| Product: | MicroStation 2023 or greater | ||
| Version: | CONNECT Edition | ||
| Environment: | N\A | ||
| Area: | Installation | ||
| Subarea: | General |
The following instructions are based on the MicroStation CONNECT readme:
Home > Installation > "Side-by-Side Installation"
Side-by-Side Installation
From the release of MicroStation 2023 onwards, Side-by-Side installation will be supported for Major Releases. Minor Release updates will upgrade a Major Release and a Major release and Minor Release will not be able to sit Side by Side. Users will have the ability to run multiple major releases MicroStation on the same machine. Installation of MicroStation 2023 and onwards will by default occur alongside any previous installations. Removing previous versions of MicroStation will require a manual uninstall. The application version naming FAQ describing major and minor releases is located here. Bentley Lifecycle Policy | Bentley Systems | Infrastructure Engineering Software Company
With the release of MicroStation 2023 and greater versions available as a Side-by-Side install, its default installation directory & configuration is in a different location than previous application. In the default installation, you can work on two different configurations defined during MicroStation CONNECT Edition and MicroStation 2023 or newer installation.
If you require MicroStation 2023 or newer to work with the same configuration as MicroStation CONNECT Edition, then you must review and complete the following tasks during and after the installation process to share the configuration among two MicroStation versions.
- Set default Delivered Configuration directory during Installation
- Set Custom Configuration directory during Installation
- Copy Paste "prefs" folder after Installation
Each step is explained as follows,
Set default delivered configuration directory during Installation
During the installation of MicroStation 2023 or newer, you must define the same directory path as the Delivered Configuration directory of MicroStation CONNECT Edition. The default Delivered Configuration directory path is "C:\ProgramData\Bentley\MicroStation 202x\". Change this directory path to "C:\ProgramData\Bentley\MicroStation (earlier version)" as shown in the image below.
Figure 1. Example: Delivered configuration path for Side-by-Side installation of MicroStation 2024 and MicroStation 2025
Note: When installing MicroStation 2023 and later versions, if you installed the Delivered Configuration to a custom directory, you must select the same custom directory during the installation of MicroStation 2025.
Set Custom Configuration directory during Installation
During installation of MicroStation 2023 or newer, if you wish to share your existing Custom Configuration, then you must set the same directory path as of the Custom Configuration directory of the earlier MicroStation version already installed on your machine. Please refer to the following example images:
Figure 2. Example: Custom configuration path for Side-by-Side installation of MicroStation 2024 and MicroStation 2025
Note: MicroStation Configurations are not version dependent. Bentley tries to minimize any disruptions to Configurations, however in some Open products there may be instances where some configuration changes take place. Please refer to the release documents of those products.
Copy Paste "prefs" folder after Installation
If you wish to use Preferences and User Configuration from the previous version, then after installation, launch MicroStation 2023 (or newer) and close the session to set the default preferences at "C:\Users\<user.name>\AppData\Local\Bentley\MicroStation\23.0.0" directory. If you're installing a newer version, please select the appropriate directory.
Now copy "prefs" directory from "C:\Users\ASN\AppData\Local\Bentley\MicroStation\10.0.0" and paste at "C:\Users\ASN\AppData\Local\Bentley\MicroStation\23.0.0" to replace existing "prefs" directory. If you're installing a newer version, please select the appropriate directory.
Figure 3. Example: Preference folder path for Side-by-Side installation of MicroStation 2024 and MicroStation 2025
MicroStation 2025 should work seamlessly with the existing configurations. This configuration will be shared between MicroStation 2025 and any earlier versions (MicroStation 2023 onwards that support a side-by-side installation).
Important Note: You must follow step 3, every time if there is any change in preference settings in MicroStation CONNECT Edition which you wish to use in MicroStation 2023, 2024, or 2025.
See also
MicroStation 2025 Side-by-Side Installation
MicroStation 2025 ReadMe
MicroStation - MicroStation CONNECT, 2023, 2024, 2025 Frequently Asked Questions - Communities
MicroStation - MicroStation CONNECT Edition and MicroStation 2025 System Requirements - Communities
CONNECTION Client ReadMe
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