How do I migrate ProVide from 32-bit to 64-bit?

Moving ProVide from the 32-bit build to the 64-bit build keeps all your settings, accounts, logins, and logs. The approach is the same as a normal ProVide migration: back up, install the 64-bit version into the same ProVide folder, and your configuration carries over. Because 64-bit better uses modern hardware, this is worth doing on any current 64-bit Windows server.

Before you start #

Back up your existing ProVide installation. At minimum, make a copy of the entire ProVide folder in your Program Files directory, which includes your settings.ini, the accounts folder, and (if you’ve customized them) the logs and customization folders. Keeping this copy means you can roll back if anything goes wrong.

Migration steps #

1. Stop the ProVide service so no files are in use.
2. Back up (copy) the entire ProVide program folder to a safe location.
3. Uninstall the 32-bit version of ProVide. Uninstalling does not remove your settings and accounts data in the copied folder.
4. Download the 64-bit version of ProVide from provideserver.com.
5. Install the 64-bit version into the same folder your 32-bit version used, so it picks up your existing settings.ini and accounts.
6. Start ProVide. It runs with all your previous settings, logins, logs, and accounts intact.

As long as you install into the same folder and the server uses the same Active Directory and storage locations as before, everything should work exactly as it did on the 32-bit build.

After migrating #

Confirm your services (SFTP, FTP/FTPS, HTTPS, etc.) start correctly and that a test user can connect. If you use network paths as resources, make sure the service account still has access (see the service-account guidance).