Painless upgrading to BOINC 5.2.X

We now have a new "recommended" version of BOINC, the 5.2.X series (currently 5.2.13). This series is the first major change in recommended version for quite a while, the previous one being version 4.45. This new series represents a significant change for all those still on 4.XX, so I thought I would try out upgrading several boxes to see if there were any potential pitfalls and to report my findings. Please note that the intention is to suggest steps for an easy 4.XX to 5.2.X upgrade primarily for Windows users. Hopefully if people can follow these steps, their upgrade experience will be pleasant and painless.

"Why upgrade?" you ask. "If it ain't broke, why fix it?" you say. Yes, my sentiments exactly so let me give you a couple of thoughts as to why you should seriously consider upgrading.

• *There are many bugs that have been fixed. (Yes, undoubtedly some new ones added too!!).
  *There are lots of new features to allow better control of projects.
  *There are more and improved messages so you may better understand what is going on.
  *Help for known & solved problems in older versions will quickly diminish in the future.
  *Helpers will quickly lose interest in supporting outdated versions, even if it is a totally new bug you are now finding.
  *Sooner or later 4.XX clients will no longer be "allowed" to connect anyway.
  *Current problems will be resolved faster if more people are using and reporting on the current version.
  *

The upgrade process seems very simple and painless.

Now you can forget all the hype - that last one is the killer as far as I'm concerned. It's so painless that if your project(s) support 5.Y.X and you are still on an oldish 4.XX, you should just do it.

Disclaimer: The following list of steps have worked flawlessly for me in the upgrading of several different Windows boxes from 4.19 to 5.2.X. There has not been a single hiccup and I have not lost a second of work. However I cannot give any guarantee that it will work for you. So please use at your own risk. Also the instructions are for Windows users. I have no experience with other OS's.

In order to make this information as accesible and "noise free" as possible, please refrain from posting any trivial or "personal experience" type messages here, unless it is absolutely vital to save someone from disaster. By all means start or join a separate discussion thread like this for those sort of messages. If there are corrections needed, please post your suggestions separately and I'll make the corrections by editing this message. If it seems useful, I'll make this message "sticky" so people can more easily find it.

OK, so here are the suggested steps:-

• *Check that all the projects you run do support BOINC 5.Y.X before you start. Most now do. LHC now does.
  *Download a copy of BOINC 5.2.X (currently 5.2.13) from

here and place it on your desktop or other convenient folder.
*No matter what stage it's at, simply exit completely your currently running BOINC. You do NOT have to be concerned about current work in progress, but do check with task manager that nothing BOINC related is still running.
*For safety, make a backup copy of the entire BOINC folder and store in a safe place if you are paranoid. Personally, I didn't bother with this step.
*Use Windows Add/Remove to uninstall BOINC. This will leave all your existing data and configuration files completely untouched. Do not otherwise touch any file.
*Start the installation of 5.2.X in the normal way and make sure the install is pointing to your existing BOINC folder.
*Choose the type of install that you want. I assume most will be choosing "Single User". I've tried both "Single User" and "Service" installs. Also tick or untick the options for default Screensaver and launching BOINC - your choice. I don't tick the screensaver because it takes cpu cycles from the science.
*Start the install. When the install finishes, BOINC can be launched automatically or manually by selecting or not selecting the "Launch BOINC" option on the final screen - your choice.
*When BOINC launches, it will find and use all of your previous settings. If you have a firewall, be sure to allow the new BOINC programs to pass through. Because of the version change, BOINC will run the benchmarks so I always leave everything alone until the benchmarks have finished.
*Setup the size, position, column widths, etc, of the BOINC Manager window to suit your personal taste. Then you are done.

To emphasise the point about not worrying about work in progress, I deliberately waited until I had both "in progress" work and work that had been completed and "uploaded" but not "reported" before doing the upgrade. Once the benchmarks had been done, the new BOINC noticed the "Ready to report" work and simply reported it. The work was subsequently validated and everything worked perfectly.

A point about firewalls. On the boxes I upgraded, several had ZoneAlarm and a couple had the windows SP2 firewall. In each case, popup windows appeared and I was immediately able to grant the necessary firewall permissions for the new programs. If you are getting any failure to connect, please check your firewall and allow the necessary permissions.

I'm going to start a discussion thread where people can report their own success or failure with the upgrade process and can get extra help by asking questions if needed. Please use that thread for those purposes, rather than this one.

I hope you find the above information useful.

Edit on Oct 27 2005: Added some links.
Edit on Oct 28 2005: Changed where neccessary to handle intro of 5.2.5 and rapid demise of 5.2.2.
Edit on Oct 29 2005: Further clarifications about 4.XX to 5.2.X upgrades.
Edit on Nov 01 2005: Recommended version is now 5.2.6.
Edit on Nov 08 2005: Recommended version is now 5.2.7.
Edit on Nov 23 2005: Recommended version is now 5.2.8.
Edit on Nov 29 2005: Recommended version is now 5.2.13. (I blinked and a few versions flew past :).)