AQT Basics
Installing & Uninstalling AQT One
Installing & Uninstalling AQT One
Installing AQT One
To install AQT One, download the install file and open it. Log in to the Licensing Portal to find the download.
The install file is named AQT-vx.x.x-Setup.exe, where x.x.x is the release number. If the machine does not have the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime, the installer downloads it from Microsoft during the install.
AQT One installs into C:\Program Files\AQT. Writing to this directory needs Administrator rights, so you have three options:
run the install as a user with Administrator rights.
run the install and, when Windows prompts you, enter an administrator password.
right-click the install file and select Run as administrator.
The install is a per-machine install. A user without Administrator rights cannot install AQT One.
Installing under different userids
The install is for all users of the machine. It creates the Start menu shortcuts for every user, so you do not need to run the install again for each user.
Each user has their own AQT settings, saved queries and licence. Each user must activate AQT One under their own Windows login. See Moving AQT One to a new machine for the location of these files.
Repair Install
If any of your AQT files have been deleted or corrupted, run the install file again. The installer copies all the AQT files again. There is no separate Repair option. Files that you have created (queries, settings, licence) are not affected by this.
Upgrading from AQT v11 or earlier
AQT One is a new product with its own install directory (C:\Program Files\AQT) and its own entry in Installed apps. The AQT One install does not uninstall AQT v11 or any earlier version. You can run AQT One and AQT v11 on the same machine, and you can uninstall either one without affecting the other.
AQT One reads the same user settings and the same user directory as AQT v11. When you first start AQT One, it picks up your existing options, saved queries and query history. Because the settings are shared, a change made in one product also applies to the other.
Your AQT v11 licence key does not activate AQT One. AQT One uses the Licensing Portal. See Activating or Deactivating AQT.
Upgrading to a new release of AQT One
You have two options:
Select Help > Check for Updates in AQT One. If a newer release is available, click Download and Install Update. AQT downloads the new release, runs the installer, and closes. See Automatic updates.
Download the new install file and run it. You do not need to uninstall the old release first.
Reverting back to an earlier release of AQT One
If you wish to go back to an earlier release of AQT One you need to:
uninstall the current release of AQT One
install the earlier release
Your files, settings and licence are not removed during this process. After you revert, the automatic update check will offer the newer release again. To stop this, clear Check for updates automatically on startup in Options > General.
Prerequisites
AQT One runs on Windows 10 (version 2004 or later) and Windows 11. It needs the Microsoft .NET 9 Desktop Runtime, and a database client and/or ODBC Driver for each database you connect to. See Prerequisites for the full list.
.NET Desktop Runtime
AQT One requires the Microsoft .NET 9 Desktop Runtime. Both the x64 and the x86 runtimes are needed, because AQT One ships a 64-bit and a 32-bit executable.
The installer checks for the runtime. If a runtime is missing, the installer downloads it from Microsoft and installs it. The machine needs an internet connection for this step. If the machine cannot reach the internet, install the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime (x64 and x86) from Microsoft first, then run the AQT install with the /OFFLINE switch.
The .NET Desktop Runtime is a separate Microsoft product. It appears as its own entry in Installed apps. Uninstalling AQT One does not remove it.
Note: Microsoft is ending support for .NET 9. A future release of AQT One will require the .NET 10 Desktop Runtime (x64 and x86) instead. The installer will download and install .NET 10 in the same way. If your IT team deploys .NET separately, plan to add .NET 10 to your standard image.
Installing AQT One (Technical Notes)
The AQT One installer is built with Inno Setup. It replaces the Windows Installer (MSI) package that AQT v11 used. The MSI switches in the older AQT documentation (/V”ALLUSERS=1”, /s /v/qn) do not work with AQT One.
Command-line switches
You can run the install file from a command prompt, a batch file, or a deployment tool. The following switches are the most useful:
Switch — Meaning
/SILENT — No wizard. Shows a progress window only.
/VERYSILENT — No user interface at all.
/SUPPRESSMSGBOXES — Suppress message boxes. Use with /SILENT or /VERYSILENT.
/NORESTART — Never restart the machine.
/DIR=”x:\path” — Install into a different directory instead of C:\Program Files\AQT.
/LOG=”x:\file.log” — Write an install log to the named file.
/TASKS=”desktopicon” — Create the desktop icon for 64-bit AQT. Use /TASKS=”desktopicon,desktopicon32” to also create the 32-bit icon. The installer does not create desktop icons by default.
/LAUNCH — Start AQT One after a silent install. The AQT auto-updater uses this switch.
/OFFLINE — Never contact the internet. The installer does not download the .NET runtime. See below.
Switch names are not case-sensitive. The standard Inno Setup switches (/NOICONS, /NOCANCEL, /CLOSEAPPLICATIONS, and others) also work.
