This article applies to PRTG Network Monitor versions 7, 8, 9, and 12

How to Move an Installation of PRTG to Another Computer

This article explains how to move an installation of PRTG Network Monitor onto another computer.

PRTG Network Monitor writes data to several locations:

• Into the program directory (core installation)
• Into the data folder (monitoring configuration, monitoring data, logs, etc.)
• Into the registry (license key, admin login, IP settings, etc.)

Check Your PRTG Version

In order to successfully move a PRTG installation, make sure you install the same PRTG build on source and target computer! You may have to update the source computer to the latest PRTG version before proceeding.

Migration Step by Step

To migrate an installation from a source computer to a target computer the following steps are necessary:

• Step 1: Install PRTG on the target system
  • Requires entry of the license key and activation. As long as the old installation is active this license will run as freeware.
• Step 2: Stop core and probe services on source and target system
  • Both systems:
    • When using PRTG 7: In the "PRTG Server Administrator" program choose the "Service Control" tab and click on "Stop"
    • When using PRTG 8/9/12: In the "PRTG Server Administrator" program choose the "Start/Stop" tab and click on "Stop Core Server"
  • Both systems:
    • When using PRTG 7: In the "PRTG Probe Administrator" program choose the "Service Control" tab and click on "Stop"
    • When using PRTG 8/9/12: In the "PRTG Probe Administrator" program choose the "Start/Stop" tab and click on "Stop Probe Service"
• Step 3: Find the data folders
  • Both systems:
    • When using PRTG 7: In the "PRTG Server Administrator" program choose the "Core Server" tab and find the setting: "Path for data files"
    • When using PRTG 8/9/12: "Local Storage of Data Files and Monitoring Database"
• Step 4: Copy all files to the data folders of the target system
  • Overwrite all files on the target system
  • Note: the following folders are not necessary for the migration: "Configuration Auto-Backups", "Logs (System)", "Logs (Debug)", "Logs (Web Server)", "Report PDFs"
• Step 5: Copy all settings for the core server to the target system
  • Both systems: In the "PRTG Server Administrator" program copy all settings from the tabs "Web Server", "Core Server", "Memory Usage", "Administrator" and "License".
  • Note: You can only choose the same IP addresses if the new server actually owns the old IP addresses and the old server has been shut down
• Step 6: Copy all settings for the probe to the target system
  • Both systems: In the "PRTG Probe Administrator" program copy all settings
  • Note: You can only choose the same IP addresses if the new server actually owns the old IP addresses and the old server has been shut down
• Step 7 (optional): If your PRTG configuration uses Remote Probes and if the IP address of the core server changes during this migration
  • Go to each Remote Probe system, open the "PRTG Probe Administrator" program and enter the new IP address of the target server
• Step 8: Start core and probe services on the target system
  • Target system:
    • When using PRTG 7: In the "PRTG Server Administrator" program choose the "Service Control" tab and click on "Start"
    • When using PRTG 8/9/12: In the "PRTG Server Administrator" program choose the "Start/Stop" tab and click on "Start Core Server"
  • Target system:
    • When using PRTG 7: In the "PRTG Probe Administrator" program choose the "Service Control" tab and click on "Start"
    • When using PRTG 8/9/12: In the "PRTG Probe Administrator" program choose the "Start/Stop" tab and click on "Start Probe Service"
• Step 9: Log into the web interface and review monitoring setup and results
• Step 10 (optional): Update to the latest version of PRTG

After Migration

After a migration you may need to look at the following aspects, depending on your configuration:

• If the IP address of the server changes you may need to change firewall settings and/or NAT settings which apply to the old address
• If you use a SMTP relay server for email delivery out of PRTG you may need to allow relaying for the new IP address
• The following folders may contain your own custom files which must also be moved to the new system. The given paths are for a standard installation of PRTG:
  • Custom sensor files:
    C:\Program Files\PRTG Network Monitor\Custom Sensors
  • Webserver certificate:
    C:\Program Files\PRTG Network Monitor\cert
  • Device templates:
    C:\Program Files\PRTG Network Monitor\devicetemplates
  • SNMP oidlib libraries:
    C:\Program Files\PRTG Network Monitor\snmplibs
  • Custom notifications:
    C:\Program Files\PRTG Network Monitor\Notifications
  • Custom Maps objects:
    C:\Program Files\PRTG Network Monitor\website\mapobjects
  • Custom Maps background images:
    C:\Program Files\PRTG Network Monitor\website\mapbackground

See Also

• How and where does PRTG store its data?
• How to Define a Different Drive or Data Directory for PRTG Installations
• How do I backup all data and configuration of my PRTG installation?
• How do I move a PRTG probe from one PC to another?