Upgrading from 16-bit ProBoard

If you run ProBoard 2.x (the 16-bit DOS program) you can keep your users, message bases, file areas and menus. Most files carry over exactly as they are. A handful of data files changed shape and are converted for you, after a backup.

These keep their on-disk layout, so v4 reads them as they are: CONFIG.PRO, USERS.BBS and its companion files, MESSAGES.PB, FILECFG.PRO, the message bases (JAM, Squish and Hudson), menus (.PBM) and your text and ANSI screens.

Seven data files used 16-bit field sizes and need converting to the v4 sizes. The conversion is done by the same engine whether you start it from PBInstall or from PBConfig.

PBConfig also checks NODE_IDX.PRO, the nodelist index. It has the same layout in both versions, so it never needs converting.

A converted file is written beside the original and swapped into place only after it is complete, so a crash never leaves a half-converted file. A file whose size does not fit either layout is reported and left alone.

• PROCFG is replaced by PBConfig. Menus, areas, levels and flags work as before; you edit them in PBConfig.
• Modem settings do nothing. Callers connect over TCP/IP. Your old modem parameters are ignored.
• DOS doors need PBLegacy and DOSBox-X, or a native Windows version. See ProBoard 2.x (16-bit) for where each old topic went.
• PEX plug-ins do not run. Plug-ins are now .P3X files built for v4. The ones that shipped with ProBoard are installed for you.
• New files appear. v4 adds DOORS.PRO and several files in Configs that 16-bit ProBoard never had. When PBConfig offers to create them, answer Yes.

1. Copy the whole ProBoard folder to a safe place. The tools below make their own backups, but a plain copy costs nothing.
2. Stop the old BBS and every node, so no file is in use.
3. Decide where v4 will live. You can install over the existing folder, or copy your data into a new folder and install there. A new folder leaves the old system untouched and lets you compare.

This is the simplest way.

1. Unzip the v4 package and run PBInstall.exe (see Installing ProBoard v4).
2. Enter the folder that holds your existing ProBoard data and confirm that you want to update it.
3. PBInstall backs up your data files into a time-stamped folder, converts the seven files above, adds only the files that are missing, and replaces the programs. It never overwrites your menus, screens or data.
4. When it finishes, click Configure ProBoard and follow Check your result below.

If PBInstall also finds FastEcho or Internet Rex, it offers to import their settings. See Importing FastEcho and Internet Rex settings; you can skip it and do it later.

Use this when you only want to convert data files, for example in a copy of your board, or when PBInstall has already run and you want to check the result.

1. Open PBConfig and choose Upgrade Data (16-bit → Win32/x64) under Tools.
2. Click Scan Installation. PBConfig reads each file and shows its size, how many records it holds and whether it is in the old or the current format.
3. Click Backup && Convert All…. PBConfig lists what it will do and asks you to confirm. It copies every file it checks into a new folder under PBUpgrade_Backups (with a list of each file's size and checksum). Only if that backup succeeds does it convert the old files.
4. Click Scan Installation again. Every file should now read as the current format.

Figure 1. The Upgrade Data page after a scan of a 16-bit system.

When PBConfig starts and finds that required data files are missing, it offers to create them and then opens on this page, because a missing set of files is the usual sign of a system that has just been moved to v4.

1. Run Scan Installation again. All files should show as the current format.
2. Open the User Editor and look through a few users. Names, levels and dates should look right.
3. Look at Message Areas and File Areas: your areas should all be listed, with their paths.
4. Under Options, check the Paths page. If you moved the system to a new folder, every path must point at the new place.
5. Connect with Telnet or PBTerm, log in as yourself, and read some mail.

Some boards that ran an early v4 test build before October 2026 have damaged dates in USERS.BBS. A fault in that build wrote four-digit years where two-digit years belonged and spilled into the neighbouring fields. If your users show impossible birth, first-call or last-call dates, use the repair:

1. Stop every node first. ProBoard rewrites an online user's record when they log off and would undo the repair.
2. In PBConfig, open Tools and Upgrade Data, then click Repair User Dates….
3. It scans, tells you how many records are damaged, and asks you to confirm. It makes a backup before it changes anything and saves a report of every record it changed.

The repair keeps any date that is still readable. A date whose text has been overwritten cannot be recovered; it is set to 00-00-00, which ProBoard treats as “no date”.

Boards that only ever ran 16-bit ProBoard do not need this.

Older layouts keep CONFIG.PRO, MESSAGES.PB, AKA.PRO and the other data files in the main folder. Move Config Files…, also on the Upgrade Data page, moves them into Configs and the language files (.PBL) into LANG, and then restarts PBConfig so every screen reloads from the new places. It is optional.

Nothing is deleted. PBInstall keeps its backup in PBInstall_Backups and the PBConfig tools use PBUpgrade_Backups, each in a folder named with the date and time. To go back, stop everything and copy the files from the backup folder over the converted ones. Use the copy of your whole folder if you also want the old programs.