Upgrading from a previous version

Upgrading. If you have an older version of WinSSHD and wish to upgrade to the latest one, download the new distributable from our website and execute it on the machine where your previous WinSSHD version is installed. Starting with WinSSHD 4.10, the installer will detect an existing installation and will automatically remove it before installing the new one. During this process, your server keypair and settings will be preserved.

Upgrading from version 3.xx templates/groups. If you are upgrading from WinSSHD 3.xx and your configuration uses templates/groups, note that version 4 replaces this with Windows groups. These have different semantics. Read Configuring groups and accounts for how group configuration works in WinSSHD 4.

In case you must downgrade. If your WinSSHD settings are highly customized, you should, before upgrading, use the WinSSHD Control Panel to export your WinSSHD settings to a file in case you must later downgrade. Otherwise, during a downgrade, your WinSSHD settings will be reset.

Activation. Any existing activation code you have will work for the new version only if the new version was released prior to the 'upgrade expiry' date embedded in the activation code. If your existing activation code is not valid for the upgraded-to version, the new version will install without a hitch, but will drop into time-limited evaluation. The same will happen when you upgrade from version 3.xx, even if you are still entitled to upgrades, because the activation code format has changed. If your upgrades have expired or will expire shortly, or if you are upgrading from version 3.xx, contact us to get a new activation code. If your original purchase was less than 12 months ago, an upgrade fee will not be required.

If the purchasing process in your organization is slow, we do recommend that you initiate the upgrade extension process several months before your access to upgrades expires!

Unattended upgrade

It is also possible to upgrade WinSSHD in unattended mode, without having to have the previous version explicitly removed. This can be done by calling the WinSSHD installer with command line parameters:

  WinSSHD-Inst.exe -installDir "C:\Program Files\Bitvise WinSSHD"

You will also need to supply the /AcceptEula parameter to indicate acceptance of the WinSSHD End User License Agreement.

It is also possible to use the installer for unattended installation to a named site. In this case, use the '-site' parameter instead of '-installDir'.

In latest WinSSHD versions, the installer will automatically restart the WinSSHD service if it was running prior to the upgrade. In older WinSSHD versions, it may be necessary to execute additional "net stop WinSSHD" and "net start WinSSHD" commands before and after the installer.

Upgrading WinSSHD when it provides exclusive access

Sometimes, WinSSHD is installed on machines where it provides exclusive access to those machines, and no other ports are open. In such situations, bringing WinSSHD down for maintenance or an upgrade can render the machine inaccessible if something goes wrong.

In such situations, we recommend installing an additional WinSSHD installation as a named site. The additional WinSSHD installation should accept connections on a different port than the primary installation. This port should be accessible through any routers and firewalls. When maintenance or upgrade is needed on the primary WinSSHD installation, access the server through the alternate WinSSHD installation, and vice versa.

Note that multiple WinSSHD installations running directly on the same OS installation do not constitute an additional machine, and are covered by the same license. Therefore, no additional purchase is necessary for the maintenance installation.