Release Notes for WS_FTP Professional 12.2 and WS_FTP Home 12.2

In this File

12.2 Release Notes

About this document

This document contains information on how to install and configure WS_FTP Professional, and WS_FTP Home. Depending on which WS_FTP client product you have purchased, portions of this document may not apply.

New Features in WS_FTP 12.2

Menu and Button Changes in WS_FTP 12.2

Version 12.0.1 Patch Release

We released a patch version (12.0.1) in May 2009 to fix some customer reported issues with the 12 release. The patch is a full version of the software, and should be installed over the 12 installation.

This patch addresses the following issues:

New features in WS_FTP 12

Security

Productivity and Performance

System requirements

Supported operating systems

WS_FTP supports the following Operating Systems:

Hardware requirements

Minimum requirements based on Windows XP Professional, SP3:

Installing WS_FTP

If you purchased a WS_FTP CD-ROM, insert the CD in a drive. If the CD does not automatically display a "Welcome" screen, click the Windows Start button and select Run. Enter the CD-ROM drive letter followed by autorun.exe. For example, D:\autorun.exe. Follow the instructions on your screen.

If you downloaded the WS_FTP installation executable, double-click the downloaded file to start the installation. Follow the instructions on your screen.

Activating (All applications)

There are four ways you can make a WS_FTP installation active:

To manually activate the license on an existing installation:

Note: Before you start the manual activation process, make sure that you have your product serial number, MyIpswitch account name, and password available for use during activation.

- or -

Follow the on-screen instructions, entering your product serial number, MyIpswitch account name, and password.

Note: When the activation is complete, a confirmation page indicates the license has been activated. If the activation does not complete successfully, you may be behind a proxy or firewall that is blocking the activation request. In this case, click the Offline button, then follow the onscreen instructions.

For more help and information about licensing, go to the MyIpswitch (www.myipswitch.com) licensing portal.

For information about unattended, or "silent" installations, see the WS_FTP Release Notes.

Uninstalling (All Applications)

The uninstall function removes all files associated with WS_FTP from your computer, including your configured sites. It also removes the WS_FTP icon from your desktop. To uninstall WS_FTP, you need to use the "Add/Remove Programs" function located in the Control Panel. Select WS_FTP Professional 12 (or WS_FTP Home 12) from the program list and click the "Change/Remove" button.

Silent Install (All Applications)

WS_FTP install allows for a "silent" (unattended) product install. In the present WS_FTP version, you can use silent install to automate installations for local computers only.

Silent install requires two operations. The first operation "records" the options that you choose during a normal install, storing them in a local "response" file. The second automatically runs an install on a different computer, based on the options recorded in the file created in the first operation.

This means that if other computers require identical install options to the ones you recorded in a response file, you can use that file to automate installation on those computers. A simple command will automatically perform the installation using the entries recorded in response file. Other than the execution of the command, the install will require no input from the user.

Note: If the respective computers do not have the same install option requirements, and you nonetheless run the silent install using the same file, an error may result and the install will fail.

You can also run a silent uninstall. You can do this by initiating a record operation, recording an uninstall, and then performing a silent install process described below, using the response file you created during the uninstall process.

To perform a silent install (or uninstall):

  1. Initiate the recording to start the response file:

    Execute the following at a command line or Run dialog:

    [path+executable].exe -r -f1[path]\setup.iss SERIAL="[serial number + UAP]"

    where [path+executable] is the name of the WS_FTP install executable you are creating the response file for, plus its location

    ...the second [path] is the location where you wish to create the response file

    ...setup.iss is the response file itself (you can name the file a different name if you wish). There should be no space between the option "f1" and the path for the setup.iss file

    Note:The "SERIAL=" argument is optional depending on whether your install executable has an embedded serial number, and whether the install machine has Internet connectivity, as described the next section.

    ...[serial number + UAP] is your assigned serial number + the UAP, which is a security code that you append to the serial number to activate the license. You can find the product name plus the assigned serial number in the My Licenses tab on MyIpswitch.com. A license`s UAP is exposed to users under "Additional License Information." The UAP is displayed only when you are authorized to activate the license on more than one system.

    For example, using all arguments, the command would look like:

    [c:\downloads\wsftp_install.exe].exe -r -f1c:\silentinstall\setup.iss SERIAL="1X4CF7M10W33XS1OVCCW2ST"

  2. Proceed with the install using the options you wish to record. When you click Finish, the install (or uninstall) recording will be complete.

3. Execute the silent install on the desired computer by running the following:

[path+executable].exe -s -f1[path]\setup.iss SERIAL="[serial number + UAP]"

where the bracketed values are the same ones mentioned in the previous step. (Again, there should be no space between the option "f1" and the path for the setup.iss file.)

...again, the "SERIAL=" argument is optional depending on whether your install executable has an embedded serial number, and whether the install machine has Internet connectivity, as described in the next section.

For example, using all arguments, the command would look like:

[c:\downloads\wsftp_install.exe].exe -s -f1c:\silentinstall\setup.iss SERIAL="1X4CF7M10W33XS1OVCCW2ST"

After this step, the silent install will proceed with no further input needed.

You can run each of these operations with no specifics after the command. This will perform the operation with default values. The default for the record operation will store the file as "setup.iss" in the system's Windows folder. The execute silent install operation will look for a file of that name in the same folder. If there is no .iss file present, the install will fail.