Silent install
A silent install with no user interface:
AQT-vx.x.x-Setup.exe /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART
A silent install that writes a log and creates the desktop icon:
AQT-vx.x.x-Setup.exe /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART /TASKS=”desktopicon” /LOG=”C:\Temp\aqt-install.log”
A silent install does not prompt. A missing .NET runtime does not stop it.
The /OFFLINE switch
Use /OFFLINE for enterprise deployments where the installer must not contact the internet. With this switch the installer never downloads the .NET runtime. Your IT team must install the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime (x64 and x86) before or after the AQT install.
If the runtime is missing and you run an attended install with /OFFLINE, the installer asks: “AQT requires the Microsoft .NET 9 Desktop Runtime (x64), which was not found on this machine … Do you want to install AQT anyway?” Click Yes to install AQT One anyway, or No to cancel.
A typical enterprise command, with .NET already deployed by IT:
AQT-vx.x.x-Setup.exe /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART /OFFLINE
What happens when the .NET runtime is missing
The installer checks for the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime before it copies any files. It looks in the registry first, then runs dotnet --list-runtimes.
In an attended install, the installer asks “AQT requires the Microsoft .NET 9 Desktop Runtime … Setup will try to download and install it now … Do you want to continue?”. Click Yes to continue.
In a silent install, the installer downloads and installs the runtime without a prompt. The Microsoft runtime installer shows its own progress window, even under /VERYSILENT.
If the download is blocked or fails, the installer writes a note to the install log and continues. AQT One is installed, but it will not start until the runtime is installed. Windows shows a .NET error when you start aqt.exe. To fix this, install the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime from Microsoft.
A missing runtime does not stop the install.
Install log
If you are having problems with an install, switch on install logging:
AQT-vx.x.x-Setup.exe /LOG=”C:\Temp\aqt-install.log”
The log shows the runtime check, the runtime download, and each file that the installer copies. Send this file to us if you need help with an install problem.
What the install does
The install:
creates the install directory C:\Program Files\AQT and copies the AQT One program files to it. This includes both executables: aqt.exe (64-bit) and aqt_x86.exe (32-bit).
installs the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime (x64 and x86) if it is missing.
creates the Start menu group AQT with shortcuts AQT, AQT (32-bit) and Uninstall AQT.
creates desktop icons only if you tick Create a desktop icon or Create desktop icon (32-bit) during the install.
registers AQT One in Settings > Apps > Installed apps as AQT version x.x.x.
sets the update channel in the registry (see Automatic updates).
No files are written to the Windows system directory.
The user directory is not created by the installer. AQT One creates it the first time it runs. By default this directory is %APPDATA%\Advanced Query Tool, which on Windows 10 and 11 is C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Advanced Query Tool. AQT One keeps your saved queries, work files, exports, batch jobs and cache under this directory. You can change these locations in Options.
AQT One also creates %APPDATA%\AQT. This directory holds your licence file and your sign-in credentials. Do not copy or edit these files.
Self-contained install
The AQT One install directory does not depend on files in other directories, except for the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime. You can copy C:\Program Files\AQT to another location on the same machine, or to another machine that has the runtime, and AQT One will run from there. You may wish to do this to keep a copy of a particular release before an upgrade.
Automatic updates
AQT One checks for a new release each time it starts. It also checks when you select Help > Check for Updates. If a new release is available, AQT One shows the AQT Update Available window. When you click Download and Install Update, AQT One downloads the new install file to your %TEMP% directory, checks the file hash, runs the installer with /SILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART /LAUNCH, and closes. AQT One starts again when the install finishes.
Two options in Options > General control this:
Check for updates automatically on startup. Clear this to stop the check at startup. Help > Check for Updates still works.
Update channel: Stable or Beta. The channel is stored in the registry value UpdateChannel under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VB and VBA Program Settings\Cardett\Options. Each install of AQT One resets this value to the channel of the build you install, so a Stable install puts you back on the Stable channel. When you change channel, the next check offers the latest release on the new channel, even if its version number is lower than the release you have.
Administrators can disable automatic updates for every user on a machine with a registry policy. See Disabling the Automatic Update Prompt. With the policy set, AQT One does not check at startup and hides Help > Check for Updates in the main window. Deploy new releases with the installer instead.
Installing AQT One under Citrix
AQT One runs fine in this environment. Some notes:
Do the install with an admin user signed on directly to the machine, rather than through a Citrix session.
When multiple users share one machine, each user gets their own settings, user directory and licence under their own Windows profile. If users share a profile, set Options > Technical Parameters > File Locations > Default Directory to a different directory for each user.
From a licensing perspective, every user who runs AQT One must have a licence, whether they run it on their own PC or through a shared server.
Uninstalling AQT One
You can uninstall AQT One with one of the following:
go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps, find AQT version x.x.x, and select Uninstall.
go to AQT in your Windows Start menu and select Uninstall AQT.
run unins000.exe in the install directory C:\Program Files\AQT.
