Hello all, its been a minute. So I've finally had some time to try to get the old KIA BBS back up and running. Several months back, I was able to restore the old BBS. I built a Virtual WinXP system on a TerraMaster NAS device, and pulled the BBS off a backup. Version is SynchroNet 3.16. Everything seemed to work then life slapped me, lost my job decided to retire, so I left it sit for a bit. So I'm back... I am attempting to upgrade it. I currently have a Win10 Pro system on the same TerraMaster NAS. I copied the 3.16 over and most of it worked, except the doors, of course. I did all the updates to the Win10 system suggested. Then updated SynchroNet from 3.16 to 3.19. At this point, I believe everything is working. I have tested several door games, and they seem to be working. So I think I got all that working. So that is where I am at the moment. I did a backup of the system at the 3.19, then attempted to do the upgrade to 3.20. It failed... Not sure what happened, but, it seems to reset everything to an initial install. So I restored back to the 3.19. I'm having a strange error that I didn't notice before. If I try to make a change, or shut down the BBS I'm getting: Failure writing Initalization file: c:\sbbs\ctrl\sbbs.ini. I'm done some searching in the docs and the Wiki, but am not having any luck finding this issue. I'm thinking that this may be the reason the system reverted to an initial install. Any thoughts? My apologies, If you all remember me, I'm rather long winded. :) hahaha!
Sniper

Killed In Action BBS, telnet://kiabbs.org

---
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Re: KIA BBS issues
By: Sniper to All on Fri Sep 12 2025 11:24 pm

Hello all, its been a minute.

Welcome back!

So I've finally had some time to try to get
the old KIA BBS back up and running. Several months back, I was able to restore the old BBS. I built a Virtual WinXP system on a TerraMaster NAS device, and pulled the BBS off a backup. Version is SynchroNet 3.16. Everything seemed to work then life slapped me, lost my job decided to retire, so I left it sit for a bit. So I'm back... I am attempting to upgrade it. I currently have a Win10 Pro system on the same TerraMaster NAS. I copied the 3.16 over and most of it worked, except the doors, of course. I did all the updates to the Win10 system suggested. Then updated SynchroNet from 3.16 to 3.19. At this point, I believe everything is working. I have tested several door games, and they seem to be working. So I think I got all that working. So that is where I am at the moment. I did a backup of the system at the 3.19, then attempted to do the upgrade to 3.20. It failed... Not sure what happened, but, it seems to reset everything to an initial install.

Sounds like you didn't run 'jsexec update'. The upgrade archive contains instructions (README.TXT).
--
digital man (rob)

Sling Blade quote #20:
Doyle: Hey is this the kind of retard that drools and rubs shit in his hair? Norco, CA WX: 78.7øF, 60.0% humidity, 11 mph W wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs
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Re: KIA BBS issues
By: Digital Man to Sniper on Sat Sep 13 2025 02:48 pm

Re: KIA BBS issues
By: Sniper to All on Fri Sep 12 2025 11:24 pm

Hello all, its been a minute.

Welcome back!

So I've finally had some time to try to get
the old KIA BBS back up and running. Several months back, I was able to restore the old BBS. I built a Virtual WinXP system on a TerraMaster NAS device, and pulled the BBS off a backup. Version is SynchroNet 3.16. Everything seemed to work then life slapped me, lost my job decided to retire, so I left it sit for a bit. So I'm back... I am attempting to upgrade it. I currently have a Win10 Pro system on the same TerraMaster NAS. I copied the 3.16 over and most of it worked, except the doors, of course. I did all the updates to the Win10 system suggested. Then updat SynchroNet from 3.16 to 3.19. At this point, I believe everything is working. I have tested several door games, and they seem to be working. I think I got all that working. So that is where I am at the moment. I a backup of the system at the 3.19, then attempted to do the upgrade to 3.20. It failed... Not sure what happened, but, it seems to reset everything to an initial install.

Sounds like you didn't run 'jsexec update'. The upgrade archive contains instructions (README.TXT).

