Ordering Questions:
1. What type of licenses are available for BellCommander?
BellCommander is available in both single-user or multi-user licenses. The online ordering form includes discounts for orders of multiple licenses of BellCommander. If you or your company have questions regarding our ordering procedures, please contact us.
Technical Questions:
1. How do I migrate BellCommander to a new computer?
If you have the BellCommander trial, download the current trial and install it on the new computer. If you have a licensed BellCommander version, follow the instructions that were sent previously by email and install BellCommander on the new computer. If you need the license information resent, please contact us.
To move the BellCommander data from the old system to the new system, first install the licensed BellCommander version on the new PC. Then, to copy the schedules:
1. Exit BellCommander on both systems by selecting File|Exit BellCommander from the BellCommander menu if BellCommander is running.
2. Stop the BellCommander Application Service on both systems. To do this, open the Windows Control Panel, select Administrative Tools, then Services. In the Services window, look for “BellCommander Application Service” If the service is listed, right click and stop the service. If the service isn’t listed, then the desktop version was installed and there is not a service to stop.
3. Copy the files from the \Program Files\BellCommander\data folder from the old system to the new system. On 64-bit systems, it will be the \Program Files (x86)\BellCommander\data folder.
4. Copy the \Program Files\BellCommander\bellcommander.ini file from the old system to the new system.
5. If the service version was installed on the new system, start the BellCommander Application Service. To do this, open the Windows Control Panel, select Administrative Tools, then Services. In the Services window, look for “BellCommander Application Service” If the service is listed, right click and start the service. If the service isn’t listed, then the desktop version was installed and there is not a service to stop.
6. Open BellCommander through the Windows Start Button->All Programs->BellCommander folder->BellCommander.
Note that if you’ll be moving from 32-bit Windows to 64-bit Windows or vice-versa, BellCommander will be installed under a different folder. On 32-bit Windows, the BellCommander sounds folder is installed at \Program Files\BellCommander\sounds and on 64-bit Windows, the sounds folder is installed at \Program Files (x86)\BellCommander\sounds folder. You’ll either need to update the scheduled events to point to the new path or create the folder that BellCommander is looking for (\Program Files\BellCommander\sounds if moving from 32-bit to 64-bit) and copy the sound files to it so that BellCommander can find the sound files.
2. How do I configure Barix devices?
For Barix Exstreamer devices, see the following configuration guides depending on the firmware installed:
Streaming Client Firmware (Exstreamer 100, 110, 120, Annuncicom 100, and other Barix devices)
IP Audio Client Firmware (Exstreamer M400 and newer generation Barix devices)
BarioNet 50 and 100 Relay Devices
Standard Firmware (legacy audio devices)
In general for Barix devices, set the UDP Command Port to port 12301 and match the transport (raw UDP or UDP with RTP Headers) and ports between BellCommander and the Barix devices.
3. BellCommander reports errors retrieving schedule data or doesn’t open.
If the schedule data in BellCommander is incorrect or if you receive errors when viewing or modifying the schedule, it’s possible that the computer was improperly shut down or there was a hardware issue that corrupted the BellCommander database. There is a database tool from the database company that will check the tables and repair them. To use the maintenance tool:
1. For BellCommander version 4 or 5, download the database tool
2. Unzip the files and run dbsys.exe.
3. Exit BellCommander (File|Exit BellCommander) and stop the BellCommander Application Service. To stop the service, open the Windows Control Panel, select Administrative Tools, then Services or run services.msc in Windows. In the Services window stop the BellCommander Application Service. If the BellCommander Application Service isn’t listed under services, then the desktop version was installed and there is no service to stop.
4. Select Utilities|Repair Table.
5. Click the Select button and select the \Program Files\BellCommander\Data directory.
6. Select all tables from the Available Tables list.
7. Check Force index rebuild.
8. Click the Repair button and the process to complete.
9. Close the Database System Utility and start the BellCommander Application Service and BellCommander.
4. How do I backup the BellCommander data?
The recommended method to backup the data would be the following:
1. Exit BellCommander (File|Exit BellCommander) and stop the BellCommander Application Service. To stop the service, open the Windows Control Panel, select Administrative Tools, then Services or run services.msc in Windows. In the Services window stop the BellCommander Application Service. If the BellCommander Application Service isn’t listed under services, then the desktop version was installed and there is no service to stop.
2. Copy the \Program Files (x86)\BellCommander\data folder and the \Program Files (x86)\BellCommander\bellcommander.ini file to a backup location. On 32-bit Windows, the files will be under the \Program Files\ folder instead of \Program Files (x86).
3. Start the BellCommander Application Service if it was stopped and open BellCommander.
To restore from a backup, install BellCommander on the new system and then follow the same procedure to exit BellCommander and copy the data from the backup into the new BellCommander folder.
