Important information to take note of before you continue:

  • If you are installing a stand-alone workstation, only follow instruction set A (Steps to install a workstation). 


  • If you are installing a server computer (Main computer that hosts the database), or if the PC needs to connect to the SERVER-PC remotely, please follow instruction set B (Steps to install a server).


A. STEPS TO INSTALL A WORKSTATION


A1. Please check the following:


Required PC Specifications:

Minimum Required

o    Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz or equivalent 

o    2GB Ram 

o   120GB HDD / SSD 

Recommended Requirements

o    Intel Core i3 2.0GHz or equivalent

o    4GB Ram 

o    265GB HDD / SSD 


Advantage is only compatible with Windows-based Operating Systems.


A2. Downloads to be completed:

  • You can use the following details to login to the website:
  1. Username: download@spiralsoft.co.za
  2. Password: downlo@d$
  • Please note:
  1. Download the correct version of Advantage from our website. This version has to be the same version as the one on the server computer. If the incorrect version is downloaded, it will not be able to connect to the server. To view which version is currently installed, open the advantage application on any of the computers and look at the top of the window. It will read something in the line of [Build 2017.6.3.0].
  2. Download the correct bit version (i.e., 32 bit or 64 bit) (Note: Right click on “This PC”, and then click properties to see which bit version the PC is running. Or, on your keyboard, press the Windows Button and the 'Pause Break' button simultaneously).

 

  • Before the software downloads, create the Advantage Folder: C:\Advantage 

ALL information needed by Spiralsoft Support Personnel is stored here 

  • Advantage (You need to download both Architectures):
  1. Advantage Version 6.3 (32bit & 64bit)
    1. Advantage_2017.6.3_32bit_Upgrade_Components (at the time of writing these links are correct)
    2. Advantage_2017.6.3_64bit_Upgrade_Components (at the time of writing these links are correct)
  2. Advantage Version 6.4 (32bit & 64bit)
    1. Advantage_2018.6.4_32bit_Upgrade_Components (at the time of writing these links are correct)
    2. Advantage_2018.6.4_64bit_Upgrade_Components (at the time of writing these links are correct)
  3. Advantage Version 6.5 (32bit & 64bit)
    1. Advantage_2019.6.5_32bit_Upgrade_Components (at the time of writing these links are correct)
    2. Advantage_2019.6.5_64bit_Upgrade_Components (at the time of writing these links are correct)
  • WinRAR (You need this to extract the Advantage Folder)
  1. Winrar Download


A3. Windows Configuration Setups


While the software is downloading you can complete the following setups:

Region and Language Settings

First Tab – Formats

Format

English (South Africa)

Short Date

yyyy/MM/dd

Long Date

dd MMMM yyyy

Short Time

HH:mm

Long Time

HH:mm:ss

First Day of Week

Sunday

 

Additional Settings Button

First Tab – Numbers

Decimal Symbol

.

Full Stop

Digit Grouping

,

Comma

List Separator 

,

Comma

 

Second Tab – Currency

Decimal Symbol

.

Full Stop

Digit Grouping

,

Comma

 

Second Tab - Location

Current Location

South Africa

 

Fourth Tab – Administrative

Language for non-Unicode Programs

English (South Africa)

If not Click on Change System Locale…

Your system will have to be restarted after this if it changed. 


  • UAC – User Account Control
  1. To be disabled it. You can find it under User Accounts in the Control Panel.
  2. Click on Change User Account Control Settings
  3. Move The Slider DOWN to Never Notify
  4. Click OK

 

 

A4. Install Advantage

You are now ready to install advantage 

  • After extracting the downloaded Advantage software, navigate to the extracted folder, usually found under C:\Advantage\ (Depending on wehre the downlaod was placed)
  • Run the setup.exe file
  1. Click next 
  2. Tick the box that says “I accept the Terms and Conditions” 
  3. Tick the box that says “I accept the User Licence and Support Agreement”
  4. Untick the box that says I DO NOT accept 
  5. Click next 
  6. The correct Database server should be chosen. If not choose it from the drop down. 
  7. The username and password are already correct. 
  8. Click next 
  9. Ensure that the box that says “Advantage Software Installation” is ticked 
  10. Click next 
  11. Choose the correct Database 
  12. Click next all the way and install. Wait for the installation to finish. 
  • Once done click on the Advantage Back Office Shortcut,
  1. You will be greeted by n window that says “This Advantage Computer has not been activated. Please contact Spiralsoft” Click OK 
  2. Next you will see a blue Advantage Activation screen with information on it.
  3. Take a screenshot of the activation have it activated by Spiralsoft Support. Remember to provide a reason and old computer name if it is a re-activation. If it is a new activation please remember to include the Invoice Number 
  • Once Activation is done. You can click on Activate Advantage.
  1. If it is a 32-bit machine Advantage should now be working. 
  2. If it is a 64-bit machine you need to go to C:\Advantage\Activations\ and run the .reg file saved in there. 
  3. Click yes and OK. 
  • You are now ready to work on advantage. 