Ok, I will rerun it. To expand. I attempted this multiple times, initially, I tried to do the upgrade directly to 3.20 directly as was noted in the documentation. That failed badly, wouldn't load after the upgrade, and yes, I ran the jsexec update. So on the next attempt, I decided to do each update indivudually, 17, 18, 19 and 20. After 3.20 upgrade, and doing the jsexec update, the system reverted to new install. I verified each upgrade, 17, system was working, doors weren't. Next 18, after the update, the system worked, not the doors, and 19 worked, and the doors worked. When I did 3.20, the system was destroyed, and was walking me through the initial install, as I stated. Currently, I did the individual upgrades again, and stopped this time at 3.19, which is what I'm currently running. However I'm getting the error mentioned, not finding the sbbs.ini. So I will attempt a rerun of the jsexec update, and see if that fixes it. I'll let you know in a few. :)


Sniper

Killed In Action BBS, telnet://kiabbs.org

---
þ Synchronet þ Killed In Action BBS - kia.zapto.org
* Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)

Re: KIA BBS issues
By: Digital Man to Sniper on Sat Sep 13 2025 02:48 pm

Hi, The jsexec update was rerun, and it completed, however no change. When I close out synchronet, it still gives me that error, that it can't write the sbbs.ini. I'll go re-read the docs, see if I missed a step... Something between 3.18 and 3.19.


Sniper

Killed In Action BBS, telnet://kiabbs.org

---
þ Synchronet þ Killed In Action BBS - kia.zapto.org
* Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)

Re: KIA BBS issues
By: Sniper to Digital Man on Sun Sep 14 2025 09:22 am

Ok, I will rerun it. To expand. I attempted this multiple times, initially, I tried to do the upgrade directly to 3.20 directly as was noted in the documentation. That failed badly, wouldn't load after the upgrade, and yes, I ran the jsexec update. So on the next attempt, I decided to do each update indivudually, 17, 18, 19 and 20. After 3.20 upgrade, and doing the jsexec update, the system reverted to new install. I verified each upgrade, 17, system was working, doors weren't. Next 18, after the update, the system worked, not the doors, and 19 worked, and the doors worked. When I did 3.20, the system was destroyed, and was walking me through the initial install, as I stated.

The old (v3.19) *.cnf files are still there. Nothing was "destroyed". If you ran v3.20 withOUT running 'jsexec update' first (e.g. as an accident), you could have stock/new install .ini files ni your ctrl directory. In that case, running 'jsexec upgrade_to_v320' would fix that situation.

Currently, I did the individual upgrades again, and
stopped this time at 3.19, which is what I'm currently running. However I'm getting the error mentioned, not finding the sbbs.ini. So I will attempt a rerun of the jsexec update, and see if that fixes it. I'll let you know in a few. :)

"error finding sbbs.ini" doesn't sound like an upgrade issue. That sounds like your SBBSCTRL environment variable isn't set correctly.
--
digital man (rob)

Sling Blade quote #15:
Doyle Hargraves: What'cha doin' with that lawn mower blade Karl?
Norco, CA WX: 75.1øF, 69.0% humidity, 4 mph WSW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs --- SBBSecho 3.29-Linux
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Re: KIA BBS issues
By: Sniper to Digital Man on Sun Sep 14 2025 09:29 am

Re: KIA BBS issues
By: Digital Man to Sniper on Sat Sep 13 2025 02:48 pm

Hi, The jsexec update was rerun, and it completed, however no change.
When I close out synchronet, it still gives me that error, that it can't write the sbbs.ini. I'll go re-read the docs, see if I missed a step... Something between 3.18 and 3.19.

Check permissions on the file.
--
digital man (rob)

This Is Spinal Tap quote #45:
I don't really think the end can be assessed as of itself as being the end Norco, CA WX: 75.1øF, 69.0% humidity, 4 mph WSW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs --- SBBSecho 3.29-Linux
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Re: KIA BBS issues
By: Digital Man to Sniper on Sun Sep 14 2025 01:13 pm

Re: KIA BBS issues
By: Sniper to Digital Man on Sun Sep 14 2025 09:22 am

Ok, I will rerun it. To expand. I attempted this multiple times, initially, I tried to do the upgrade directly to 3.20 directly as was not in the documentation. That failed badly, wouldn't load after the upgrade and yes, I ran the jsexec update. So on the next attempt, I decided to d each update indivudually, 17, 18, 19 and 20. After 3.20 upgrade, and doi the jsexec update, the system reverted to new install. I verified each upgrade, 17, system was working, doors weren't. Next 18, after the upda the system worked, not the doors, and 19 worked, and the doors worked. W I did 3.20, the system was destroyed, and was walking me through the init install, as I stated.

