Migrating to another machine

At times it may be necessary to migrate a CompleteFTP installation to another machine. We recommend you have a current support agreement prior to migrating your installation. This gives you access to assistance with the migration and the latest version of CompleteFTP.

If you do not have a current support agreement, you can still freely transfer your license if you are on version 9.1 or higher (via the release license option). If you're using versions prior to 9.1 or if you don't have access to the old server then you will need technical assistance, which requires a current support agreement.

Migration steps

To migrate CompleteFTP server from one machine (source) to another machine (target) while preserving settings such as user logins, passwords and home folders, follow the steps below:

  1. a) If you are on version 9.0 or below, contact support to request an additional activation key (unnecessary for licenses that included unlimited keys). If you do not have a current support agreement you will need to renew support to move your license.
    OR
    b) If you are on version 9.1 or above, you can use the release license option in the Licensing panel of the CompleteFTP manager. This puts the server into migration mode, and it is fully operational for a further 30 days. We advise doing this only when the new machine is ready to activate (Step 7). Note that you can upgrade to the latest version on the original machine so this option can be used.
  2. Download the latest version of CompleteFTP that you are entitled to from our customer site. You'll need to know your registered email address for your account if you've lost your account details. If you can't log in, please contact support. You'll need a current support agreement to get the latest version - the trial won't work.
  3. Install CompleteFTP on the target machine. This creates all the default directories and a blank configuration file.
  4. Locate the configuration file (config.sdf for versions before 22.0.0, config.db for 22.0 and later) on the target machine and delete it (see "Locating the data directory" below).
  5. Locate the configuration file (config.sdf for versions before 22.0.0, config.db for 22.0 and later) on the source machine (see "Locating the data directory" below).
  6. Copy the configuration file from the source machine to the same location on the target machine (see "Locating the data directory" below).
  7. Copy all data directories from the source to the target. By default, these are subdirectories of the directory where the configuration file is stored (see "Locating the data directory" below), but directories in other locations may be referenced as well.
  8. Install CompleteFTP (again) on the target machine, choose the option to keep the configuration file, and confirm everything works locally (it will have the wrong activation key so you won't be able to connect from external machines). Note: if you have specific IP addresses configured for certain protocols, you will need to alter these if your new machine has a different IP address.
  9. Reactivate CompleteFTP on the target machine. If you are running 9.1 or above, this is the time to release the license from the original machine (Step 1b)). If you have trouble activating your new installation then please contact support.

Locating the data directory

On almost all Windows machines, the data directory is: 

C:\ProgramData\Enterprise Distributed Technologies\Complete FTP

On earlier machines running Windows XP and Server 2003 the data directory is: 

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Enterprise Distributed Technologies\Complete FTP