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Q157717: INFO: VSS 5.0 Readme: Sec. 2, General Notes and Tips

Article: Q157717
Product(s): Microsoft SourceSafe
Version(s): WINDOWS:5.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbsetup kbSSafe500
Last Modified: 01-MAY-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Visual SourceSafe for Windows, version 5.0 
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SUMMARY
=======

The Visual SourceSafe Readme.wri file should be located in the SourceSafe root
directory. It contains important information, some of which is not available in
the printed documentation or the Help files. This article covers Section 2,
GENERAL NOTES AND TIPS, of the Readme.wri file. Please see REFERENCES section
for information on the other sections.

The Readme.wri file includes:

1.0  SOFTWARE INSTALLATION INFORMATION

 1.1  (Administrator) Creating a Visual SourceSafe Installation on a
      Server
 1.2  (Each User) Using NETSETUP to Create a Personal Installation
 1.3  Using the Custom Setup Option
 1.4  Upgrading a Previous SourceSafe Installation
 1.5  Using the Installation Maintenance Program
 1.6  Uninstalling Visual SourceSafe
 1.7  WININET and MFC DLLs
 1.8  SourceSafe on RISC

2.0  GENERAL NOTES AND TIPS

 2.1  Back Up Your Visual SourceSafe Database, and run ANALYZE
 2.2  Installing Two or More Visual SourceSafe Databases on One Computer
 2.3. Loss of Network Connection Produces Numerical Error Message
 2.4  Canceling a Client Setup
 2.5  System Date/Time

3.0  NEW FEATURES IN VISUAL SOURCESAFE 5.0

 3.1  Archive Utility
 3.2  Visual Merge
 3.3  Project Diff
 3.4  "Edit" Command
 3.5 Open Databases3.6 Web Features
 3.7 Exclusive Check Out

4.0  NOTES FOR USERS OF VISUAL SOURCESAFE 4.0

 4.1  No 16-bit Support
 4.2  Get --> Get Latest Version
 4.3  Results Display
 4.4  Multiple Project Support in Visual Basic/Visual C++ Integration

5.0  VISUAL SOURCESAFE HOME PAGE

MORE INFORMATION
================

2.0  GENERAL NOTES AND TIPS
---------------------------

2.1 Back Up Your Visual SourceSafe Database, and run ANALYZE

Before installing an upgrade to Visual SourceSafe, it is very advisable to back
up your previous Visual SourceSafe database. The upgrade process may involve
major data conversion, which is irreversible in the case of problems.

Once Visual SourceSafe is installed, it is still advisable to back up your
database on a very regular basis. Note that all Visual SourceSafe backups should
be full backups, not incremental or differential.

In addition to regular backups, it is advisable to run the ANALYZE program
periodically, to check your Visual SourceSafe database for corruption. If
corruption is found, the ANALYZE program can often be used to repair the
problem. Updates to the ANALYZE tool are posted periodically to the Visual
SourceSafe web site at:

  http://www.msdn.microsoft.com/ssafe

You may wish to check that site to see if there is a version of ANALYZE more
recent than the one shipped with this product.

2.2 Installing Two or More Visual SourceSafe Databases on One Computer

The Visual SourceSafe installation was designed for one installation per
computer. There might be occasions when you want to have two or more copies of
Visual SourceSafe installed on your computer. This is difficult, however, since
the second time you run SETUP to create a second server setup, the program goes
into maintenance mode!

The solution is the REGEDIT program in Windows NT or Windows 95. Go to the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\MS SETUP (ACME)\TABLE FILES. You see two
entries for Visual SourceSafe: SSADMIN.EXE, for the server installation from the
CD-ROM, and SSEXP.EXE, for the network client setup. Delete these two entries
and run SETUP again.

2.3 Loss of Network Connection Produces Numerical Error Message

If you are in the middle of a Visual SourceSafe session and lose your connection
to a server over the network, the only message you see is a numerical message
informing you of an unknown error. When you see, "unknown error - 20038," or
something similar, you have lost your network connection. Restart Visual
SourceSafe and continue your work.

2.4 Canceling a Client Setup

When you choose the Client Setup option to install Visual SourceSafe, you must
type a path for the Visual SourceSafe server directory. If you click Cancel in
the Database Location dialog box, setup displays the following message in error,
"Microsoft Visual SourceSafe 5.0 Setup was completed successfully." Disregard
this message: the setup was not completed. Although a directory tree was created
on your hard disk for the client, you cannot connect with the database on the
server.

To correct this situation, edit the SRCSAFE.INI file in the local installation
that you have just created. Add a line including the path to the SRCSAFE.INI
file for the Visual SourceSafe database server in a #include statement. You can
include a UNC path, for example:

     #include \\SRCSERVR\PUBLIC\VSS\SRCSAFE.INI

Alternatively, you can include the path to a mapped drive. For example:

     #include R:\VSS\SRCSAFE.INI

2.5 System Date/Time

Visual SourceSafe uses the date/time which your local computer stores. If your
computer is out of sync with another computer, unpredictable results may occur.
For instance, you may check in a file after someone else, but SourceSafe may
think your check-in happened first, because your system clock was off!

The best solution for this problem is to synchronize your local date/time with
the network on a regular basis. This will ensure that all users are in sync.

REFERENCES
==========

For more information about other sections of the SourceSafe 5.0 Readme.wri file,
please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

  Q157720 INFO: VSS 5.0 Readme: Sec. 1, Software Installation Information

  Q157718 INFO: VSS 5.0 Readme: Sec. 3, New Features in Visual SourceSafe 5.0

  Q157719Q157718Q157720 INFO: VSS 5.0 Readme: Sec. 4 & 5, Users of VSS
  4.0/VSS Home Page

Additional query words:

======================================================================
Keywords          : kbsetup kbSSafe500 
Technology        : kbSSafeSearch kbAudDeveloper kbSSafe500
Version           : WINDOWS:5.0
Issue type        : kbinfo

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