The old (v3.19) *.cnf files are still there. Nothing was "destroyed". If you ran v3.20 withOUT running 'jsexec update' first (e.g. as an accident), you could have stock/new install .ini files ni your ctrl directory. In that case running 'jsexec upgrade_to_v320' would fix that situation.

Currently, I did the individual upgrades again, and
stopped this time at 3.19, which is what I'm currently running. However I getting the error mentioned, not finding the sbbs.ini. So I will attempt rerun of the jsexec update, and see if that fixes it. I'll let you know a few. :)

"error finding sbbs.ini" doesn't sound like an upgrade issue. That sounds li your SBBSCTRL environment variable isn't set correctly.

Checking, and I find that under the Enviroment Variables, in the system variables, there is an entry for SBBSCTRL for c:\sbbs\ctrl listed.

I also checked the files properties to verify access levels.

There is only one user account and it is the admin account.

Authenticated Users M/R&E/R/W
System Users - All but Speical
Administrators = All but Special
Users = Read/Write

That looks right to me... Just for giggles, I changed them all to have full permissions, including Special. Rebooted just to ensure all are set, still no joy.

The BBS starts up, with no errors (minus gopher which I turned off). Only when I exit the BBS do I get that error.

Appreciate any other ideas? :)





Sniper

Killed In Action BBS, telnet://kiabbs.org

---
þ Synchronet þ Killed In Action BBS - kia.zapto.org
* Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)

Re: KIA BBS issues
By: Sniper to Digital Man on Mon Sep 15 2025 11:42 am

Re: KIA BBS issues
By: Digital Man to Sniper on Sun Sep 14 2025 01:13 pm

Re: KIA BBS issues
By: Sniper to Digital Man on Sun Sep 14 2025 09:22 am

Ok, I will rerun it. To expand. I attempted this multiple times, initially, I tried to do the upgrade directly to 3.20 directly as was not in the documentation. That failed badly, wouldn't load after the upgrade and yes, I ran the jsexec update. So on the next attempt, I decided to d each update indivudually, 17, 18, 19 and 20. After 3.20 upgrade, and doi the jsexec update, the system reverted to new install. I verified each upgrade, 17, system was working, doors weren't. Next 18, after the upda the system worked, not the doors, and 19 worked, and the doors worked. W I did 3.20, the system was destroyed, and was walking me through the init install, as I stated.

The old (v3.19) *.cnf files are still there. Nothing was "destroyed". If you ran v3.20 withOUT running 'jsexec update' first (e.g. as an accident), you could have stock/new install .ini files ni your ctrl directory. In that case running 'jsexec upgrade_to_v320' would fix that situation.

Currently, I did the individual upgrades again, and
stopped this time at 3.19, which is what I'm currently running. However I getting the error mentioned, not finding the sbbs.ini. So I will attempt rerun of the jsexec update, and see if that fixes it. I'll let you know a few. :)

"error finding sbbs.ini" doesn't sound like an upgrade issue. That sounds li your SBBSCTRL environment variable isn't set correctly.

Checking, and I find that under the Enviroment Variables, in the system variables, there is an entry for SBBSCTRL for c:\sbbs\ctrl listed.

The SBBSCTRL environment variable was only suggested as a possible cause because you reported an error "not finding the sbbs.ini" - but that's not the actual error you're getting. Instead, it woulds like you're having an issue with sbbsctrl.exe *writing* to the sbbs.ini file, not finding or reading it.

I also checked the files properties to verify access levels.

There is only one user account and it is the admin account.

Authenticated Users M/R&E/R/W
System Users - All but Speical
Administrators = All but Special
Users = Read/Write

That looks right to me... Just for giggles, I changed them all to have full permissions, including Special. Rebooted just to ensure all are set, still no joy.

The BBS starts up, with no errors (minus gopher which I turned off). Only when I exit the BBS do I get that error.

Appreciate any other ideas? :)

I'm assuming this is an error only with sbbsctrl.exe (e.g. you get no error such error if you run sbbs.exe). Similarly, do you get an error if you run scfg.exe and save any changes? I can't think of anything special about sbbsctrl.exe that would prevent it from writing to your sbbs.ini file. Do you get the same error if you try to use the sbbsctrl File->Save Settings menu option?

If sbbsctrl.exe has a problem writing to sbbs.ini but scfg.exe does not, then I would presume they're running differently somehow. Did you check "Run as administrator" or something in some Windows shortcut?
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet "Real Fact" #27:
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