I want to put Birder's Diary on my new laptop.  So far, I have installed it once on my old desktop and once on my new desktop, upgrading to version 3.5.56 on 9/24/2005.   I installed it on my laptop from the cd I have (version 3.0.0), but it won't let me register.  It keeps saying that my password is incorrect, but I know it's right, I have it written down on the cd case.  Is it because 3.0.0 is so old it still has all the Thayer info on it? How do I upgrade the version on my laptop if it won't recognize my password?  I have all my data backed up on  a flash drive, if I use the Restore feature on my laptop, will it upgrade the old version to the one I have on my desktop?

Hi Patricia,

Sorry for my delayed response. The blizzard last weekend knocked out the internet until last night.

You have a v3.6 license. That is the version you should be running on your older systems. In this case, all you need to do is:

1. Install v3.6 from this site, on the Downloads page.
2. Start 3.6 and activate it using your 3.6 license ID
3. Perform a Restore operation from your backup on Flash.

That is it. No need to fiddle with v3.0 or v3.5.

Let me know if I can assist further.

Jeff

Thanks for the help, Jeff.  I downloaded v 3.6 from the web onto my laptop and activated it , all went well.  The I tried to run the restore function with the flash drive that I had made awhile ago.  The restore function said it couldn't find the file. I closed everything and figured I would try to make a new backup from my desktop.  Now I can't open Birders Diary at all on my laptop.  I get a box that says "database not found!" and 'could not find file 'C:\Birder'sDiary\data\database.mdb'.  Please copy a backup into this directory."  Now what do I do? I hit "ok" and nothing happens.

Hi Patricia,

Simply copy your backup file from your flash drive, using Windows Explorer (e.g. My Computer), to "...\Birder's Diary\data\". Then rename it, if it isn't already named this, to "database.mdb".

That is all you have to do. Let me know if I can assist further.

Jeff

Jeff, thanks for all the patient and helpful suggestions.  Everything is working beautifully now. 

Hi Pat,

Not sure why it would reset nor why it would show you as Sample in either case.

Are you on Vista?

Does your observer still exist (Click on the Observers toolbar button)?

I have reset your activations. If you are on Vista, be sure to activate your license using the Vista activation procedure at the top of this web page.

Let me know if I can assist further.

Jeff

Jeff, I activated my license, restarted the computer and it still has me as Sample.  I am not in the Observer list.  None of my info is anywhere (trips, locations, etc).  I am running XP.  Do I need to "unlock v3.5 after demo installation of v3.6" in the help menu, then download 3.6 again?    Pat

Thanks Steve.

Pat - I bet I know what happened. I bet you started your desktop for the first time in a while and it checked for a newer version of BD and prompted you to let it upgrade. It did, but it put the newer version in C:\Birder's Diary\ (the default now) instead of where your current version is installed - which is C:\Program Files\Birder's Diary\. So now you are seeing the demo database.

How about I get onto your desktop to confirm this and fix the issue. If I am right, then simply reinstalling v3.6 from the Downloads page and setting the installation directory from C:\Birder's Diary\ to C:\Program Files\Birder's Diary\ will fix this and repoint the BD icon to the correct directory.

Let me know when you are available to let me onto your desktop - assuming your desktop is connected to the internet.

Jeff