Moving PingPlotter to a new machine.

Question

I'm moving PingPlotter to a new machine - what do I need to move?

Solution

Depending on how you're using PingPlotter, there are a few possible files / configuration settings that need to be moved. We'll talk about each section and you can use the appropriate information for your needs.

Installation and licensing

Start off by installing PingPlotter (Standard or Pro) on the new machine. Download the appropriate edition from the PingPlotter download page, then install it. If you're not sure which edition to download, look at your current machine - if it doesn't explicitly specify 'PingPlotter Standard', 'PingPlotter Pro' or 'PingPlotter Freeware' on the main title bar / caption when you run it, then you have PingPlotter Standard (in the 2.x releases, PingPlotter Standard was just called 'PingPlotter'.

To move your license to the new machine, go to your old machine, open PingPlotter, and go to Help -> About. In that screen, your user name should be listed (if PingPlotter has a license installed). Double-click on your user name there and you'll get a popup licensing box that will show your current license key. Enter this into PingPlotter on your new computer by going to Help -> Enter license key...

Moving your configuration.

The configuration / setup for PingPlotter is stored in two files - PingPlotter.ini and Alerts.ini.

The default location for these is in the PingPlotter install directory (example: C:\Program Files\PingPlotter Pro). Just copy these files to your new machine's install directory.

In some cases, there is also another instance of these files in the user profile. If the install directory is not writeable, then any configuration changes are stored in the Application Data directory (C:\Documents and Settings\(your profile name)\Application Data\PingPlotter\). Copy these files to the same location on the new machine.

Moving your collected data

You may be auto-saving data with PingPlotter, and you want that on the new machine too. You'll need to copy that data over. To find out where things are being saved, go to Edit -> Options, Auto-Save and look at the save file location specified there. Then, copy the data (all .pp2 files) to the same location on the new machine.

Configuring as a service

If you're using PingPlotter Pro, you may have it installed as a service on the old machine, auto-collecting data. You'll need to install it as a service on the new machine, too. Then, you'll want to copy your auto-save files and workspace as well. The location for these is specified in Edit -> Options, Windows Service. The 'Workspace to load' file, plus the .pp2 files in the 'Save File Location' need to be copied to the new machine.