If you experience any problems with the installation, or with Kermit 95 itself, especially on more recent Windows versions, please CLICK HERE to consult the Kermit 95 Frequently Asked Questions page.
This document covers all the possible options you could install, so it is possible that if you don't install all of the components, you will not be prompted for information that is referenced here.
Also note that all of the links to additional documentation are links to The Kermit Project website and therefore require an active Internet connection.
If you are installing Kermit 95 for the first time, please skip to the next section.
The Kermit 95 1.1 to 2.1 upgrade is, in fact, a full new installation; thus the regular installation instructions following this section apply to it, just as they do to a new installation. To apply the upgrade you must already have an older version of Kermit 95 on your computer.
A new installation is required because to get all K95 users into the new directory structure, so we don't have an unsupportable parallel universe of old and new layouts. The upgrade installs K95 2.1 into the new structure. Your previous installation is left intact.
After upgrading, you will have to determine which files from your old installation need to be migrated to which directories in the new one. In the most common situations, your old Kermit 95 installation is confined to a single directory tree, typically rooted at C:\K95. In the new scheme, the data files that you have changed are stored in Kermit 95's "appdata" directory (as explained in the README file), typically:
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Kermit 95\
The two files that should always be moved are:
Plus the contents of your old K95 CERTS, CRLS, DOWNLOAD, KEYMAPS, PHONES, SCRIPTS, SSH, and TMP subdirectories, if any.
Other files might also need to be moved, including DIALORG.DAT, the organization wide Dialer database if your site has one, and if you use Host Mode, the host-mode data files and directories must be moved too. It is beyond the scope of this document to cover every possibility. Instead, visit:
http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/k95upgrade.html#migrate
for further instructions after you have upgraded to K95 2.1.
Once you have migrated all your files, you can remove the old K95 installation if you wish.
If you are installing Kermit 95 for the first time, please skip to the next section.
The Kermit 95 2.1.3 upgrade requires that you have Kermit 95 2.0 or 2.1 installed. The 2.1.3 upgrade will simply confirm the validity and location of your current Kermit 95 2.x installation and then replace files in your Kermit 95 2.x program directory to bring it up to Kermit 95 2.1. It will also create a folder called Backups and copy any files that a replaced so that you can restore your 2.x installation by doing a Remove from Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel. The installer will transfer your existing registration information from your 2.x files.
If you are installing the Crypto update, you will also be given the option to add an association to make Kermit 95 the default program to handle SSH connections.
The 2.1 update also includes a newer version of the Everson Mono Terminal font. The installer will give you the option to install or update this depending on what you did with the font during the 2.0 install.
To install Kermit 95 you must have a valid K95 serial number. If you don't have one, stop now and contact your distributor to obtain one. If you are installing from a shrinkwrapped CDROM, your serial numbers are in the package, usually stapled to the registration card. If you are installing an electronically distributed copy, the distributor should have furnished you with a serial number. Bulk and site license copies are preregistered.
The first few dialogs should be familiar if you've ever installed Windows applications before. The first one that requires some extra thought and attention is:
Setup Type
Two types are offered, Typical and Custom. If you choose the Typical option Kermit 95 is installed with its base files and also the files necessary to make secure connections with SSH, SSL, TLS and SRP. There are no additional configuration questions except for where to create shortcuts.
If you choose Custom you are taken to the Select Components screen. The advanced Kermit 95 components listed here extend Kermit's capabilities, but may require some additional configuration. You should be clear what each component does and that you need it before selecting any of them.
Select Components
Here you choose which optional components of Kermit 95 you want to install. Certain of the optional components require that you provide special configuration information so they can function properly. Here is a list of the components, what they do, and any special information that you should be ready to provide. Note that security-related components are not included in the export version due to USA export law; our export license application is pending.
If you think you may already have Kerberos support installed, first try installing Kermit 95 without the Kerberos option. Then try to make a Kerberized telnet connection, if it does not work, you can try to use the Kerberos support supplied with Kermit 95. Do this by going to the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel item, and clicking on Change/Remove for the K95 program. Then you can select the Modify option and install the Kerberos component. It is important that you not install the Kerberos files in the Kermit 95 distribution unless you have to. You may be already using a customized distribution that, for instance, requires the use of hardware smartcards for you key. Installing additional Kerberos files in this instance will only confuse matters. Best to contact your Kerberos realm administrator if you are uncertain about what to do.
If you install the Kerberos support files, the installer will assist you in creating the following configuration files (if you do not already have them):
You need to at least know the host name of your KDC and your default realm in order to create useful configuration files. If you are not sure about any of this, it would be best to not install Kerberos support at this point. You can gather the necessary information and then run this installer again to add in Kerberos support. Also be aware that if your company or institution supports Kerberos, it is likely that they have customized initialization files that you can download and use. The Installer never replaces existing files that it finds in place.
