Updating LIMS 3.x Installation for Windows 7 and Office 2010 Compatibility

Summary

The information in this article applies to LIMS 3.x.

Beginning with the release of LIMS version 3.3, the LIMS installation software was updated for improved compatibility with both Windows 7 and Office 2010. This article shows you how to determine whether you have the latest installation software and how to update earlier installations to the new software.

More Information

While LIMS 3.x runs without problem on Windows 7, there are anomalies that occur if LIMS was first installed prior to version 3.3. For example, when starting LIMS, Windows 7’s user account control (UAC) security feature will ask for permission to allow program runaccess.exe to make changes to your system. Windows 7 standard users will need a password to an account with administrative privileges to proceed past the UAC prompt. Users with Windows 7 administrative privileges only need to acknowledge the UAC prompt.

In addition, Windows 7 displays the Access 2002 icon instead of the LIMS shortcut’s icon when showing the running application in the Windows 7 taskbar if runaccess.exe was used to start the software. These issues along with Office 2010 compatibility have been corrected with our current installation software, which replaces the runaccess.exe utility with a newer StartAccess_2002.exe version. Both runaccess.exe and StartAccess_2002.exe are used to start LIMS with the Access 2002 runtime while maintaining compatibility with any full copies of Access installed on the workstation.

Note that systems recently updated to version 3.3 are likely to be using the earlier installation software. Follow the steps below to determine your current installation type and update earlier installations to the new compatible software.

Step One: Determine your Current Installation Type

Step Two: Rename the Existing Setup Folder

Step Three: Download the new Installation Software

Step Four: Reinstall LIMS

Step One: Determine your Current Installation Type

To determine which version of the installation software is installed, right-click the shortcut you use to start LIMS and select Properties from the popup menu. Select the Shortcut tab of the LIMS Properties window, click within the Target field and press the [Home] key to move to the beginning of the field. Scroll to the right in the field until you find “.exe”, which will identify one of the following start utilities:

Start Utility	LIMS Version
runaccess.exe	3.0 to 3.2
StartAccess_2002.exe	3.3

If your LIMS shortcut is using the StartAccess_2002.exe utility, you are already using the current installation software. If your shortcut uses the runaccess.exe utility, proceed to step two.

Step Two: Rename the Existing Setup Folder

Using Windows Explorer, locate the Setup folder containing the LIMS electronic distribution files. In a single-user installation this is normally folder C:\LIMS\Setup. In a multi-user installation the Setup folder is normally found within the folder where your LimsData database resides. Right-click the Setup folder, choose Rename from the popup menu and change the folder’s name to “OldSetup”. Create a new empty Setup folder in the same folder where the renamed OldSetup folder is located.

Step Three: Download the new Installation Software

Download file LIMS-330-Setup.exe (61 MB) from the File Library at lims.com. Save the file on your local hard drive then double-click the file to open the self-extracting archive. Click the [OK] button, use the [Browse] button and select the Setup folder created in Step Two above then click [Unzip] to extract all files. Click [Close]. Ignore any Windows 7 messages indicating the software may not have installed properly.

Copy file LimsCode3.mde from folder OldSetup to the new Setup folder overwriting the existing file. This will add your current LIMS software (and expiration date for Annual Subscriptions) to the new installation software. If you are running an LIMS version older than version 3.3, you should also copy files LIMS Users Guide.pdf and ReleaseNotes.doc from folder OldSetup to the new Setup folder.

Step Four: Reinstall LIMS

On each LIMS workstation, rename file LimsCode3.mde in folder C:\LIMS to “OldLimsCode3.mde”. Use Windows Control Panel’s Add/Remove Programs option (Programs and Features on Windows 7), uninstall LIMS then uninstall the Microsoft Access 2002 Runtime. Note that uninstalling LIMS will not remove your LimsData database and your existing LIMS login accounts. The location of your LimsData database and the LIMS Workstation Configuration screen’s settings are also preserved when LIMS is uninstalled.

In Windows Explorer, navigate to the Setup folder where the new installation software was saved in Step Three and double-click file Setup.exe to install LIMS. Click [Next>], select only the LIMS Workstation component, click [Next] then verify the LIMS Database Folder setting. If it does not show the correct location of your LimsData database, use the [Browse] button to select the correct folder. Click [Next>] twice to install LIMS.

Start LIMS. If LIMS starts normally you are finished at this workstation. If you receive a message that your “LIMS Annual Subscription expired on 31-Dec-2010”, dismiss the message, delete file LimsCode3.mde in folder C:\LIMS and rename file OldLimsCode3.mde to LimsCode3.mde in the same folder then copy file LimsCode3.mde to the Setup folder created in Step Two overwriting the existing file. Repeat Step Four at each LIMS workstation.