Test Your
Connection Speed Courtesy of speakeasy

Ambiance Installation Process

This process will assist you with your installation of Ambiance.

  1. Find an installation disk and place it in the CD player. If Ambiance starts automatically, click Exit, as this is not the best way to install the program. For the sake of making the installation a little easier to understand, this process will assume that your CD player is the D:\ drive on your PC.
  2. Before installing the program, copy the D:\MSDE\unattend.iss file from the CD, onto the c:\ drive. Then click Start | Run, and type in the following command…and click "OK"
  3. It will run for about 10 minutes, and you won't see anything much happen, but you will see it in the Task Manager under the NTVDM process. There will be a lot of them starting up…but they will go away when it ends. To check and see if it's completed, click on Start | All Programs and your should see an MSDE directory with "Service Manager" as one of the programs. If not, you may need to wait longer.

  4. Next, click Start | Run, and type in "d:\setup.exe". Follow the next few steps…

    Click "Next"…

    Type in password "questpeek", click "Next"…

    To accept the Agreement, click "Yes"…

    The default is as shown above, accept this option and click "Next"…

    Accept the default, which will install it on your C:\ drive, and click "Next"…

    Make sure all is selected, and click "Next"…

    The best option is to choose "Always Connected", after choosing this option, click "Next"…

    If you want Ambiance to update automatically, choose the desired time and click "Next"…

    Note: Your computer MUST be on in order for the update to work properly.

    Ambiance will create a new Program Group in your startup menu called Ambiance.

    Click "Next"…

    You should see this screen after a few moments. Click "OK" to continue…

    To start copying files, click "Next"…

    Ambiance will start installing the program…

    Ambiance would like you to do this, but the fastest way to get up and running, is to click "No"…

    Click Finish…the program is now installed, and you're almost done.

  5. Before calling Ambiance for the final step…you will need the following information…
    1. Board of Realtors you are from (in New Hampshire, it's NNEREN).
    2. Your office code (a 4 digit number that represents your office code).
    3. Contact info (name, and phone number to reach you at, as they will be calling back).
    4. The Volume Serial Number of your hard drive. To get this info, follow the next step…

  6. To get your Volume Serial Number, click Start | Run, then type in "cmd" (for Windows 98, type "command")…

    Click "OK"…

    Ignore the information that is shown…all PC's will vary slightly. Type in "vol" and hit the Enter (or Return) key on your keyboard…

    Ambiance will need the 8 digits shown above.
    On my PC, the numbers are shown as "ACAD-5D6A"…yours WILL be different, write down these numbers to make it easier on you.

  7. When calling Ambiance (800.783.7937) tell them the following information…

    1. Ask for tech support
    2. Tell her you need to "Register a new workstation". Also tell her "…it's already installed, I just need get the workstation ID".

    Then give her the information in Step 5 (she will need a, b, & c only) she will then tell you that they will call back. This should take about 15-30 minutes for them to call you back.

  8. Before they call back, you will need to open the file where you will be placing the numbers that Ambiance will give you. The file is located on C:\ambiance folder, and the file is called "ambiance.ini". It will look like this…

    You may not see the ".ini", depending on how your PC is set up…but the file will have the same icon as shown above. Now double-click on this file to open it. It should open using "NotePad". and look like the below file (only a partial file is shown, and yours may vary slightly).

    If your "Office" or "Broker" code is 1111, make sure that this info is directly after "wkslocation=" as shown. When Tech Support calls you back, they will give you a number to put in directly after "wksid=". SAVE file when done by clicking on "File", then "Save".

  9. When Tech Support calls you back, just explain that you already have it installed, and that you just need the "workstation ID". They will ask for the Volume Serial Number (the 8 digits in Step 6), and then they will give you a number…usually less than 5 digits, typically 2 or 3. Place this number in the correct area of the ambiance.ini file, as explained by the previous paragraph.
  10. Now that the workstation is registered, make sure the SQL manager is running, and start Ambiance. Click on the radio button "ReInstall" only once. It'll look like it's doing nothing, but in the bottom left of the window, you should see things happening. If you do not get a error, then all is well. This will take about 15-20 minutes to download all the info. After it finishes, always click on "Start Backup". This will take a few minutes and then you're done.
  11. Now you need to install the cities/towns that you want to see in the database.

Ambiance Techs are very good, so feel free to call them. They often like to use NetMeeting if it's not something easy to fix…let them, it'll save you time.