___________________________________________________________________________


B. STEPS TO INSTALLL A SERVER


B1. Please check the following:


Required PC Specifications:

Minimum Requirements

o    Intel Core i3 2.0GHz or equivalent

o    4GB Ram 

o    256GB HDD / SSD

Recommended Requiremnents

o    Intel Core i5 2.0GHz or equivalent

o    8GB Ram 

o    512GB HDD / SSD 


Advantage is only compatible with Windows-based Operating Systems.


B2. Downloads to be completed:

  • You can use the following details to login to the website:
  1. Username: download@spiralsoft.co.za
  2. Password: downlo@d$
  • Please note:
  1. Download the correct version of Advantage from our website. This version has to be the same version as the one on the server computer. If the incorrect version is downloaded, it will not be able to connect to the server. To view which version is currently installed, open the advantage application on any of the computers and look at the top of the window. It will read something in the line of [Build 2017.6.3.0].
  2. Download the correct bit version (i.e., 32 bit or 64 bit) (right click on “This PC”, and then click properties to see which bit version the PC is running).

 

  • Before the software downloads, create the Advantage Folder: C:\Advantage 

ALL information needed by Spiralsoft Support Personnel is stored here 

  • SQL (Depending on the architecture you should choose which to download):
  1. SQL 2008 R2 Express with Tools (32 Bit) 
  2. SQL 2008 R2 Express with Tools (64 Bit)


  • Advantage (You need to download both Architectures):


  • WinRAR (You need this to extract the Advantage Folder)
  1. Winrar Download

 

B3. Windows Configuration Setups

 

While the software is downloading you can complete the following setups:

Region and Language Settings

First Tab – Formats

Format

English (South Africa)

Short Date

yyyy/MM/dd

Long Date

dd MMMM yyyy

Short Time

HH:mm

Long Time

HH:mm:ss

First Day of Week

Sunday

 

Additional Settings Button

First Tab – Numbers

Decimal Symbol

.

Full Stop

Digit Grouping

,

Comma

List Separator 

,

Comma

 

Second Tab – Currency

Decimal Symbol

.

Full Stop

Digit Grouping

,

Comma

 

Second Tab - Location

Current Location

South Africa

 

Fourth Tab – Administrative

Language for non-Unicode Programs

English (South Africa)

If not Click on Change System Locale…

Your system will have to be restarted after this if it changed. 


UAC – User Account Control

  1. To be disabled it. You can find it under User Accounts in the Control Panel.
  2. Click on Change User Account Control Settings
  3. Move The Slider DOWN to Never Notify
  4. Click OK


Firewall


Open Windows Firewall with Advanced Settings

TCP Port Rules:

o    On the left Click on Inbound Rules

o    On the Right Click on New Rule

o    Select [Port] and click next

o    Choose TCP and enter the Port to open 1433 click next

o    Allow the Connection click Next

o    Ensure all three boxes are ticked

o    Name it “SQL TCP” Click Finish


UDP Port Rules:

o    On the left Click on Outbound Rules

o    On the Right Click on New Rule

o    Select [Port] and click next

o    Choose UDP and enter the Port to open 1434 click next

o    Allow the Connection click Next

o    Ensure all three boxes are ticked

o    Name it “SQL UDP” Click Finish



B4. Install SQL 2008

Next, we will install SQL 2008 R2 Express With Tools

  • Extract the Installation files out of the Zip Folder and place it in the Advantage folder.
  • Open the File and let it run (SQL Requires full and unrestricted access to install. You cannot install other programs while you are installing SQL. 
  • (If it complains about compatibility just click Allow and Run) 
  • Once the SQL Server Installation Centre has been loaded you can click on hardware on the left column. 
  • Then New SQL Server stand-alone installation. 
  • At the Setup Support Rules window click on OK. 
  • At the Product Key Windows Click Next 
  • Accept the Licence Terms and click Next 
  • Then click INSTALL 
  • Once done you should be greeted by a Support Rules page giving a warning about the windows Firewall. Just click Next 
  • Select ALL the features. Click Next 
  • Next is the Instance Name. The default is SQLExpress. Change this to = MSSQLSERVER 
  • Disk space Requirements Click next 
  • Server Configuration:

SQL Server Database Engine:

o    Account Name: NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE 

o    Startup Type: Automatic

SQL Server Browser

o    Startup Type: Automatic

Click next 

Database Engine Configuration:

Authentication Mode

o    Mixed Mode

o    Change the Password to advantagesystem 

o    Add the current user 

o    Click Next all the way and wait for the installation to complete. 

o    Once the installation has been completed click on next and close 

o    You can also close the SQL Server Installation Centre.


