How to upgrade to a new version

Support
#1

There’s no published procedure for upgrading, and in the past I’ve had trouble. I have several PCs (and a Mac) that I need to upgrade from 2.1.0 to 2.1.1. On the first PC, I had to do these steps below for a successful upgrade, with my existing jobs carried over to the new version. (This applies to a Duplicacy install that’s as a service and for all users.)

  1. If GUI is running, Quit it from the tray icon.
  2. Stop the Duplicacy service.
  3. Run the install file as administrator, and choose install for anyone using this computer during the install. Choose Install Duplicacy as a service at the end. Ignore the “service has already been installed” message.
  4. Run Duplicacy. “Enter license code to activate license.” Use the same code that was used previously on the same PC.
  5. Reboot PC.
  6. Make the existing Windows 10 Tile run as administrator by default again: Right click on the tile > More > Open file location. Location will show the Duplicacy shortcut. Right click on shortcut > Properties > Advanced… > Check ‘Run as administrator’

Before I upgrade the remaining PCs, are the steps above the best way to do it?

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#2

Before step 3 you may need to run sc delete "Duplicacy Cloud Backup" to uninstall the service in the DOS prompt run as administrator. Then you won’t have the “service has already been installed” message.

Step 4, 5, and 6 are not needed I think. Especially for step 6 – the GUI and the service do not need to be running at the same time. In fact when the GUI is running the status of the service will be paused.

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#3

I think it’s easier just to dismiss the “serivce has already been installed” message when it appears.

  • I wrote step 4 because “Enter licences code to actvate license” was a dialog that appeared upon first running the upgraded GUI. I obeyed the dialog by entering my license code.
  • I wrote step 5 because when I ran the GUI (as admin of course) my jobs were missing, replaced by tabs labeled “new,” that contained none of my setup info. After I rebooted, my jobs were back.
  • I know the service pauses when the GUI runs. Step 6 is about fixing the custom tile I set up to automatically run the GUI as administrator. After the install, the tile ran the GUI, but not as administrator any more. Step 6 fixes this.

To test these steps again, I installed 2.1.1 over 2.1.0 on a second PC. I didn’t need step 4 - I was not asked to enter my license code again. But I needed steps 5 and 6, for the reasons I list above. Both PCs are Windows 10 1803 x64 fully updated.

#4

Well, I’ll continue to use my 6-step upgrade procedure, as it seems to be necessary, to one degree or another, on my machines. I don’t understand why it varies, nor do I understand why there is no developer interest in getting to the bottom of this.

On the other hand, Mr. Chen’s time is better spent working on the new GUI, which I await with great anticipation.

#5

I wasn’t aware that updating the gui is so complicated. With the CLI, I just copy the new exe file over the old one. Done.

I suppose with the bew GUI things will also become easier? But probably never as easy as with CLI because you’ll always have some service running that needs to be stopped…

How to upgrade cli version
#6

This is one of the main reasons why I love CLI versions…

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#7

I should like the CLI too - I got my introduction to computers with Atari DOS, then MS-DOS, batch files, etc. But when Windows came along I got hypnotized by all the pretty windows. I love eye candy. Also, GUIs excel at conveying lots of information, quickly.

I’m pinning my hopes on the new GUI version. The glimpse offered in the new-GUI thread is very encouraging.

#8

I confess that I’m curious too.

#9

This is actually windows specific problem. You can’t have two easily distinguishable versions of Duplicacy on windows one installed as a service and another into user’s profile. When you launch it from a start menu it is unclear which is which. And when you reinstall you must remember whether it was installed for all or for this specific user or you end up with two instances. and installer cannot know whether it is intentional or by mistake.

Perhaps the solution would be for the duplicacy installer to always install for all users and always require admin rights; and to support per-user installation – provide separate “portable” version, which users can just copy anywhere they wish, MacOS style.

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