More on Serial Numbers

You may need to use the SERIAL argument to this command to specify your serial number and to activate your software. Activation of the silent install depends on two factors: whether your install executable has an embedded serial number, and whether the install machine has Internet connectivity. There are four scenarios:

You have a downloaded WS_FTP install executable, which has an embedded serial number and the install machine has Internet connectivity. In this case:

  1. Run the command without the SERIAL argument. Activation will occur silently.
  2. Run the recorded file without the SERIAL argument. Activation will occur silently.

    Result: You can run the recorded install up to your maximum permissible license activations.

You have a downloaded WS_FTP install executable, which has an embedded serial number and the install machine does not have Internet connectivity. In this case:

  1. Rename the install executable so that the file name does not include the serial number and UAP.
  2. Run the record command without the SERIAL argument. While recording, when the Activation dialog opens, click Cancel to close the dialog and return to the install wizard. Complete the installation.
  3. Run the recorded file without the SERIAL argument.

    Result: The WS_FTP is installed, but does not have a license file.

  4. Contact customer service to arrange a license with multiple activations or use offline activation to activate each installation. For offline activation, go to www.myipswitch.com, click on Offline Activation, and follow the instructions displayed.

You have a downloaded WS_FTP install executable, and a separate NSA license file, and the install machine does not have Internet connectivity. In this case:

  1. Rename the install executable so that the file name does not include the serial number and UAP.
  2. Run the record command without the SERIAL argument. There will not be an activation, as you are using the NSA license. Complete the installation.
  3. Run the recorded file without the SERIAL argument.

    Result: The WS_FTP is installed, but does not have a license file.

  4. Place the license file, named "license.txt" into the the appropriate folder, depending on which version of WS_FTP you are installing:
    • WS_FTP Professional 12.2 and WS_FTP Home 12.2 version 12.0: \Program Files\Ipswitch\WS_FTP 12\
    • WS_FTP Professional 12.2 and WS_FTP Home 12.2 version 12.2: \Documents and Settings\All Users\Ipswitch\WS_FTP\

You have a CD with the WS_FTP install executable and the install machine has Internet connectivity. In this case:

  1. Run the record command with the SERIAL argument. Activation will occur silently.
  2. Run the recorded file with the SERIAL argument. Activation will occur silently.

    Result: You can run the recorded install up to your maximum permissible license activations.

You have a CD with the WS_FTP install executable and the install machine does not have Internet connectivity. In this case:

  1. Run the record command without the SERIAL argument. Activation will occur silently.
  2. Run the recorded file without the SERIAL argument.

    Result: The WS_FTP is installed, but does not have a license file.

  3. Contact customer service to arrange a license with multiple activations or use offline activation to activate each installation. For offline activation, go to www.myipswitch.com, click on Offline Activation, and follow the instructions displayed.

Setup.log

The install creates a log file in the same directory as the response file: setup.log. The Setup.log file contains three sections. The first section,[InstallShield Silent], identifies the version of InstallShield Silent used in the silent setup. The second section, [Application], identifies the installed application's name and version, and the company name. The third section, [ResponseResult], contains the result code indicating whether or not the silent setup succeeded.

The ResponseResult should show one of two values. If your install failed due to a missing value, you will see a value of "-3" in the log file. This means there was a mismatch between 1) the install requirements of the computer originally used to generate the response file, and 2) the install requirements of the target computer.

For instance, if setup.iss contains setup instructions for an Express install on a fresh machine, but the target computer contains a PostgreSQL database, then the silent install will fail, because the install steps for computers with pre-existing PostgreSQL databases are different from computers without them.

A ResponseResult of "0" indicates a successful install.

For further information useful in troubleshooting an install, you can also refer to the WS_FTP_Install.LOG, which the install writes to the C:\Windows\System32\ folder.

The SUPPRESSREBOOT option

Some installs will require a reboot, especially installs on computers that have never had a WS_FTP installation. If you do not want the target computer to reboot, enter the command "SUPPRESSREBOOT" at the end of the command line. For instance:

[path+executable].exe -s -f1[path]\setup.iss SUPPRESSREBOOT

You may need to edit the setup.iss file.

If the setup.iss contains a line with the ending SdFinishReboot-0, you will need to replace it with SdFinish-0. For instance, you should replace the line--

Dlg##={3F464442-A51F-414B-ACA4-78BCF276B346}-SdFinishReboot-0

...with the line:

Dlg##={3F464442-A51F-414B-ACA4-78BCF276B346}-SdFinish-0

...where "##" represents the install dialog screen number that the line describes.

Similarly, the lines--

[{3F464442-A51F-414B-ACA4-78BCF276B346}-SdFinishReboot-0]
Result=6
BootOption=3

...should be changed to:

[{3F464442-A51F-414B-ACA4-78BCF276B346}-SdFinish-0]
Result=1
bOpt1=0
bOpt2=0

If a reboot was required by the installation, you will still need to perform a reboot for the application to work as expected.

Terminal services support

If you use WS_FTP via terminal services, such as Microsoft Terminal Services or Citrix, see the setup information in our Knowledge Base article on terminal services.

Fixed in 12.2

Known issues

This section documents known issues, and any available means to work around the issue.

For more information

Notes

This product includes software developed by the OpenSSL Project.

PGP is a registered trademark of PGP Corporation.

This product contains software based on standards defined by the OpenPGP Working Group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Proposed Standard RFC 2440.


Ipswitch, Inc.
Copyright 2009


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