Major Upgrade of SmarterMail

The steps for upgrading to SmarterMail 15.x from an older version of the application vary depending on which version you are upgrading from. For instructions on how to upgrade from a previous 15.x release refer to the knowledge base article -- Minor Upgrade of SmarterMail.

Follow these steps to upgrade to the latest version of SmarterMail if you are upgrading from a previous version (such as 14.x or 13.x). NOTE: All configuration data and emails are preserved when upgrading from a previous major release.

NOTE: Before following the instructions in this article, make sure the appropriate Microsoft .NET Framework is installed for the version to which you will be upgrading, based on the version's System Requirements. (Versions 14.x and newer require the .NET 4.5 Framework.) Also, upgrading from older versions (up to SmarterMail 6.x) can take up to several hours based on the amount of data. This is due to file structure changes that are in SmarterMail 7.x. In addition, you will not be able to roll back to the older major version because of the file structure change. To go back to an older version, you will need to restore from a backup.

Applies to SmarterMail 8.x - 15.x

1. Back up your SmarterMail installation and data.
2. Download the latest automated installer from the Legacy Versions are of your SmarterTools account.
3. If you are running SmarterMail as an IIS site, stop the IIS site and associated application pool.
4. Uninstall SmarterMail. This is an important step in performing a major upgrade that should not be skipped. All configuration data and email will be preserved.
5. Run the SmarterMail installer.
6. During the installation process, you will be prompted for the installation path. In order to keep existing data and settings, install to the same path used in previous installs. For reference, the default installation location is C:\Program Files\SmarterTools\SmarterMail.
7. If you have made any custom configuration changes in the MailService.exe.config, replace those changes to the appropriate location.
8. If you are running SmarterMail as an IIS site, make sure the default web server is stopped.
9. If you are running SmarterMail as an IIS site, change the .NET version of the Application Pool to .NET 4.0 and restart IIS.
10. The Setup Wizard will automatically run.
11. If you were running with an activated license key, you will need to reactivate using a license key that is valid for the version you upgraded to. For more information regarding activation refer to: Activate SmarterMail. In some cases you may need to reconfigure your spam settings, as those can change from version to version.

For more information, please refer to the SmarterMail Online Help.

Learn more about SmarterMail's enterprise email features and benefits.