Next the installer asks a series of questions to get your preferences about how and where Kermit 95 should be added to the registry, desktop and/or Start Menu. You do not need to make any changes to the registry, or add anything to your desktop or Start Menu if you do not want to. These options are all to make Kermit 95 more convenient to use.
Registry
First, the installer asks about making changes to the registry. You can optionally create and association between files with the extension .KSC (Kermit SCript Files) and the Kermit 95 program. This allows you to simply double-click on a .KSC file and have it be run by the Kermit 95 program. This is handy for creating a quick shortcut on your desktop to your commonly-accessed host systems. And you can make Kermit 95 your default telnet, ftp, IKS or SSH handler. This means that if you are browsing a site on the Web that provides a link that must be accessed via one of these protocols, Kermit 95 is launched to make that connection.
Obviously, the above associations can only be made with one program, so the next dialog asks you to choose which "flavor" of Kermit 95 you want to be associated: Console or GUI.
Desktop and Start MenuNext you can to choose what shortcuts you want to create on the Desktop and on the Start Menu. Then on the dialog following this, you can specify if you want to create the icons for All Users of the system, or just the user that is currently logged in.
2.3: Everson Mono Terminal Font
Kermit 95 2.0 comes with a monospaced font called Everson Mono Terminal (EMT) that covers a wider range of languages and scripts than most other monospace fonts and is well-suited for use with the K95 GUI terminal emulator on Windows NT, 2000, or XP. EMT's repertoire includes most of the non-Han characters in the Base Multilingual Plane of Unicode, including Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Coptic, Arabic, Hebrew, Armenian, Georgian, Runes, Ogham, Canadian Syllabics, Cherokee, Math, Symbols, Line and Box Drawing Characters (including the new Unicode 3.1 Terminal Emulation Characters), Dingbats, and APL. Not supported (besides Han) are Indic, Hangul, Ethiopic, Syriac, Thai, Lao, Myanmar, and Braille.
EMT is not installed by default since it tends not to look good on Windows 95, 98, or ME due to differences in the Win9x/ME vs NT/2K/XP rasterizer, although the results can vary depending on whether your Windows system has such items as Font Smoothing or Clear Type installed or enabled, and also with the font size and fore- and background colors. If you install EMT on Win9x/ME, K95 uses it by default, in which case you might want to switch to a different font, such as Courier New or Lucida Console (if available) in the Font menu on the K95 GUI Toolbar. On the other hand, you might need it to display certain languages that you can't see in any other monospace font.
Important Note: If you are installing Kermit 95 on a Windows NT/2000/XP and you do not have Administrator privileges, the font will not be installed. You must have Admin privileges to write to the Font directory. In this case the font is copied to the Fonts sub directory under where the program files are installed, by default this would be C:\Program Files\Kermit 95\Fonts\. This way you can install it yourself once you are able to gain Admin privileges
Everson Mono Terminal is distributed with Kermit 95. It may not be further distributed. Everson fonts are available on at www.evertype.com
This section applies only to users who have selected the Custom install type and who are installing IKS for NT/2000/XP and/or Kerberos.
3.1: Kerberos Configuration Files
As stated above, three files are required to configure Kerberos authentication and encryption for Windows; two are for Kerberos 4 support, KRB.CON and KRBREALM.CON and one for Kerberos 5 support, KRB5.INI. Basically, these files supply two primary pieces of configuration information, Domain-to-Realm mapping and Realm-to-Server mapping. If this is sounding like Greek to you, please take a look at our installation and configuration help file for details and links that should help make this more intelligible. Also check with your local SysAdmin or on your company's or institution's IntraNet for details on how to configure Kerberos clients for your specific environment.
As the Kerberos support files are installing, and if you do not already have all three Kerberos configuration files on your system, the Installer asks you the following series of questions so that it can build the configuration files (you have the option to bail out of this process both at the beginning and then right before the files are created):
You should then receive a confirmation screen which lets you confirm the creation of the configuration files or cancel them.
If you selected the IKS file-transfer and file-management server as a component to install, you are prompted with the following series of questions that build a basic configuration file for IKS. The file is called IKSD.KSC and is stored in the same directory as the program files.
The IKSD.KSC file create by the installer barely scratches the surface of the kind of customization you can accomplish with this file. Please read the Administrator's Guide for more details. The guide is a work in progress, but should provide enough information to do things like: allowing anonymous access, setting a root directory to "jail" various classes of users, do special configuration based on the user who logs in, etc...
Now you should have a Kermit 95 installation with the desired features working as expected, which is a good staring point but there is a lot more that you can do to make the product more useful to you. Begin by reading the tutorial and manual which you can access from the K95 Documentation icon or Start-menu item (if you elected to install them), or from the K95 Dialer's Help menu, or with the K95 MANUAL command.
As a final step, the installer offers to start the Dialer for you. A good way to get started with K95 is with the Dialer and the K95 manual on your screen at the same time. Create some connections and launch them -- it's easier than you might think!