Install Trainminder on a new computer

I too had to move Trainminder to a new computer. I have a cable that hooks the two computers together and you can drag files across to the new computer. Even doing that I had to play with it to get it to work. Good Luck.

Jim D

Jim:

I tried copying the Trainminder folder from the old computer to the new one and when I try to run Trainminder I get a message that says the database was not found and that I should install Trainminder again.  Not sure what database they are talking about.

How did you finally accomplish getting it to run.

Thank you.

Carmine

You can not just "drag" an operating program (under any version of Windows) from one computer to another and expect it to work.  When you actually "install" an operating program (what follows does not apply to "portable versions" of operating programs), that install creates folders and other required files that both Windows and itself have to know how to locate.  Even if you were able to identify everything the "install" created and "drag" it all to your new computer, Windows on that new computer would not know how to manage its operations.

If what you are suggesting actually worked, pirating of purchased software would be going on all the time.  Just copy what you want from a friend's computer and PAY NOTHING.

Chuck

I understand that quite well.  The reason I posted that was because the original reply implied that the poster did just that.  Moving the data files certainly would work.

Any thoughts on how to transfer the program legally?

Or . . . should I just give up on the hundreds of hours of time entering my collection over the years?

Thank you.

Carmine

@PRR1950 posted:

You can not just "drag" an operating program (under any version of Windows) from one computer to another and expect it to work.  When you actually "install" an operating program (what follows does not apply to "portable versions" of operating programs), that install creates folders and other required files that both Windows and itself have to know how to locate.  Even if you were able to identify everything the "install" created and "drag" it all to your new computer, Windows on that new computer would not know how to manage its operations.

Well, you can actually take a running Windows installation and restore it to dissimilar hardware using an application like Acronis Universal Restore.  However, taking an individual application to a different computer is more difficult.

Have you contacted the software publisher? They should be able to tell you what to look for, and how to install the software on the new computer and transfer your data (and if that's possible!). If all else fails, you may need to buy a new copy of the software, but I'm reasonably sure your data can be transferred.

I wouldn't count on any support , I believe Trainminder went under years ago. In fact the programmer had so many complaints,  TCA took action against him and booted his ad from TCA publications

When installing Trainminder on a new computer and the database is asked for, You have to click on the folder the backup database is in not the database itself.

Like I said, I had to drag all the files and it would only work when I went into those files. I somehow was able to create a shortcut. It is working for me.

Jim D

Carmine,

I’m not familiar with the program but many old programs will not install/run on more modern OS’s.  If your original program was on a computer with Windows XP, or 7 and you are trying to put it on a computer with Windows 10 or 11 it may not be able to install because the maker is out of business and unable to upgrade the program to run on a modern OS.  

If this is the problem the best solution would be to

1. Keep your old computer as a dedicated Trainminder machine, or

2. Get a used machine (laptop?) with the old operating system that is compatible with Trainminder.  

3,  Get a “virtulization program like Oracle Virtual Box, (free) to run earlier versions of Windows on your modern computer.  #3 is for people with some computer skills.

Pete

Pete:

1. Trainminder was running on a Windows 10 PC so it should run on a Windows 11 machine.

2. and 3. Probably won't work for me as I cannot find the installation CD or program.  I thought the seven CDs had that but they will not install even if I use compatibility mode when running Setup.exe on the new machine.

Carmine

Likeminder Publishing did shut down years ago.  It's too bad, Trainminder was a very good program.  I thought it was more complete than any of the other inventory programs I tried.  Another friend and I bought the program and really like it.  We have both used it successfully until I needed a new computer.

To the poster that referenced using the backup database, are you saying that if I identify the folder containing the datafile of my collection it will install?  I never thought of that.

Carmine

Trainminder was a good program.  However the developer didn't follow through of any of his promises.  The main one being no database updates, despite ads saying that updates were going to be made.

@Carmine posted:

Likeminder Publishing did shut down years ago.  It's too bad, Trainminder was a very good program.  I thought it was more complete than any of the other inventory programs I tried.  Another friend and I bought the program and really like it.  We have both used it successfully until I needed a new computer.