B5. Configure SQL Server

Your next step is to configure the SQL Server 

  • Open the SQL Server Configuration Manager application

o    Drop down the SQL Native Client 10.0 Configuration (32bit) in the left column

o    Click on Client Protocols

  • Ensure that TCP/IP is set to enabled 
  • Ensure that Named Pipes is set to enabled 

o    Drop down the SQL Server Network Configuration in the left column 

o    Click on Protocols for MSSQLSERVER

  • Ensure that TCP/IP is set to enabled 
  • Ensure that Named Pipes is set to enabled 

o    Drop down the SQL Native Client 10.0 Configuration in the left column 

o    Click on Client Protocols

  • Ensure that TCP/IP is set to enabled 
  • Ensure that Named Pipes is set to enabled 

o    After this Restart the SQL Server by clicking on SQL Server Services

  •  In the right-hand column Right click on SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER) 
  • Click on Restart and wait for it to complete.

o    Close the SQL Server Configuration Manager application 


  • Next you need to extract the Advantage install folder. You need to get the Blank Database (Alternatively, if you have a backup of your database, you can use that .mdf and .ldf instead of the default one)
  • Open the Advantage_2017.6.3_64bit_Upgrade_Components.rar (or other version) with WinRAR and extract to the Advantage Folder 
  • Go to C:\Advantage\ Advantage_201x.6.x_64bit_Upgrade_Components\Setup\Data
  • Copy the Following files to the SQL Server Data Directory located under C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA:
    • ADV2017.mdf
    • ADV2017.ldf 
  • Open the Application SQL Server Management Studio 
  • Select the Server you want to install to. In this case you can just enter (local) 
  • Change the Authentication dropdown to SQL Server Authentication

o    Username: sa 

o    Password: advantagesystem 

o    Do NOT select remember password 

  • Click connect 

o    Attach the database that you moved into the SQL Directory

  • Right Click on Databases 
  • Click Attach 
  • In the new window “Attach Databases” 
  • Click Add

o    Select the Database Name (i.e. 'ADV2017' or Restored backup name ) 

o    Click OK 

  • Ensure that the Attach As name is correct 
  • Ensure that the Database Details screen is correct with no errors 
  • Click OK 

o    Click on New Query

  • Click on Open 
  • Select My Computer on the Left 
  • Go to C:\Advantage\Advantage_2017.6.x_64bit_Upgrade_Components\Scripts and select “SQL 2008 Configuration mod to ALLOW xp_cmdshell for PING.sql”
  • Click Execute 
  • You will see the results below:

o    Configuration option 'show advanced options' changed from 0 to 1. Run the RECONFIGURE statement to install. 

o    Configuration option 'xp_cmdshell' changed from 0 to 1. Run the RECONFIGURE statement to install. 

  • Close the Management Studio 


B6. Install Advantage

You are now ready to install advantage 

  • After extracting the downloaded Advantage software, navigate to the extracted folder, usually found under C:\Advantage\ (Depending on wehre the downlaod was placed)
  • Run the setup.exe file
  1. Click next 
  2. Tick the box that says “I accept the Terms and Conditions” 
  3. Tick the box that says “I accept the User Licence and Support Agreement”
  4. Untick the box that says I DO NOT accept 
  5. Click next 
  6. The correct Database server should be chosen. If not choose it from the drop down. 
  7. The username and password are already correct. 
  8. Click next 
  9. Ensure that the box that says “Advantage Software Installation” is ticked 
  10. Click next 
  11. Choose the correct Database 
  12. Click next all the way and install. Wait for the installation to finish.
  • Once done click on the Advantage Back Office Shortcut,
  1. You will be greeted by n window that says “This Advantage Computer has not been activated. Please contact Spiralsoft” Click OK 
  2. Next you will see a blue Advantage Activation screen with information on it.
  3. Take a screenshot of the activation have it activated by Spiralsoft Support. Remember to provide a reason and old computer name if it is a re-activation. If it is a new activation please remember to include the Invoice Number
  • Once Activation is done. You can click on Activate Advantage.
  1. If it is a 32-bit machine Advantage should now be working. 
  2. If it is a 64-bit machine you need to go to C:\Advantage\Activations\ and run the .reg file saved in there. 
  3. Click yes and OK.
  • You are now ready to work on advantage.

___________________________________________________________________________

NOW, CONTACT SPIRALSOFT FOR ASSISTANCE WITH THE ACTIVATION:


You can send the TeamViewer ID and password via:


•    Whatsapp: +27 (0) 65 959 5747  OR

•    E-mail: support@spiralsoft.co.za

•    Portal: https://spiralsoft.freshdesk.com/support/tickets/new