Upgrading to Reflection Desktop 16.x Products

This technical note describes recommendations to consider when upgrading to Reflection Desktop products (versions 16.0 through 16.2).

Before You Upgrade to Reflection Desktop

Carefully review this section before upgrading to Reflection Desktop products (or an evaluation copy of Reflection Desktop products).

• You cannot retain an earlier version of Extra! or Reflection when you install Reflection Desktop, even if Extra! or Reflection is installed in a different folder. The earlier version will be removed by the upgrade. Note: User-created configuration files will be preserved.
• If you plan to return to a custom installation of Extra! or Reflection, you must save the Extra! or Reflection settings and customizations prior to installing Reflection Desktop.
• Removing Reflection Desktop will not restore the previous version of Extra! or Reflection. To return to earlier versions of Extra! or Reflection, you must uninstall Reflection Desktop and then reinstall Extra! or Reflection. Extra! or Reflection settings and customizations can be reapplied only if they were saved prior to the Reflection Desktop upgrade.
• Many of the files created by earlier products are supported in Reflection Desktop. Reflection Command Language (RCL), Reflection Basic (RB), EXTRA! Basic (EB), and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros are all supported in Reflection Desktop without doing any conversion. For more information about supported legacy file types, see KB 7021411.
• For information about folder location changes, see KB 7021416.
• Reflection Enterprise Suite includes Reflection Desktop (to which this note applies) and Reflection for the Web Limited Edition. For information about upgrading Reflection for the Web, see https://www.attachmate.com/documentation/rweb/rweb-installguide/data/readme_upgrade_html.htm.

To learn about new features in Reflection Desktop products, see KB 7021426.

Upgrading from Earlier Versions of Reflection or Extra!

Reflection Desktop products upgrade from the following products:

Reflection Desktop for X and Reflection Desktop Pro (both 32- or 64-bit) can also upgrade from the following additional products:

The older products above are automatically removed when you upgrade to Reflection Desktop by running setup.exe.

Upgrade Scenarios Not Supported

The installer will block certain upgrade scenarios where a significant loss of features may occur, such as attempting to install Reflection Desktop (without PC X server) when you have an existing installation of a Reflection product with PC X server.

In these situations, the installer displays a message, “Micro Focus Reflection Desktop cannot be installed on this computer.” If the loss of features is acceptable, remove the existing older product, and then re-run the new installer. If a loss of features is not acceptable, install the new product on a separate system.

Installing and Deploying

For information about installing and deploying Reflection Desktop products, see the following documentation:

• Installation: https://www.attachmate.com/documentation/reflection-desktop-v16/rdesktop-guide/data/install_ch.htm
• Deployment Guide: https://www.attachmate.com/documentation/reflection-desktop-v16/deployment-guide/

Note to HP emulation users: When installing Reflection Desktop or Reflection Desktop Pro, any existing installation of Reflection for HP (version 8.0 through 14.1) will also be replaced. See also KB 7021356.

Note to HP/Tandem/NonStop users: Any existing installation of Extra! 6530 Client Option (version 7.x through 9.x) or Reflection for NonStop (2014, 2011, or 2008) Add-On is also detected and removed. After installing Reflection Desktop, you must separately install Reflection Desktop for NonStop Add-On (the same version as your Reflection Desktop product). See also KB 7021414.

Deploying the *.msi Installer Package Directly

If you deploy the installer package (*.msi) file directly (using msiexec command or third-party tool) instead of running the setup.exe installer, note the following requirements:

• You must first uninstall the existing older product before installing the Reflection Desktop product. (If you attempt to deploy the .msi file directly and have not removed the earlier version, a message tells you to uninstall the older software first.)
• You must first deploy Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.5.1 (or higher) as a separate package to workstations where it is not installed.
• Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) version 4.5 (or higher) must be installed.
• If you plan to use the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) feature, deploy the additional Microsoft VBA 7.1 core and language-specific *.msi packages in the Prerequisites\VB71 folder.
• If you are deploying Reflection Desktop for X or Reflection Desktop Pro, the Java JDK is required to run Reflection X Advantage. Deploy the additional MicroFocusJava.msi package in the Prerequisites\JDK folder.

The information in this section does not apply if you install using setup.exe, which removes the older product and installs any necessary prerequisites.

For upgrading to version 17.0, see KB 7024878.

Legacy KB ID

This document was originally published as Attachmate Technical Note 2808.