Installing or upgrading

The installation program is similar whether you are installing WhatsUp Gold for the first time or upgrading a previous installation. Steps that apply only to a first-time installation, or only to an upgrade, are identified as such.

Note: These installation instructions are intended for WhatsUp Gold Standard Edition and WhatsUp Gold Premium Edition. For installation instructions for WhatsUp Gold Distributed Edition, see the WhatsUp Gold Distributed Edition Deployment Guide. For installation instructions for WhatsUp Gold MSP Edition, see the WhatsUp Gold MSP Edition Deployment Guide.

To install or upgrade WhatsUp Gold:

1. Log in directly to Microsoft Windows using the Administrator account (or, if you do not have an account called Administrator, use an account that has full administrative privileges to the computer). Do not use Terminal Services or Remote Desktop to install WhatsUp Gold.

   Note: When installing on Windows Vista, additional steps are necessary for the Task Tray application to work properly. For more information, see Task Tray Application fails on Windows Vista.

2. Start the installation program:
   • If you purchased a WhatsUp Gold CD-ROM, insert the CD-ROM into the appropriate drive. If it does not run automatically, click Start, select Run, then enter the CD path followed by AutoRun.exe For example: D:\AutoRun.exe
   • If you downloaded WhatsUp Gold Standard Edition or WhatsUp Gold Premium Edition from our Web site, run the downloaded installation application.
3. Read the Welcome screen.

   The Welcome screen recommends that you disable any running antivirus software, estimates how long it takes to install the application, and displays a button that, when clicked, displays the release notes.

   Click Next to continue. The License Agreement dialog opens.

4. Read the license agreement. Select the appropriate option, then click Next.
5. For first-time installation only: Select the install directories for SQL Server 2005 Express Edition. The application and data files will be installed in default directories. If you want to change the locations, click the browse buttons to find and select a different directory.

   Note: If you want to customize your database setup, you need to first complete the installation using Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition. After installation completes, you can manually configure your database as described in Using alternative database setups in the Help.

   Important: Make sure that you have a large capacity drive selected for data storage. Data files can grow up to 4 GB.

   The application and data files will be installed in default directories. If you want to change the locations, click the browse buttons to find and select a different directory.

   Click Next.

   Note: The SQL Server 2005 Express Edition installation may take several minutes.

6. For new installation only: Select the installation directory for the WhatsUp Gold application files.

   The default path is C:\Program Files\Ipswitch\WhatsUp. We recommend that you use the default path. Some users prefer to put application files on a partition separate from the operating system, which is usually installed on the C: drive, to isolate the application from an operating system crash.

7. For upgrade installation only: Choose whether to backup your current WhatsUp Gold database. We strongly suggest that you do this.
8. For upgrade installation only: Choose how to handle existing Web and Report files.

   If you have previously installed WhatsUp Gold, you may already have Web and Report files stored in your installation directory. You can choose to either delete them or back them up during the install. Backup is recommended.

9. If a sound card is installed and it has SAPI-compatible drivers, the install program asks whether you want to install Text to Speech capabilities. If you select No, you can always return and install Text to Speech at a later date.
10. For new installation only: Choose whether to enable the web server during install and enter a port for this installation. The default port is Port 80.

    Note: This dialog will not be displayed during an upgrade if you have already enabled the WhatsUp web server in an older version of WhatsUp.

11. Click Install to install the WhatsUp Gold application files. The installation program gives you the option to go back and change options or cancel prior to completing the installation.

    Important: When you use an alternative database setup, you will need to run the database upgrade scripts when installing a new release of WhatsUp Gold. The installation program will warn you if it detects a non-default database. For information on running the upgrade scripts, see Upgrading the database schema.

12. Make your selections, then click Finish.

After the application starts, the Discover Devices wizard appears. This wizard is used to set options on how to discover your network. Follow the wizard dialogs or if you choose to postpone these steps, click the Cancel.