be discarded.

I have updated the wording in how_to:family_historian_licence_problems|> Family Historian Licence Problems. Is that better?

The how_to:family_historian_licence_problems|> Family Historian Licence Problems advice is the method to re-download the upgrade versions, and it does advise users to create an Installation Archive which is repeated in how_to:family_historian_installation_details|> Family Historian Installation Details. No file renaming is necessary any more, since only one .exe file needs to be kept.

[E Wilcock]

Thank you Mike - that will be clearer to beginners. We are often in the dark. Much appreciated.

As for renaming the file. I meant that the term fh is in the middle of the file name and that makes the programme file hard to find, especially when one is panicking over a crashed computer or a new operating system.

Keeping all the fiules has its downside too. My Downloaded Programmes folder has 12 FH files in it and they start with the word install or upgrade. Then FH is in the middle of the file name. Neither Family Historian nor Calico Pie is spelled out. Not everyone knows and uses the abbreviations for genealogy software. So I see that I renamed one Family Historian upgrade 4 to 4.1.3.
And in a different more recent Download folder I seem to have no fewer than 5 files for upgrading to the successive improvements of FH 6. All of them start with the word Upgrade. And if I needed to reinstall I wouldnt have a clue which one to use.

Not true - following what you said I have now found my Upgrade file for 5 to 6. And I have renamed it by inserting the words Family Historian at the front of the file name. But that wont reinstall to the latest version.

Competence using a software program is very different for experts like yourself who deal with its complexities every day. For most of us reinstalling is rare. So we forget what to do. I have had to take this computer back to factory settings twice, luckilly before I ever installed FH.
I am aging, my memory isnt good and I can see that if it happens again, I could well come crying to you for help.

[tatewise]

Maybe the technique I use would help. It is similar in concept to the Media folder naming used in FH Projects to keep like-minded things together, or folders anywhere else for that matter.

I have a folder called PC Toolkit or you could call it Downloaded Programs or whatever works for you.
It can exist within the Downloads folder or My Documents or wherever you like, as long as it is included in backups.
Within that folder I create a folder for each product I install, such as Family Historian and Ancestral Sources say.
Within the Family Historian folder is the purchased download installation file, which is all you need nowadays.
Also I save a text copy of the E-mail from Calico Pie with the Licence details for that latest and previous versions.
That technique is very similar to the Installation Archive advice.

That archived installation file probably will NOT install the latest free upgrade.
But, no matter, you can get that from http://www.family-historian.co.uk/downl ... ee-upgrade and if you forget then FH will automatically remind you within a few days that you have not got the latest upgrade installed.

[E Wilcock]

Mike, I think that is a very good idea. I need to subdivide my Downloaded Programmes folder.

I did and do have a well backed up system for the now discontinued software TMG. With the final version plus the user name and key. And this is vital for programs that are discontinued.

But I have been deeply confused about FH. When I struggled to install FH6 last winter, I went through every single upgrade of FH4. Then onto FH5!

I rarely delete anything from my computer or our two hard drive back ups. But I think the time has come to delete all previous versions of FH from this computer and just keep one file. I am profoundly thankful that this is all one now needs. Thank you for your help.

[tatewise]

Just ensure you keep the file you downloaded along with the E-mail containing the Licence details.

It should be named like upgrade_fh_v5_to_v6.0.0-dl.exe i.e. upgrade FH v5 to v6 with different leading version digit.

Not the ones named like upgrade_fh6_to_6.2.2_dl.exe i.e. free upgrade fh6 to 6.2.2 with same leading version digit, the latest of which is available from the Calico Pie website. You can keep the latest if you like, to save downloading again, but it will need to be replaced every time there is a free upgrade.

[E Wilcock]

This is very clear and very helpful. Maybe could be put in the Knowledge base?

The thing about the Help links is that they offer such a wealth of information and possibilities, that a new user is at a loss. Plus there is the language to contend with -

I see what you are explaining to me here - an upgrade from one version of FH to another (paid for) is quite different from the files providing free upgrade within a version. Yet the first word of the file name Upgrade is the same in each case.

[tatewise]

There is a summary in how_to:about|> About Family Historian but I will look at making it clearer in Installation guide.

It is always useful to have the advice reviewed with new eyes, because so much is what long standing users have grown up with.

[billor]

Thanks to Ros at Calico Pie I am a happy bunny again! She sent me a fresh link to the download for the V5 to V6 upgrade. I have downloaded this file and kept a copy ... just in case there is another disaster!
I'm now off to find that utility to back up my FH settings!
Thanks to everyone for your help.
Bill