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YaBB Quick Start Guide

### Upgrading from YaBB 1.x

This section only applies to those converting YaBB 1.x data from an existing old forum to the YaBB 2 data format.
First you will need to install a completely new version of YaBB 2.6.

#### Running the Converter

1. Before doing anything - in your YaBB 1 Gold forum, go to your Admin Center and run the forum maintenance utilities to make sure everything is up to date.
2. If your YaBB 1 Gold - SP 1.x forum is located on the same server as your YaBB 2.6 installation:
   - Insert the path to your YaBB 1 Gold - SP 1.x forum and the Boards, Members, Messages, and Variables folders in the input fields on the Converter's start page - and go to point 4.
   OR if your YaBB 1 Gold - SP 1.x forum is located on a different server than your YaBB 2.6 installation or if you don't know the path to your SP 1.x forum:
   - You must upload the /Convert/Boards, /Convert/Members, /Convert/Messages and /Convert/Variables folders from the YaBB 2.6 zip package and CHMOD them 755.
     - drwxr-xr-x (CHMOD 755)cgi-bin/yabb2/Convert
     - drwxr-xr-x (CHMOD 755)cgi-bin/yabb2/Convert/Boards
     - drwxr-xr-x (CHMOD 755)cgi-bin/yabb2/Convert/Members
     - drwxr-xr-x (CHMOD 755)cgi-bin/yabb2/Convert/Messages
     - drwxr-xr-x (CHMOD 755)cgi-bin/yabb2/Convert/Variables
   - Copy all files from /Boards, /Members, /Messages, and /Variables from your OLD YaBB 1.x forum to the corresponding /Convert folders in your NEW YaBB 2.6 installation.
   - Copy yabb/Settings.pl from your OLD YaBB 1.x forum to the /Convert/Variables in your NEW YaBB 2.6 installation.
3. Log into your new 2.6 installation and log into the Admin Center. Click on 'Go to Setup/Convert'. On the next screen choose 'Convert' to start the 1x Converter.
4. The Converter will show the steps required to proceed. Make sure you have a backup of your existing YaBB 1.x data in a safe place!
5. You can now follow the on-screen instructions provided by the Converter. It will step you through its 5 steps by having you click the next step's link when it is time.
6. After converting you should be ready to login using your old log in and password and test your new forum. Load YaBB.pl as shown in the previous setup stages (e.x. http://www.example.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl). Again, modify this URL to fit your specific website and YaBB installation location. (Note: for security reasons YaBB 2.6 only accepts User ID or e-mail as log in credentials.)
7. Once you are satisfied that your old forum has been imported properly, you should delete the Converter backup files using the Admin Center 'Delete backup files' utility - this will also remove the setup and converter utility files. Note: this function only removes the files in the 'yabb2/Convert' folder. If the files you used for conversion were in your old installation, they will not be removed.
8. YaBB 2.6 has many new features and settings so be sure to go over each section of the Admin Center and customize the settings to your forum - also make sure to turn on the anti-spam features and create custom questions in Anti-spam Question.