While not supported in production deployments, developers often need to build and test against multiple, different versions of Lotus Expeditor. Since Expeditor will always attempt to update older installations rather then install new copies, a few tricks must be used to get multiple copies of Expeditor installed. This page provides instructions for developers on Windows systems to get multiple copies of Expeditor installed.

Caution: These instructions are provided "as is" to help teams develop and test against multiple copies of Lotus Expeditor on the same Windows System. If you use these instructions, you may have to uninstall and reinstall copies of Lotus Expeditor to get back to a clean environment. Editing the registry directly can lead to devastating problems with your Windows install. Always back up your registry before making changes directly.

What you need

Copies of the versions of Lotus Expeditor you would like to install
The Windows Installer CleanUp Utility - This can be download from the Microsoft Support Site Article 290301 at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

The process

Installing the first copy

• Install the first copy of Lotus Expeditor that you would like to support.
• It is best to not install into the default location, but instead of install into a path that specifies the version number (e.g. C:\IBM\Lotus\Expeditor.620).
• Start Expeditor (copy 1) and verify it has installed correctly
• Close Expeditor (copy 1)
• Delete the default workspace
• The default workspace on Windows is %APPDATA%\Lotus\XPD. Generally this is c:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Lotus\XPD. If you are unsure where this is on your Windows system, open a command prompt and type echo %APPDATA%

Change the location of the default workspace

• Since multiple versions of Expeditor in the same workspace can lead to problems when running Expeditor, it is generally a good idea to change the default workspace so that the installs do not collide. There are two easy ways to do this:
• When launching Expeditor, add "-data " (e.g. pcplauncher.exe -data c:\temp\workspace1)
• Edit rcp.data variable in the rcplauncher.properties file (e.g. rcp.data=c:/temp/workspace1). Please note the use of forward slashes (/) when specifying this location. The rcplauncher.properties file is located in the \rcp directory.
• Launch Expeditor and verify that it creates and uses the new workspace
• Close Expeditor

Clean up the XPD install data

• If not already installed, install the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility
• Launch the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility
• Remove the Expeditor entry
• Select the entry for the Lotus Expeditor Client and select Remove (see image)

• Select exit to close the windows Installer CleanUp Utility
• Remove the launcher location from the registry
• Caution: Editing the registry directly can lead to devastating problems with your Windows install. Always back up your registry before making changes directly.
• Start the Registry editor by running regedit from a command prompt
• Browser to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > IBM > Lotus > Expeditor
• You should see a sub key entry (e.g. {D0ACD8C4-9DC8-41AB-BBCA-B90259CD96B0} ) under the Lotus Expeditor entry (see image)

• Select that entry and hit the delete key
• If asked to confirm the deletion, click Yes
• Close the Registry Editor

Install the second copy of Expeditor

• Be sure you have removed the default workspace as specified above.
• Install the second copy of Expeditor

This is all that is necessary to run with two copies of Expeditor. It is, however, recommend that the second copy of Expeditor be configured to use a different default workspace. See the instructions above to change the location of the default workspace.

Even more versions

Subsequent copies of Expeditor can be installed using these steps. Use the steps in the "Clean up the XPD install data" section of this article before installing the next copy of Expeditor. If you do not remove the install data, the next install of Expeditor will attempt to upgrade the most recently installed version of Expeditor.



M. Pierre Carlson
Software Engineer
WPLC & Austin Master Inventor, IBM Corp.
mpcarl@us.ibm.com (512) 286-5563