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Updated to BlogEngine 1.4.5

A new BE version, means sql scripting time for MS SQL 2000 users. For a full upgrade guide you should go to Al Nyveldt’s blog.

If you are creating a new blog or are upgrading from 1.3.x, just use the correct script for you.

MSSQL2000_Setup1.4.5.0.sql (24.91 kb)

MSSQL2000_UpgradeTo1.4.5.0From1.3.x.sql (10.07 kb)

If you are currently using 1.4.0 there’s some more work you’ll need to do. In this new version the column ‘Settings’ in the table ‘DataStoreSettings’ has changed from binary datatype to varchar, the corresponding change on MS SQL 2000 means moving from the image datatype to ntext. This is not possible / allowed by the server. The easiest thing you can do is to take note of your settings under the extensions tab in the administration control panel and delete all rows from the table ‘DataStoreSettings’. Every extension will populate the table again with data the first time they get loaded with the new BE version, you can then configure the extensions again with the settings you want. It’s quite possible that you are still using the default settings of your extensions, like me, then you don’t need to worry about the old settings, just clear the table of its entries.

If you’ve used the script from my earlier post, when I upgraded from 1.3 to 1.4, there was one insert statement missing from the script. The insert statement added the widget bar with its default configuration. Since it was missing then and we are deleting all entries from the ‘DataStoreSettings’ I’ve included the insert statement, the default script that ships with BE 1.4.5 has an update statement in place for that entry in the DB.

MSSQL2000_UpgradeTo1.4.5.0From1.4.0.0.sql (3.20 kb)

Finally, if you are running SQL Membership and Role provider and are upgrading from an earlier version don’t forget to check the applicationName of the providers, in 1.4 this changed from BlogEngine.Net to BlogEngine. What you need to change is described in my earlier post.

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Windows update yet again

So this was going a bit too easy. After installing a fresh copy of Windows XP, including SP2. I went to the update site which prompted me to install SP3, which I did. No problems so far, yet after the new service pack being deployed to the system windows update refused to install any further updates. It found, listed and downloaded them fine but every installation failed. Long story short, if you’re in this situation open up a command prompt. Click start, run, type in cmd and then click ok. In the command prompt type in regsvr32 %windir%system32wups2.dll and hit enter, this registers that dll. Go to the windows update site now, and you’ll have no problems.

If you have xp 64 the dll is located here: %windir%syswow64wups2.dll.

This was after I tried my earlier solution which you can find here.

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Updated to BlogEngine 1.4

Yesterday a new version of BlogEngine was released, grab it here. For instructions on how to upgrade you should visit this site and since I’m not running under the default settings there was some extra work to do.

My host still runs MS SQL 2000 and the default BE script is for MS SQL 2005. I’ve edited both the upgrade and full install script so they run on the older version, you can download them here.

MSSQL 2000 Setup1.4.0.0.sql (22.15 kb)

MSSQL 2000 Upgrade1.4.0.0.sql (7.18 kb)

Also if you are running SQL Membership and SQL Role Provider don’t forget to change the default provider in your web.config to SQLMembershipProvider and SQLRoleProvider respectively, you should also change the applicationName in these providers to BlogEngine.NET. For some reason the developers changed this, which will lead to problems.

Alternatively, if you want to keep the new name BlogEngine instead of the old BlogEngine.NET you should edit the row in the aspnet_Applications table where the application name is BlogEngine.NET. Change the value of the ApplicationName to BlogEngine and the LoweredApplicationName to blogengine.

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Windows update problem

For some reason, if you’ve studied informatics, people tend to believe you can fix their computers. I really don’t like cleaning up the mess other people create, since most of the time it’s a trivial task.Just read the error message or go to the all mighty google and you’ll be able to fix most problems.

However the latest problem I encountered was more of a challenge. After formatting the hard disk and installing a fresh copy of Windows XP I let it update itself, leading from one error to the next. So I turned off automatic updates, went to the update site myself, selected all the available updates, crash… Although some updates were installed successful some kept on crashing the windows update process. After trying several things the solution that worked in the end was to create two folders ( c:temp and c:wutemp) and clear all the contents of the folder SoftwareDistribution which is under the root directory of where you installed Windows. Note that for this last step you need to turn off the running Automatic Update service. To do this go to control panel, select computer management, select services, then select automatic updates and press the stop button. After you’ve deleted the contents of the SoftwareDistribution folder you can turn this service on again.

So, no more Windows Update crashes, hurrah! The update process continued now peacefully, and the list kept getting smaller until there were 4 updates remaining. These last kept returning in the list of essential updates, even though every time I installed them it was reported as a successful update. I resolved this by turning on automatic updates again (which I wanted to do when no more updates where available),now Windows installed them when I turned off the system. Powered the machine back on, went to the windows update site and saw that there were no more essential updates. Victory!