How-To: Restore Button Bars after downgrading SecureCRT to an older version

[jdev]

SecureCRT's button bar settings (not to be confused with SecureCRT's tool bar settings) are stored in a file named ButtonBarV_.ini, located in SecureCRT's main "Config" folder. The "_" is replaced with a number that depends on the version of SecureCRT in which the button bar was created, according to the following table.

File Name	SecureCRT Version
ButtonBar.ini	SecureCRT version 6.0.x - 6.5.x
ButtonBarV2.ini	SecureCRT version 6.6.x
ButtonBarV3.ini	SecureCRT version 6.7.x - 7.2.x
ButtonBarV4.ini	SecureCRT version 7.3.x - 8.3.x
ButtonBarV5.ini	SecureCRT version 8.5.x

The newer the version of the ButtonBarV_.ini file, the more features were added to SecureCRT's button bar functionality, resulting in the need to migrate the format of the button bar definition file forward to support newer features. This migration takes place the first time you run a newer version of SecureCRT that requires a newer ButtonBarV_.ini file format. For example, after upgrading from SecureCRT 8.3.4 to SecureCRT 8.5.2 and running SecureCRT 8.5.2 for the first time, the data in the ButtonBarV4.ini file will automatically be migrated forward and saved into a ButtonBarV5.ini file.

If you evaluate a newer version of SecureCRT, and decide to then downgrade to an older version, any button bar modifications you made while running the newer version may not be reflected in the older version of SecureCRT -- because the older version of SecureCRT is looking at an older version of the ButtonBarV_.ini file in which no modifications have been made (or which may be completely empty if it's the first time the older version of SecureCRT has ever been launched).

If you downgrade to an older version of SecureCRT, and want to get access to the new buttons you might have added while running a newer version, you might have success in following these steps to get your buttons migrated to the older version:

1. Close all SecureCRT instances that are currently open. You may even want to check the task manager to ensure that there aren't any rogue/hidden SecureCRT.exe processes running as displayed in the Task Manager's "Details" pane before moving forward.
   
   
2. Browse in your "My Computer" (AKA Windows Explorer) to the configuration folder that SecureCRT is configured to use. By default, this would be %APPDATA%\VanDyke\Config if you're on Windows, ~/Library/Application Support/VanDyke/SecureCRT/Config if you're on macOS, and ~/.vandyke/SecureCRT/Config if you're on Linux.
   
   If you modified the Global Options' General > Configuration Paths setting to point somewhere else for SecureCRT's configuration folder, then you'd go there rather than the %APPDATA%\VanDyke\Config default path. If you're not entirely sure how to get there in the quickest way on Windows, simply hold down the Windows key on your keyboard and tap the 'R' key once; a window "Run" will appear with a field labeled: "Open". Copy the following line from this email and paste it into the "Open" field of the "Run" dialog:
   Explorer /e,/select,"%APPDATA%\VanDyke\Config"
   
   A "My Computer" (AKA Windows Explorer) app will appear, with the Config folder selected, and you can then drill into that Config folder to complete your "browse" operation.
   
   
3. Inside SecureCRT's Config folder, you'll see one or more files named "ButtonBarV_.ini"...
   
   • A file named "ButtonBarV4.ini" would be used by any SecureCRT version from 7.3.0 to 8.3.4. It may or may not have any button bar definitions if you created all of your buttons while running version 8.5.2, and then downgraded to 8.3.4, for example.
     
   • A file named "ButtonBarV5.ini" would be used by SecureCRT version 8.5.x. If you've been evaluating 8.5.x and then had to downgrade to an earlier version, you most likely won't see your button bars in the older version of SecureCRT because it's looking at a completely different file (and since older versions don't know about the newer versions of the ButtonBar_+1.ini file, it's impossible for them to automatically migrate a newer-format .ini file backwards to a compatible ButtonBar_-1.ini file.
   
   Fortunately, changes made to a newer ButtonBarV_+1.ini file are usually additive in nature -- designed to accommodate new button bar functionality. While it's not ever guaranteed that you'd always be able to get 8.5.x button bar definitions to work in 8.3.x, you can proceed with the following steps in the hopes that it would work for you. The example scenario here describes what one would do if they created their button bar in 8.5.x and were trying to get those button bar definitions to work in SecureCRT version 8.3.x after having downgraded from 8.5.x.
   
   
   1. Rename (if present) the ButtonBarV4.ini to: ButtonBarV4(8.3.x).ini
      
      
   2. Make a copy of the ButtonBarV5.ini file just in case. Name the copy something like:
      ButtonBarV5(8.5.x)_backup.ini
      
      
   3. Rename the ButtonBarV5.ini file to: ButtonBarV4.ini
   
   
   
4. Once you have renamed the ButtonBarV_.ini files as described above, launch SecureCRT version 8.3.x and you should have your button bar definitions back.

Using the table above and this pattern, you should be able to extrapolate how to make this same attempt for older versions of SecureCRT.

FYI.