# Upgrade Content Central

Back up, run the installer, update the database, verify — the complete in-place upgrade procedure, including the one step people miss and the 7.8 lookup-list gotcha.

Product: content-central · Versions: 7.x · Audience: system-administrator · Time: About an hour, most of it waiting · Last verified: 2026-09-11

Canonical: https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/upgrade-content-central

**At the end of this guide, your server runs the latest Content Central with your database upgraded to match, verified working, and a backup you could roll back to.**

An upgrade is three acts: **back up**, **run the installer**, **update the database**. The third one is the step people miss — the installer updates the software, but the database update is a separate action you perform afterward.

> **IMPORTANT:** Moving to a new server? You don't need this guide's in-place steps, and you don't need to reinstall your old version anywhere. Install the current release on the new server and follow [Move Content Central to a new server](/content-central/administration/move-content-central-to-a-new-server) — the Migration Assistant restores your existing database onto the new build, and the **Create/Update Database** step below is the only piece of this guide you'll reuse.

## Can I upgrade directly from my version?

Check what you're running first: in Content Central, go to **Admin > About** and note the version. Then skim the **[release notes](https://dl.ademero.com/releasenotes.txt)** — they list what's changed in every release between your version and the current one, which is how you decide whether this upgrade brings the fix or feature you're after. The installer upgrades in place from recent versions — you run it on the server and it takes care of the rest. If your version is more than a couple of major releases old, or your setup is unusual (custom integrations, a web root install), send your version number to Ademero support and confirm the path *before* scheduling the window — a two-minute email beats a stalled Saturday upgrade.

> **NOTE:** Upgrades are a benefit of an active maintenance plan. If you're unsure whether yours is current, that's the other thing to confirm in the same email.

## Coming from an older version? Arrange a one-time activation first

**Current Content Central activates online** — on startup it confirms your license with Ademero's licensing service over the internet. Older versions used an **offline license key**, and the upgraded software won't accept that old key on its own: it has to be activated once, online, before anyone can sign in.

**Does this apply to you?** Your version is printed at the bottom of the Content Central **login page** — for example, `© 2006-2026 Ademero, Inc. v7.5.9204` (you don't have to sign in to read it; it's also under **Admin > About** once you're in). If that **build number — the last part — is below 9435** (any version older than **7.5.9435**, released 31 October 2025), you're on the offline-key era and this applies. Not sure how to read it, or your version looks unusual? Send your version and license key to Ademero support — a two-minute check that confirms whether you need this and saves a stalled Saturday.

**What happens if you skip it:** after the upgrade, Content Central shows an activation screen instead of the login page and **no one can sign in** until the license is activated. Your documents are untouched — it's a licensing gate, not data loss — but it's a hard stop.

**How to avoid any downtime:**

1. **Before your maintenance window, contact Ademero support** and tell them you're upgrading an offline-key installation, so they can activate your license from their side for this one-time transition.
2. **Allow outbound HTTPS (TCP 443)** from the server during the upgrade. A locked-down server that blocks outbound traffic has to permit this at least long enough to activate. (Ademero recommends leaving it open: once activated the software keeps running through brief outages, but ongoing license checks and support features rely on it.)
3. **Coordinate the timing** so support activates your license as the upgrade finishes. Done together, activation clears within about a minute of the services restarting, and your users never see the activation screen.

> **NOTE:** This is one-time. After the first online activation, later upgrades re-activate on their own, as long as the server keeps its normal outbound internet access.

## Part 1 — Before you touch anything

> **IMPORTANT:** The upgraded Content Central confirms its license **online**, so the server needs **outbound HTTPS (TCP 443)** to reach Ademero's licensing service. Most servers already allow this; a locked-down server that blocks outbound traffic won't activate and will hold users at an activation screen after the upgrade. If yours restricts outbound traffic, arrange to open 443 for the upgrade — and if your firewall filters by host, ask Ademero support for the exact address to allow.

1. **Back up the database** and verify it — [full instructions here](/content-central/administration/back-up-your-content-central-database). Keep this backup until you've been stable on the new version for a comfortable period; it is your rollback.

2. **Copy your configuration files** somewhere safe: `ConnectionInfo.xml` from `C:\ProgramData\Ademero\Content Central\`, and — if your IT team ever customized it — `web.config` from the Content Central website folder. The installer preserves the important settings automatically, but a two-minute copy beats discovering an exception.

