Install Rent Master from the InternetTo install Rent Master on a new computer download all of the files below and save them to the C:\RentMstr folder on your computer, then open them and then unzip them to the C:\RentMstr folder. Some of these installation files just unzip to the location required while others require you to run a full install program which should start automatically. When you unzip or install most of these files they may run the program that you are installing - just close the program when that happens.
Copy Rent Master from One Computer to AnotherThese notes are not meant to explain everything that a layman needs to know but they should be sufficient for a computer technician to be able to do the job for you. Do NOT try to run the program across the network from another machine - only the database should be accessed via the network. Rent Master doesn't install anything into any other location other than the C:\RentMstr folder and it doesn't store any information in the Windows Registry. So you can just copy the C:\RentMstr folder from one computer to another computer and you will get everything that you need to run the program. The only things that are NOT in the C:\RentMstr folder are the shortcut icons that you click on to run the program and the C:\Windows\RentMstr.Ini file which contains some program settings which are different for every computer running the program. You don't need to copy the C:\Windows\RentMstr.Ini from one computer to the next (although you can if you want to) as the information in this file is created as required by Rent Master. To copy from one computer to another you can just use Windows Explorer to drag the C:\RentMstr folder onto a USB memory stick on one computer and then put the USB memory stick into the other computer and drag it back to the C: drive on the new computer. If this computer is not replacing the old computer but is an additional workstation then you may need to delete the database files from either the old computer or the new computer (but not both) so that you don't accidentally access the wrong copy of the database. The database files are MS-Access (Version 2.0) data files and they all end with a "dot MDB" (.MDB) file extension. If you see any files ending in .LDB or .BDB then you can delete them as they are only temporary files. Once you have the programs on the new computer you can setup a new shortcut called "Rent Master" to point to the "C:\RentMstr\RentMstr.Exe" file on your disk. You also need another shortcut for the backup program "Rent Master Backup" which points to "C:\RentMstr\DataBack.Exe RentMstr". (Note the space after .exe). You will also need to correct the Windows Regional Settings (and turn off UAC for Vista or Windows-7 computers) and install the additional Support programs (Winzip, IZArc, SendMail etc) as mentioned in the section above. Accessing a Rent Master Database over a NetworkThese notes are not meant to explain everything that a layman needs to know but they should be sufficient for a computer technician to be able to do the job for you. Do NOT try to run the program across the network from another machine - only the database should be accessed via the network. The computer that has the database files located on it MUST have the root folder of it's C: drive shared for full read/write access for the other users. (Do NOT share the C:\RentMstr folder itself). If you look in the title bar or Rent Master on computers already running Rent Master and accessing the correct database you can see where to map the network drive to. The title bar may say something like RentMstr: R:\RentMstr\RentYour.Mdb (or \\Server\Data\RentMstr\RentYour.Mdb)and this means that you should map drive R: to the network folder \\Server\Data\ on the new computer. To do this
Then you can run Rent Master on the other computer and choose SELECT NEW DATABASE from the file menu and navigate to the R:\RentMstr folder on the server computer and double click on the database file. Basically all computers should see the database in a \RentMstr folder. If you don't wish to share the root folder of your C: drive on the server computer then you can create a C:\Data folder and a C:\Data\RentMstr folder and put the database files into the C:\Data\RentMstr folder and then share the C:\Data folder and map the remote computers to that folder instead. Once you are finished you should run the NETWORK PROGRAM UPDATE option from the DATABASE menu in Rent Master on every computer running Rent Master. This will make sure that all computers are up to date and the program versions, letters and reports match on all computers. |