Installing ProBoard v4

This page walks through a new installation with PBInstall. If you already run ProBoard 2.x, read Upgrading from 16-bit ProBoard as well. Read Before you install first if you have not.

Unzip the package into a working folder, for example C:\Temp\PBv4. This is only the place PBInstall runs from; it is not where ProBoard will live. Everything PBInstall installs is taken from the folder that holds PBInstall.exe, so keep the files from the zip together.

Double-click PBInstall.exe. The first window asks where to install.

Figure 1. The destination prompt. The suggested folder is C:\ProBoard.

Type or paste the folder you want and click Install. If the folder already contains a ProBoard system (PBInstall looks for CONFIG.PRO or a marker file from an earlier install), it asks you to confirm that you want to update it. Answer Yes only if that is what you intend; see Upgrading from 16-bit ProBoard.

The install window shows the ProBoard logo, a black box that lists each step as it happens, and a status bar. The bar is red while the install is running and turns green at 100 percent.

Figure 2. PBInstall running. Every step is also written to a log.

PBInstall does these things, in this order:

1. Backs up every file it could change, but only when it finds an existing system. A fresh folder has nothing to back up.
2. Converts any 16-bit data files it finds to the v4 format (see Upgrading from 16-bit ProBoard). A fresh install has none.
3. Copies the programs and plug-ins. Programs go in the install folder, plug-ins (.P3X files) go in PEX. A program that is already running is reported and you are asked to close it and retry, or skip it.
4. Copies the sample content (menus, screens and documents) into MENUS, TXTFILES and DOC, only if the files are not already there.
5. Creates the data files ProBoard needs, such as CONFIG.PRO, the message and file area lists and USERS.BBS. On a new install these start as a working demonstration system, not empty files.
6. Points the demonstration data at your folder. The sample data was prepared for C:\PROBOARD; PBInstall rewrites those paths to the folder you chose.

You can leave the window alone while it works. It does not let you close it until the install has finished.

When the bar is green a message says that the installation is complete. Close it, and two buttons appear under the status bar:

• Exit closes PBInstall.
• Configure ProBoard closes PBInstall and opens PBConfig in your new folder.

Figure 3. The completion message.

A copy of the install log is kept in the LOGS folder and next to PBInstall.exe. If anything looks wrong, read the log first; it records every file copied, with the folder it went to.

The install folder contains the program files and these folders. The Introduction describes what each program does.

PBInstall remembers your data folder in the Windows registry, under your user account, so PBConfig finds it the first time it starts. Run PBConfig as the same Windows user who ran PBInstall, or point it at the folder yourself.

A new install is a complete small board you can look at straight away. It has a sample file area (Example File Area), a sample message area, security levels, menus and screens. The idea is to let you see how everything looks and behaves before you change it. Rename, edit or delete any of it in PBConfig.

Click Configure ProBoard, or run PBConfig.exe from the install folder.

PBConfig may tell you that some files are missing and offer to create blank versions. On a fresh install this is normal for Configs\PBQWK.CFG: it cannot be created automatically because it needs the name of a real QWK network, so PBConfig creates it when you first configure that screen. Answer Yes.

Then, in this order:

1. Open Options and check the Paths page. The sample data should already point at your install folder.
2. Set your board's name and sysop name.
3. Review the services you want on the Services screen (see Before you install for ports).
4. Start PBDispatch.exe and connect to your board with Telnet or PBTerm to see it.

The Getting started section covers these steps in detail.

• The install stopped with an error. Read the log in the LOGS folder. If it says the backup failed, nothing else was changed. Fix the cause (usually a full disk or a file in use) and run PBInstall again.
• A plug-in ended up in the wrong folder, or a program is missing. Run PBInstall again from a complete, freshly unzipped package. Existing menus, screens and data are not overwritten.
• Wrong CPU. A package for one kind of Windows will not run properly on the other. Use the Win32 package on 32-bit Windows and the x64 package on 64-bit Windows.