Version upgrade best practice?

[kunfuzed]

In all my years  of using Mcam, I've never done much on the administration side.   I purchased my first seat almost 3 years ago, and finally am getting some time to upgrade to 2023.  Are there any tips or tricks?  Or does the migration wizard pretty well take care of everything after I install the latest version? Thanks!

[sharles]

In the past migrating your Configuration files was always a fraught endeavor, and I don't know how many times doing so would end up making that version glitchy and almost unusable until I finally simply deleted that folder and started from scratch. I think 2024 may be the first time I haven't noticed any issues: so be aware in 2023. Also, I always went ahead and updated my mastercam version and poked around in the things I used most often before I updated (or had our IT depart.) update the rest of the guys because many of the X versions were unusable as well as 2020/2021 for us because the bugs were so bad in them. I just posted on another thread that 2024 may be the best version I've used since 2019, but I'm only 3 days into only using it.

We keep our tool library on our server so everyone uses the same ones with all the latest updates, and so that I had to do separately from the rest of the migration, and that also required me fixing each machine definition we have to look there instead of the default.

Good luck!

[BSmith23]

I have found that while the Migration Wizard takes care of a lot, and personal settings you have in the configuration, you will have to find a way to copy or transfer over.  

[sharles]

Yeah, now that I think about it 2023 was a real b!tch with my configuration file. From time to time it simply wiped out ALL my configuration settings, and so I kept a CONFIG folder on my desktop after the second time because I got tired of trying to recreate my personal settings.

[TFarrell9]

I must be doing something wrong when trying to copy my config files because the only thing that's ever stuck for me was the background color. Seems like it would be a simple thing to do, but I can't seem to get it right. Didn't even bother trying it when going to 2024. 

[gms1]

I got burned way to many times in the past for buggy migration wizards so I copy all my files (cnc machines, posts, tools, NO configs) into a separate folder and run the migration wizard on that folder only then rename it all with the version in front of my files (ex: 2023_haas_3x.pst to 2024_haas_3x.pst) then move those files into the correct folders for that version. Every version I redo the interface by hand and I take my time doing it.

[cncappsjames]

I've used the Migration Wizard for the last 2 releases (2023 and 2024) and it's been flawless as far as I can tell. I use the advanced wizard because I only want specific things (Machine/Control Defs, Posts, Tool Libraries, and Ops). I used to do it manually as well. Someone convinced me I should give it a shot, and I did.

I still manually do settings/config, etc... (file locations, colors, defaults, etc...). Used to take a few hours. Now it's generally under an hour to square away a new version.

[kunfuzed]

On 7/26/2023 at 5:39 AM, sharles said:

In the past migrating your Configuration files was always a fraught endeavor, and I don't know how many times doing so would end up making that version glitchy and almost unusable until I finally simply deleted that folder and started from scratch. I think 2024 may be the first time I haven't noticed any issues: so be aware in 2023. Also, I always went ahead and updated my mastercam version and poked around in the things I used most often before I updated (or had our IT depart.) update the rest of the guys because many of the X versions were unusable as well as 2020/2021 for us because the bugs were so bad in them. I just posted on another thread that 2024 may be the best version I've used since 2019, but I'm only 3 days into only using it.

We keep our tool library on our server so everyone uses the same ones with all the latest updates, and so that I had to do separately from the rest of the migration, and that also required me fixing each machine definition we have to look there instead of the default.

Good luck!

I thought I remembered that about the config files.  Thanks for the reminder!  Glad to hear 2024 sounds pretty stable.  The only thing I have issues with in 2021 was occaisonally a lathe face toolpath would overcut, depending on what mood it was in that day.

On 7/26/2023 at 11:37 AM, cncappsjames said:

I've used the Migration Wizard for the last 2 releases (2023 and 2024) and it's been flawless as far as I can tell. I use the advanced wizard because I only want specific things (Machine/Control Defs, Posts, Tool Libraries, and Ops). I used to do it manually as well. Someone convinced me I should give it a shot, and I did.

I still manually do settings/config, etc... (file locations, colors, defaults, etc...). Used to take a few hours. Now it's generally under an hour to square away a new version.

Thanks James.  I may give it a shot and just see how it goes before going manual.

Thanks for the info everyone.  Good to hear the reminders as I've been out of the loop with starting a buisness without mcam for a couple years, to getting 2021 and having no time to update since.  Lots of that sounds familiar. Thanks again.