3. **Check your license status** in the Configuration Manager. An expired maintenance plan blocks the upgraded version from running — if maintenance shows expired, contact Ademero before upgrading, not after.

4. **Restart the server if Windows has a pending reboot.** A half-pending Windows update is a classic cause of installer failure halfway through.

5. Tell your users: Content Central will be unavailable for roughly an hour.

> **NOTE:** While preparing, you may notice database drivers on the server that have nothing to do with Content Central (MySQL drivers are the classic example — some other application installed them). Content Central runs on Microsoft SQL Server. Don't uninstall drivers just because they're visible; another application probably needs them.

## Part 2 — Run the installer

6. Download the current **stable** installer: **[dl.ademero.com/ccinstall.exe](https://dl.ademero.com/ccinstall.exe)** — this link always points to the latest stable release, and the version it installs is the top entry in the [release notes](https://dl.ademero.com/releasenotes.txt). The installer downloads what it needs during installation — if your server can't reach the internet, use the offline package **[dl.ademero.com/ccinstall-offline.zip](https://dl.ademero.com/ccinstall-offline.zip)** instead: extract the **entire** ZIP into one folder and run `ContentCentral_setup.exe` from there (every file in that folder is part of the installer — don't move or skip any).

7. Run the installer **on the Content Central server, as an administrator**, and follow the prompts. It stops the Content Central services, upgrades everything in place, reconfigures the website, and restarts the services — your settings, documents, and database connection carry through.
   
   **What you should see:** the installer completes without errors. If it asks to reboot, reboot and continue with Part 3.

## Part 3 — Update the database

8. Open the **Configuration Manager** (Start menu > Ademero) and click **Create/Update Database**. This upgrades your database to match the new software version.
   
   > warning: Do not close the Configuration Manager and do not restart the server while the database update runs. On a large system it can work silently for many minutes — that's normal. Interrupting it mid-update is the single most damaging thing you can do in an upgrade; if it seems stuck, call Ademero support *before* touching anything.
   
   **What you should see:** the update completes and reports success. If you skip this step, the website shows a database-version message instead of the login page, and the services idle — that message is your reminder to come back and run this step, not a failure.

## Part 4 — Verify

9. Browse to your Content Central site. **What you should see:** the login page — and after logging in, your normal dashboard.
10. Open a few documents, run a search, and capture a test document end to end.
11. Trigger a workflow or approval on a test document, and confirm a notification email arrives — mail settings occasionally need attention after upgrades.
12. Confirm the five Content Central services show **Running** in Windows Services.

## If the license shows unactivated after the upgrade

For an install that already activates online, your license normally carries straight through. If Content Central shows unregistered or unactivated afterward: give it a little while (activation retries on its own), confirm the server still has outbound HTTPS access, then contact Ademero support with your license key if it hasn't cleared — quick to resolve, and your documents are unaffected.

If you upgraded from an offline-key version, an activation screen is **expected**, not a fault — follow **Coming from an older version? Arrange a one-time activation first** near the top of this guide to clear it without downtime.

## Upgrading from a version before 7.8? Read this

Content Central 7.8 moved to 64-bit, which is invisible everywhere except one place: **external data lookups** (fields that pull choices from another system via ODBC — vendor lists from your accounting system, for example). Those connections are registered per-bitness in Windows, and existing 32-bit entries don't carry over.

**Symptom:** after the upgrade, a lookup field that used to show a choice list renders as an empty text box, or lookups silently return nothing.
**Fix:** re-create each data source in the **64-bit** ODBC Data Sources administrator (Start menu > "ODBC Data Sources (64-bit)") with the same name it had before. Sources built on Excel/Access/text files also need Microsoft's 64-bit Access Database Engine installed first.

> **NOTE:** If you use external data lookups and want zero surprises, inventory your ODBC data source names *before* upgrading, or ask Ademero support to check with you — this is the #1 post-7.8 support call.

## If the upgrade fails

Don't improvise — the safe rollback is: reinstall the previous version's installer, restore your pre-upgrade database backup, and you're back where you started. **Never run old software against an upgraded database or vice versa** — matched pairs only. If anything about the failure is unclear, stop and contact Ademero support with the installer log; rolling back correctly takes minutes, rolling back incorrectly takes days.

## What's next

- [Back up your Content Central database](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/back-up-your-content-central-database)
- [Troubleshooting a Content Central migration](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/troubleshooting-a-content-central-migration)