1219233 - Changes in working with Hot Fixes from Crystal Reports 8.5 to XI

Methods of applying and removing Hot Fixes have changed from Crystal Reports 8.5 to Crystal Reports XI.

What are the similarities and differences when working with Hot Fixes in Crystal Reports 8.5 through to Crystal Reports XI?

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WARNING:

If you are using an OEM version of Crystal Reports, or are using Microsoft Business Solutions CRM 1.x, do not apply Hot Fixes from our support site. For more information, please refer to the OEM Product Warning.

There are two major differences between Crystal Reports 8.5 and 9, versus Crystal Reports 10 and XI.

 For version 10, a silent installation, also known as an unattended installation, is possible. This is accomplished with the 'setup.iss' file included in the Hot Fix download.

Types (or levels) of Hot Fixes

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The two types of Hot Fixes are Critical Hot Fixes (CHFs) and Monthly Hot Fixes (MHFs). CHFs are intended to resolve a specific issue(s). They are intended neither for a wide audience, nor as a maintenance type update MHFs are intended as a maintenance type update for a wide audience. MHFs provide the custom option of choosing which components are updated for the product. This may be preferred when large amounts of testing are required on updated files. There is no particular order to be follow when applying CHFs or MHFs.

To download the CHFs and MHFs, refer to the Downloads area of our web site.

How do I know which Hot Fixes or Service Packs have been installed?

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A 'history.txt' file is created and then updated each time Hot Fixes or Service Packs are applied for a certain Crystal product. This file is a log of what and when updates have been installed on the computer. The 'history.txt' file is found in the 'Patches' subfolder of the Crystal product's install folder. For example: C:\Program Files\Crystal Decisions\Crystal Reports 10\Patches.

How do I uninstall (or roll back) a Hot Fix or Service Pack?

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Hot Fixes and Service Packs provide an uninstall program or file log to roll back your system to a previous configuration. For Windows, every time an update is run, a series of subfolders under the 'Patches' folder is created which stores a back up of the files updated. In one of these subfolders there is an uninstall executable named either 'restore.exe' or 'setup.exe'. For example, The Crystal Reports 10 Monthly Hot Fix uninstall program is located in a Restore folder at this location: C:\Program Files\Crystal Decisions\Crystal Reports 10\Patches\Crystal Database and Export Drivers 10.0 Weekly Hot Fix Patch\Backup of DBEX10WIN_EN\10.0.105.1359_8-6-20041554\restore.

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NOTE:

The path above will differ from yours because the subfolder name includes a version and date stamp of when the Hot Fix or Service Pack was applied.

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'Restore.exe' or 'setup.exe' will restore the backed up files to their original locations (backed up files are usually stored in a Files subfolder at the same level as the 'Restore' subfolder). Critical Hot Fixes prior to Crystal Reports 10 do not include an uninstall program. Instead they include a 'restore.txt' text file which list the files backed up the Hot Fix. The 'restore.txt' file indicates which files were updated on the computer and their location. The same folder containing 'restore.txt' also contains renamed backup copies of the original files that were replaced with files from the Hot Fix. Follow the directions in the 'restore.txt' file to rename and restore the original files.

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WARNING:

If more than one Monthly Hot Fix or Service Pack has been applied, then only the update containing the most recent or highest version files can be uninstalled. For example, if a Service Pack is applied and then immediately followed by a Monthly Hot Fix, it will not be possible to uninstall the Service Pack. In this case, this is due to Service Packs containing files that are three or more months older than the latest Monthly Hot Fixes. When uninstalling the Service Pack, the install program verifies that the same file versions that were installed are the ones being removed. If there are any differences or changes (such as a Critical or Monthly Hot Fix installing newer files), then the Service Pack uninstall will not proceed and one of the following errors appears: "Modification has been detected to the patch. The stability of your environment cannot be ensured due to the modifications. This operation will not be completed. Please contact a technical support specialist for assistance." "Restore.exe has detected that newer files have been installed since the installation of this Service Pack. This restore operation will not be completed. Please contact Crystal Care specialist for assistance." To uninstall the Service Pack, the Monthly Hot Fix needs to be uninstalled first, followed by the Service Pack. This relationship here between a Service Pack and Monthly Hot Fix also applies to a Monthly Hot Fix and Critical Hot Fix relationship. If multiple updates need to be uninstalled, they should be done starting with the update that supplied the newest file versions. Usually this will be done in this order: 1) Critical Hot Fix 2) Monthly Hot Fix 3) Service Pack. A list of which Hot Fixes and Service Packs are installed can be found in a 'history.txt' file located in the 'Patches' folder.

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HOT FIX PATCH APPLY ROLL BACK ROLLBACK UNINSTALL REVERT SERVICE PACK CHF MHF Crystal Reports Critical Hot Fix Monthly Hot Fix Service Pack , c2018162 , KBA , BI-RA-CR , Crystal Reports designer or Business View Manager , Problem