Are you installing inFlow On-Premise for the first time or reinstalling, and it failed?

In cases like this it’s best to try a full uninstall, cleanup and reinstall.

A cleanup clears any extra files that didn’t get removed during uninstall. These files can interfere with new installs and with starting inFlow.

If you’ve been using inFlow, PLEASE be sure to save your data before you uninstall.

• Step 1: Check your Windows version 
• Step 2: Save your data before uninstalling
• Step 3: Uninstalling
• Step 4: Cleaning up
• Step 5: Reinstalling

Step 1: Check which version of Windows you have

Skip this section if you already know which version of Windows you are using.

If you’re not sure which version of Windows you’re using please click here to find out: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-CA/windows/which-operating-system

Another way you can do this also is to click “Start” (or press your Windows key button on your keyboard), type in “winver” and press Enter. This should give you the “About Windows” screen which will show you your Windows version.

Once you know your Windows version, please move on to the next section!

Step 2: Save your data before uninstalling

Skip this section if the inFlow installation failed, but you have not run inFlow before and don’t have any data to save yet.

If you’ve already been using inFlow before and it’s having problems running, you’ll want to make sure you have your data saved.

As you won’t be able to run inFlow, we’ll need to backup your data from outside the program. (again, skip this step if you have not installed inFlow before and don’t have any data yet).

1. Open “File Explorer” or “My Computer” and then click the address bar at the top.
2. Type in C:\ProgramData\inFlow inventory and hit Enter (see screenshot below if you’re not sure where to type). It will take you to the folder containing your data.
   
3. Once you’ve located the folder, copy the following two files to your desktop: inFlow.mdf  and inFlow_log.LDF.  
4. Check the “Backup” folder. You should have automatic backups from the last 30 days, with the latest auto-backup dated the last time you ran inFlow. This folder remains even after uninstalling, but to be safe you can copy your latest auto-backup to the desktop.

If you don’t have any .mdf , .ldf, or Backup folder in this window, you are not on the server/main computer which is where your data would be stored. This means you would be proceeding with a cleanup for a client/secondary install. You may skip to the next step as your data would be safe on the server/main computer.

Having trouble moving the .mdf and .ldf files?

Try the following based on your Windows version:

Windows XP or Server 2003: click Start  >  Run  >  type services.msc > press Enter
Vista, Windows 7 or Server 2008 R2: click Start  >  type services.msc > press Enter
Windows 8 or Windows 10: Windows Key > type services.msc > press Enter

This will open the services window. Scroll to “inFlow Inventory Service” or “SQL Server (INFLOWSQL)“, right click and select Stop service.

Once this service is stopped, you should be able to move the .mdf and .ldf files as outlined in step 3 above. Close the services window and move on to the next step, clean up!

Step 3: Uninstalling

To uninstall inFlow On-Premise from your computer:

1. Complete the following based on your version ofWindows:Windows XP or Server 2003: click Start  >  Control Panel > Uninstall (or Add/Remove Programs).Vista, Windows 7 or Server 2008 R2: click Start  >  Control Panel > Uninstall (or Programs and Features)Windows 8 / Windows 10: Windows Key > type Control Panel > Uninstall (or Programs and Features).
   
2. Right-click on inFlow and select “Uninstall”. If inFlow Inventory is not listed there, please move on to the next step.

Step 4: Cleaning up

If you plan on reinstalling inFlow On-Premise, there are a couple things we need to remove for cleanup.

Don’t panic if the steps require you to check folders and you don’t see the mentioned files! It means the cleanup for that step is done and you should move on to the next step.

Uninstall  Microsoft SQL Server

1. Next, we’ll need to remove Microsoft SQL Server (backend database for inFlow to store your data). Proceed with caution! You may have other programs using Microsoft SQL Server. In the Control Panel window:Windows XP or Server 2003: click Start  >  Control Panel > Uninstall (or Add/Remove Programs).
   Vista, Windows 7 or Server 2008 R2: click Start  >  Control Panel > Uninstall (or Programs and Features).
   Windows 8 / Windows 10: Windows Key > type Control Panel > Uninstall (or Programs and Features).
2. Type in “Microsoft SQL” in the search at the top right to narrow down your choices. Remove in priority:

• Microsoft SQL Server 2005, or 2008 R2, or 2014 (this will remove all other listed SQL dependents like “Setup” and “Support Files”)
• Microsoft SQL Server Native Client

Other programs may be using SQL Server

When you uninstall Microsoft SQL Server, a window may show up like the one below. If it doesn’t, it means that inFlow’s the only program using SQL Server and it would go straight to uninstalling. If you do see this though, read on to make sure you are only removing INFLOW related files and not other programs that also use SQL Server.

Ensure that you are removing only the INFLOWSQL instance. If it lists any other instance name there, click the dropdown button beside it and select the INFLOWSQL instance. If you do not see the INFLOWSQL instance, cancel the SQL uninstall as this means you have other programs relying on SQL Server. Move on to the next step.

Cleanup leftover files

Next, we need to make sure there are no leftover files after uninstalling.

1. Please go to the directories below:
   C:\Program Files
C:\Program Files (x86)
2. Make sure that there is no folder named “inFlow inventory” in either of those directories. If there is, delete the folder.
3. Check C:\ProgramData\inFlow Inventory and make sure only three folders are listed: “Backup”, “Logs”, (you may see a “Temp” folder too). There should be no other files except those three folders.
4. Check the following folders:C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL ServerIf there are any folders in here named “MSSQL10_50.INFLOWSQL”, delete it.
   If there are MSSQL.1 AND MSSQL.2 (or more), skip to the next step.
   If there’s only one called MSSQL.1, and no MSSQL.2, etc., then delete the files in these two folders:32-bit Windows:
   C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Template Data64-bit Windows:
   C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Template DataIf you don’t see any of those folders, skip to the next step.
5. Check this folder: C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Local DB\Instances .It should be empty. If you see a folder in here named INFLOWSQL,  delete it.

You’re done cleanup! Move on to the next step for installing inFlow.

Step 5: Reinstalling

1. Download the latest version of inFlow that you’re eligible for by logging into your account here. If you’re a new user, you can get the latest version of inFlow here.
2. Run the installer. When you’re done, click Start inFlow!
3. You can restore your data by going to the Main Menu > General > Restore Data and then restore from an inFlow backup file (.ifi file or .ifz file).
4. Then log in to inflow by going to Main Menu > Options > About inFlow.

If you don’t have one you can try looking in the auto-backups folder: Main Menu >Options > Settings > Auto-backup and then restore to an auto-backup of your choice. The copied files in Step 2 of clean up can be deleted once you’ve successfully restored.

It’s still not working!

If it still fail to install, there are a couple of things to try after clean up that could help:

• Check that your Windows is up to date: Click Start (or hit your Windows Key) > type in Windows Update and click Check for updates. Install any “Important updates” you see. Restart your computer first before trying to install inFlow.
• Disable any antivirus software which could be interfering with the installation.  Usually you can find an icon for your antivirus software in the system tray (bottom-right corner of Windows), and if you right-click on it there’s often an option to disable it temporarily. You can re-enable this after the installation is done.