I have used BOINC since its beta, and I never have had any problem with it. But trying to upgrade from 5.2.7 I get an error message during install:
\"The feature that you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable. Click OK to try again, or enter an alternate path to a folder containing the installation package BOINC.msi in the box below.\"

What do I do now...?

Did a search for *.msi and found BOINC.msi in folder C:\\WINDOWS\\Downloaded Installations\\{5AF1D19F-9DA3-4176-9962-6F964989EE57}. Pointed the installer to that folder, but now I\'m getting this error:
\"The file \'C:\\WINDOWS\\Downloaded Installations\\{5AF1D19F-9DA3-4176-9962-6F964989EE57}\' is not a valid installation package for the product BOINC. Try to find the installation package \'BOINC.msi\' in a folder from which you can install BOINC.\"

The date of that file BOINC.msi is today\'s date. What do I do now...?

Tried Browse to point to the installer. Similar message:
\"The file \'C:\\WINDOWS\\Downloaded Installations\\{5AF1D19F-9DA3-4176-9962-6F964989EE57}\\BOINC.msi\' is not a valid installation package for the product BOINC. Try to find the installation package \'BOINC.msi\' in a folder from which you can install BOINC.\"

This is getting too complicated - I think I will stay with 5.2.7 for a while...

This is getting too complicated - I think I will stay with 5.2.7 for a while...

The simple thing to attempt is getting the installer package for the previous version and try uninstalling using it instead of add/remove programs in windows. This will often fix this error and allow the new version to install properly. Work files are normally left behind after the uninstall and the new install will normally pick up where it left off.

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BOINC WIKI

BOINCing since 2002/12/8

dont bother trying to upgrade... the way boinc is made to install absolutely screws everything up totally.... I got this error when I tried upgadring past 4.19 !!

The only way I got to upgrade was by doing a brand new install of windows. Dont bother trying to fix this problem.... reinstalling windows is easier.

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I didn\'t need to reinstall Windows :)

Followed JKeck\'s suggestion below, and I\'m successfully running 5.2.8 now - thanks!

dont bother trying to upgrade... the way boinc is made to install absolutely screws everything up totally.... I got this error when I tried upgadring past 4.19 !!

The only way I got to upgrade was by doing a brand new install of windows. Dont bother trying to fix this problem.... reinstalling windows is easier.

In case you first uninstall the previous version, how is progress in a current work unit best preserved?

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tgyul
Upgrading is only done to BOINC, not the science programs and data files.

Any BOINC version from about 4.22 and earlier, (inclusive), needs to be uninstalled first, as later versions are totally different.
From about 4.25 on, just download and install the new version without uninstall.

When it runs, one of the fist messages in the message tab is that a new version has been detected.
And the science app, (on this site hadsm, or sulphur cycle), will continue from where the old version left off.

tgyul
(...) From about 4.25 on, just download and install the new version without uninstall. (...)

Thanks a lot, I\'ll do that.
This is an information that too many setup packages and even FAQ-s lack :-(

A more recent post here makes me ask:
Can it be a source of problems if I install BOINC while offline? I usually avoid installing anything while online...

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Can it be a source of problems if I install BOINC while offline? I usually avoid installing anything while online...

No. Indeed, it can be a good idea to at least set BOINC Manager to suspend network activity even if you don\'t want to take your whole machine offline. Make a backup of the whole folder first, when you close BOINC down. Then upgrade as suggested and whilst BOINC is offline check that everything works. Let the model run for a few minutes. Then resume network activity. If something goes wrong, you have the option of going back to the beginning and trying again using your backup copy.

If your model crashes whilst online because of an upgrade problem, BOINC will tell the server and your model will be flagged as having errored out. You can still restore from backup, and you will be able to complete the model and get credits, but the error flag doesn\'t get reset during the run which is irritating and confusing.

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