AnywhereUSB Manager Settings Lost After Windows Server In-Place Upgrade

Issue/Question

AnywhereUSB Manager settings and configuration are lost after performing a Windows Server in-place upgrade.

Solution

This is a known issue affecting third-party services. Files located in

C:\Windows\systemprofile

are not migrated to the new

C:\Windows\

folder during in-place upgrades, and there is no mechanism to instruct Windows Server to migrate these files automatically.

The files remain in

C:\Windows.old

 for 10 days or less after the upgrade unless additional update actions are taken. During that window, they can be moved to the new

C:\Windows

 folder. It is recommended to use

robocopy

 to retain ACLs. Refer to Microsoft documentation for details.

A more permanent solution is to configure a different configuration path for the AnywhereUSB Manager service using the

-c "<config_path>"

 option at service startup, moving the configuration outside of the

C:\Windows

 directory tree entirely.

Configure a Custom AnywhereUSB Manager Service Configuration File Location

AnywhereUSB Manager supports specifying a custom configuration file location. Follow the steps below after installing AnywhereUSB Manager in service mode. In this example,

C:\ProgramData\AnywhereUSB\

 is used as the configuration path — adjust this as appropriate for your deployment.

Step 1: Open an Elevated Command Prompt

Right-click Command Prompt and select Run As Administrator.

Step 2: Navigate to the AnywhereUSB Manager Directory

C:\>cd \Program Files\Digi\AnywhereUSBManager

Step 3: Remove the Existing Service

C:\Program Files\Digi\AnywhereUSBManager>awusbmanager -u

Expected output:

Successfully removed the Digi AnywhereUSB Manager service

Step 4: Re-install the Service with the Custom Configuration Path

C:\Program Files\Digi\AnywhereUSBManager>awusbmanager.exe -c "C:\ProgramData\AnywhereUSB\awusb.ini" -i

Expected output:

Digi AnywhereUSB Manager service installed and started successfully. Run the Manager again to control the service

Step 5: Verify the Service Configuration

C:\Program Files\Digi\AnywhereUSBManager>sc qc awusb

Expected output:

[SC] QueryServiceConfig SUCCESS

SERVICE_NAME: awusb

        TYPE               : 10  WIN32_OWN_PROCESS

        START_TYPE         : 2   AUTO_START

        ERROR_CONTROL      : 1   NORMAL

        BINARY_PATH_NAME   : "C:\Program Files\Digi\AnywhereUSBManager\awusbmanager.exe" -s --config="C:\ProgramData\AnywhereUSB\awusb.ini"

        LOAD_ORDER_GROUP   :

        TAG                : 0

        DISPLAY_NAME       : Digi AnywhereUSB Manager

        DEPENDENCIES       :

        SERVICE_START_NAME : LocalSystem

Important Notes

• The -i option must be the last argument on the command line.
• If AnywhereUSB Manager was previously used in standalone or service mode, the previous configuration files will not be carried over to the new location.
• After the service creates files in the new folder for the first time, review and set appropriate ACLs on the folder and its contents to ensure proper security.

Further Information

For more information on using robocopy to preserve ACLs during file migration, refer to the official Microsoft documentation for robocopy.

For AnywhereUSB Manager documentation, visit the Digi support portal.