Just a random thought: does the original program offer a "standard" format export that might be compatible for importing into a more current (and currently supported!) similar program? I'm not familiar with this or any such program, but many database-type programs I *have* worked with offer such export options. Still can be a PITA to re-import even assuming you can locate a better program, but IMHO that's still better than totally losing all your data! Good luck, in any event!

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Well, you can actually take a running Windows installation and restore it to dissimilar hardware using an application like Acronis Universal Restore.  However, taking an individual application to a different computer is more difficult.

You must UN hide hidden folders and then use the root ID to install/tell windows the here and now. Also depending on the version of Windows. From 10 to 11 the system needs a software handshake this verification lets the OS system know the program is approved and meets present security requirements.

I haven't tried it with Win11, but I used Acronis Universal Restore to move a Win10 installation to a totally different computer and it was just point the backup at the new computer and tell it to restore.  I've yet to make the move to Win 11 as they want me to buy a new computer.

I have it working on windows 11. No problems.

Jim D.

@Steve Tyler posted:

Just a random thought: does the original program offer a "standard" format export that might be compatible for importing into a more current (and currently supported!) similar program? I'm not familiar with this or any such program, but many database-type programs I *have* worked with offer such export options. Still can be a PITA to re-import even assuming you can locate a better program, but IMHO that's still better than totally losing all your data! Good luck, in any event!

Unfortunately no.  For me, that was the major failing of the program.  Otherwise it works or worked well for what I wanted. 

It does allow me to report out to the printer or PDF different reports.  I've done that but of course that means manual data entry again.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I haven't tried it with Win11, but I used Acronis Universal Restore to move a Win10 installation to a totally different computer and it was just point the backup at the new computer and tell it to restore.  I've yet to make the move to Win 11 as they want me to buy a new computer.

I just spent some time looking at the Acronis website and they don't seem to offer anything called 'Universal Restore'.

@Carmine posted:

I just spent some time looking at the Acronis website and they don't seem to offer anything called 'Universal Restore'.

How hard did you look?

Acronis Universal Restore

Here's a Windows setup file for the TrainMinder program. No need for those old discs.

• Download the file.
• Save it somewhere on a hard drive (NOT your desktop).
• Double-click it to start the setup program.
• Follow the instructions.

I got this file from the archive.org web site.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

How hard did you look?

Acronis Universal Restore

Apparently not well enough.  I found the instructions and it looks to me like AUR is intended for restoring an entire operating system, not just one program.

Am I conrrect?

Thank you.

@Rich Melvin posted:

Here's a Windows setup file for the TrainMinder program. No need for those old discs.

• Download the file.
• Save it somewhere on a hard drive (NOT your desktop).
• Double-click it to start the setup program.
• Follow the instructions.

I got this file from the archive.org web site.

I'll try that, thank you.

You are correct, I believe I did mention that I was doing a complete restore.

You don’t need to use the Acronis site. Just download the file I attached in my previous post and run that. That will solve your problem.

Nice find Rich, I didn't realize that the archive site had all that other stuff!  Learn something every day.

@Rich Melvin posted:

You don’t need to use the Acronis site. Just download the file I attached in my previous post and run that. That will solve your problem.

Interesting,  I wonder if I have my old activation code laying around somewhere. Like I said I liked the product,  he just blew it with the promises to update the inventory listings

I had that Trainminder set up on my computer. I guess that's how I got it to work.

Jim D.

@cbojanower posted:

Interesting,  I wonder if I have my old activation code laying around somewhere. Like I said I liked the product,  he just blew it with the promises to update the inventory listings

I would LOVE to find a product that had dictionaries off all the common manufacturer's products so you didn't have to type a ton of stuff for every piece in your collection!  That's the major stumbling block for me to actually inventory all my stuff.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I would LOVE to find a product that had dictionaries off all the common manufacturer's products so you didn't have to type a ton of stuff for every piece in your collection!  That's the major stumbling block for me to actually inventory all my stuff.

