How To Upgrade Your CRE/RPE Version

There are a few things to check before we start.

1. Open up the POS and double check the version number. Please do this for all POS stations.

Open The CRE Software and select FILE > About

Here is a link on how to check the version number - How To Check Your WineWare POS Version

Tip : If their version number is not 12.60641 or above they will need to install 12.60641 patch before patching them up to the latest patch 12.8xxx. (e.g. 12.60533 to 12.8xxx will not take, it will prompt you with a message stating "You have an older version previously installed, please upgrade to 12.7 or higher before installing this version".

You can grab the latest CRE QuickPatch here - http://download2.pcamerica.com/

Locate folder 12.8 and download cre.netqp.exe, PCA always keeps the latest version up to date.

2. Check the registration dates and make sure they are not expired. (If the registration date is expiring the day of, unfortunately the upgrade will not take since PCA technically considers this expired.) Please do this for all POS stations.

Open CRE and select FILE > Register (note registration date) > Register Later

Here is a link on how to check your registration date - WineWare POS: Registration Code Out-Of-Date?

3. Once version numbers and registration dates have been verified, please locate the POS server station. There are a couple of ways to determining what this is.

- Most common way is to locate Station #1 and select File > Database Maintenance > View Database Settings > Enter CRE administrator credentials, password is usually (Admin1) > Locate Server Name, If Server Name = localhost this is the database server.

- Another way is to locate a client station and use instructions in step 3. Client stations will usually point back to the server using the hostname.

Tip : POS client stations will usually use the hostname to establish a connection to the server. Just use CMD prompt and command "hostname" to verify the hostname of the server.

4. After steps 1, 2, and 3 have been confirmed we are now ready to download the patch.

You can grab the latest CRE QuickPatch here - http://download2.pcamerica.com/

Locate folder 12.8 and download cre.netqp.exe, PCA always keeps the latest version up to date.

5. Now that we have the patch, lets make a backup of the database. When saving the database please use this format when labeling the database name.

MMDDYYYYv128033_vinsuite.

The month, date, year, version number, and business name.

Here is a link on how to backup the database - Backing Up Your Database In WineWare POS

Tip : Please make sure all tips have been applied and transactions batched out and settled.

6. Before we start uninstalling the CRE QuickPatch v2 within programs and features, please make sure all POS stations are not running CRE/RPE. If you want to confirm they are not running, open up task manager and look for "CRE2004.exe" and kill the task. This will ensure we do not corrupt the database during the upgrade.

After we have confirmed POS clients are not running CRE we can now go back to the server and uninstall CRE QuickPatch v2. You will also want to uninstall any other CRE QuickPatch v2 patches you see in there as well. PCA usually patches the versions on top of each other. This is not recommended since I have ran into multiple issues when doing this.

DO NOT Uninstall the base Cash Register Express software. We are only removing the QuickPatch v2 install.

Tip : Please upgrade the server first before working on the client stations.

7. Once you have uninstalled CRE Quick Patch v2 on the server, we are ready to install the latest crenetqp.exe patch we downloaded earlier. Please make sure to run the crenetqp.exe as administrator, if you don't this will cause issues.

Tip : If the patch is having issues installing, enable compatibility mode and run the installer as admin again.

8. After you have gone through the initial setup, verify through programs and features that the CRE Quick Patch v2 took. Please verify the date of the installation, it should read today's date.

9. As soon as the patch is complete, go ahead and launch CRE/RPE. You will be greeted with a "Begin Conversion" go ahead and convert! This will take a bit and will look like its non-responsive, give it sometime it will come back with "Convert Complete".

10. Once conversion is complete, launch CRE. You can verify the version number and run a check database to clean up the tables with SQL.

File > Database Maintenance > Check Database

11. After check database is complete, make a backup of the database.

12. Run a test transaction and we are finished with upgrading the server!

13. When upgrading the client stations all you will need to do is uninstall the CRE Quick Patch v2 and install the latest patch.