Apache Friends Support Forum

Hello.
Thanks for being there Xampp.
I read previously about installing a new version of I think MySQL separately and just read tonight about not installing separate components.
Hopefully this is a dumb question.
Can I install the newest version of Xampp over an old without risk of losing anything?
I'm using Windows Vista.
Does everything just update and keep stuff where I already have it or do I need to install pieces?
Again, thanks so much for being there : )

Yes, there should not be any problems. However ALWAYS backup before doing the update.

Thank you very much

I see you're using the MariaDB whereas before you were using MySQL.
Are these co-compatible?
Will the MariaDB open the MySQL files I already have?
Sorry for the ignorance : )

Hi,

KeepSmiling wrote:Can I install the newest version of Xampp over an old without risk of losing anything?

No.
You can find multiple support threads about corrupt XAMPP installation because people try to overinstalling a xampp version over another.

best wishes,
Altrea

Dont trust to "melius2", i think he is just kidding. Of course(!) you may loose ALL(!) your data, as well all your HTML and PHP files as well all Databases. You cannot simply overwrite an older version by a newer, this costs everything!

You should:

a) Backup the whole Xampp folder (just for safety reasons).

b) additionally, safe the htdocs folder (all your files and folders)

c) additionally safe the data folder of MySQL

d) optionally safe the configuration files of Apache (httpd.conf etc.) and PHP (php.ini) and MySQL (my.ini or my.cnf), depending on the fact, if you changed some of these.

Then uninstall the old Xampp, install the new one, then restore the htdocs folder (see above), also restore the data folder and if you are quite lucky, the new Xampp will show the old contents now. If anything fails, you finally have your Xampp backup. It might be safe, not to overwrite the existing installation, but create a new one on another PC (or in a VirtualHost environment) instead.

Whew.
Thanks so much everyone. Now I can proceed with confidence.