I printed off the 'master list' which appears to be a dictionary of all the possible entries in the fields.  Well, I made a PDF of the report . . . it is over 400 pages long.  What I found most useful:

1. Connection to the Greenberg database for value estimates.

2. Restrictions on what to enter in certain fields automatically normalizing the database.

3. The listing of the catalog entries for items, again normalizing the database.

None of the other programs I tried came anywhere near Trainminder.  It did the job well.

Carmine

But with no more support, is that list still available?

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

But with no more support, is that list still available?

Well, if you have the program, you have the list.  However, it is not updated so that limits its value.

I should point out that even if something was not in the master lists the user could enter the item themselves.  This worked well for newer items even after they stopped updating the list.

Carmine

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I would LOVE to find a product that had dictionaries off all the common manufacturer's products so you didn't have to type a ton of stuff for every piece in your collection!  That's the major stumbling block for me to actually inventory all my stuff.

And that was the downfall of the product. He never updated the list. This actually was the second software of this type he developed.  He was good about yearly updates with the first software. But then he sold it to another company.

A couple years later he released TrainMinder. It was a nice upgrade. And he promised more updates. A few years passed, and no updates to the item listing. I sent a few emails and got a few responses saying they were working on it.

The final straw for me was an ad he started running in TCA magazine with the headline "Accountability " and talking about the product and once again promising ltem updates.

Several members, self included,  filed complaints and the TCA committee booted his ad. Never heard from them again.

As a test I tried to install Trainminder from Rich's link. The software installed just fine. However I tried to use it and it asked for a registration code (as expected) I tried a few of the links to recover or buy a license, but the links are dead. I even tried to run through the registration process, but those are all dead as well.

So it looks like if you have a working, registered copy, you are in great shape, everyone else is out of luck.

I use the ADD YOUR OWN feature and add all my new purchases. I put the price I paid and the MSRP price. I'll never get either price if I sell my trains. I'm not in it for the investment, I'm in for the fun of running my trains.

Jim D.

@cbojanower posted:

As a test I tried to install Trainminder from Rich's link. The software installed just fine. However I tried to use it and it asked for a registration code (as expected) I tried a few of the links to recover or buy a license, but the links are dead. I even tried to run through the registration process, but those are all dead as well.

So it looks like if you have a working, registered copy, you are in great shape, everyone else is out of luck.

Yep, I installed it and tried as well.  Same results, I uninstalled it and deleted the file.  Oh well...

Maybe someone who has a registered and working copy could share their license code with us.

Normally I would not suggest this course of action, but since this company is long out of business, it’s not going to hurt them if a license code is shared among multiple users.

Iid be willing to try, but I think even with a code it would want a registration server to authenticate against.  Which doesn't exist any longer.  When I get some time I'll poke at it more.

Looking at it, I'm sure someone with decent coding skills  could whip this program together pretty quickly these days as a web app. As Gunrunner mentioned the real benefit was the item database

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Yep, I installed it and tried as well.  Same results, I uninstalled it and deleted the file.  Oh well...

Good afternoon everyone:

Well, I think I have success to report.

I used the supplied file from the fourm to install a new copy on my current (new) computer.  It worked!

However it asked if I wanted to register, start a demo (limited number of items, or restore from a database.

This morning I took a copy of minder.zip to the new computer and pointed the restore function at that file.  It said, "There is not database file there."

Hmmm . . . since it is a zip file I looked at it in Windows Explorer and told it to extract the two files found there.

Windows Explorer immediately said, "You need a password to unzip this file," and offered a dialog box to enter the password.  I NEVER used a password in any of my backups.  Figuring this was the end I clicked on OK and was met with another request for a password.  Clicked on OK again and mirabilis dictu (as Sister would say) it unzipped the two files.

I went back to Trainminder and told it to restore from the larger file and it did.  It has not nagged me for a registration so the registration code may be stored in the database.  It appears that all of my inventory is there as I entered it.

The two files are iMinder.db (63 KB) and iMinderHoldingsImages.db (79 KB).

More research is needed.

I'm not going to go through this again.  At least now that I have a working Trainminder database I will start transferring items to either an Excel Spreadsheet or Access Database and do away with Trainminder.

Thank you everyone for all you help and thoughts.  They helped me work my way through this.

Carmine