The uninstall needs Administrator rights. Close AQT One before you uninstall it.
Silent uninstall
For scripted removal, run the uninstaller with the same switches as the installer:
“C:\Program Files\AQT\unins000.exe” /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART
Add /LOG=”x:\file.log” to write an uninstall log.
Sign out or remove your licence first!
If you are planning to remove AQT One from your machine, end your licence on this machine before you uninstall. This frees the licence for use elsewhere. The uninstall does not do this for you. If you skip this step, AQT One is still counted as in use on this machine. This may prevent you from activating on another machine.
To end your licence, select Help > Licence… to open the AQT License Manager window, then click Sign out (account activation) or Remove licence (licence key or offline licence). AQT One closes after this. See Activating or Deactivating AQT.
If you are planning to reinstall AQT One on the same machine, you do not need to do this step.
Uninstall / Reinstall will not remove AQT settings and files
The uninstall only removes the files that the install copied, plus the shortcuts and the Installed apps entry.
This means you can uninstall and reinstall AQT One without losing your licence, options, saved queries or query history.
Note: if you are having technical problems with AQT One, an uninstall/reinstall will generally not fix them!
Clean up Registry entries and other files
Files and registry entries created when AQT One runs are not removed by the uninstall. This includes:
your licence file and sign-in credentials
your AQT options and miscellaneous settings
your query history
your saved queries and related files
your export files
the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime
If you wish to remove AQT One completely, you must also remove:
registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VB and VBA Program Settings\Cardett
directory %APPDATA%\Advanced Query Tool\
directory %APPDATA%\AQT\
Do this for each Windows user who ran AQT One on the machine.
Warning: AQT v11 uses the same registry key and the same Advanced Query Tool directory. If AQT v11 is still installed, removing these will also remove the settings and files for AQT v11.
You may have changed your work files, saved queries and other directories to other locations. See Options for where these are specified. If so, you may wish to delete these directories also.
The .NET 9 Desktop Runtime has its own entries in Installed apps (Microsoft Windows Desktop Runtime - 9.0.x (x64) and (x86)). Other programs may use it. Leave it in place unless you are sure nothing else needs it.
Moving AQT One to a new machine
If you wish to install AQT One on a new machine, the procedure is as follows:
install AQT One on the new machine
start AQT One and activate it: sign in to your account, or enter your licence key, or install your offline licence file
if required, copy your AQT settings and files from your old machine
Once AQT One is running to your satisfaction on the new machine:
on the old machine, select Help > Licence…, then click Sign out or Remove licence
uninstall AQT One from the old machine
To connect to your databases on the new machine you will need to:
install database client software and/or ODBC drivers on your new machine
set up ODBC Datasource definitions for your databases
Licensing
AQT One is licensed by user. You may install AQT One on more than one machine, as long as only you use it. Your workspace administrator sets how many machines each user can have active at the same time. You can see and remove your active machines in the Licensing Portal.
Copy your AQT settings
On the old machine, go to the Options window and select File > Export all options. (File > Export non-default options gives a smaller file with only the options you have changed.)
Copy the options file to the new machine.
On the new machine, go to the Options window and select File > Import options. Specify the options file you copied from the old machine.
Review the settings in Options > Technical Parameters > File Locations to make sure the directories are valid for the new machine.
Your AQT One licence
You do not need to copy any licence file to the new machine. Activate AQT One on the new machine in the normal way. If you activated with a licence key, you can find the key in the Licensing Portal. Do not copy the %APPDATA%\AQT directory between machines. The licence file only works on the machine it was issued to.
Copy your Queries, History and other AQT files
By default AQT One files are held at %APPDATA%\Advanced Query Tool. On Windows 10 and 11 this is normally C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Advanced Query Tool\, but it may be different depending on how your Windows system is configured.
You may also have specified different directories for the AQT work files and queries. These are specified in Options > Technical Parameters > File Locations.
copy these directories to the new machine
if necessary, change Options > Technical Parameters > File Locations on the new machine to point to these directories
Copying your ODBC Datasource definitions
If you are using File DSNs, you can simply copy the File DSN files to your new machine.
Otherwise there is no reliable way to do this. Microsoft provides no means to copy ODBC datasource settings between machines. The procedure described below is not recommended and may take more time to resolve problems than it saves.
The ODBC datasource definitions are held in the registry in the following places:
(machine datasources) HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBC.INI
(user datasources) HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ODBC\ODBC.INI
You can use Regedit export/import to copy these entries between machines. However, be aware:
there is no guarantee that this will work
if your ODBC Drivers are installed into different locations, or have different names, these definitions will not work.
Some databases need extra steps as well as the Datasource definitions, for example the tnsnames.ora file for Oracle, or the db2cfexp and db2cfimp commands for DB2. See Configuring a Database Connection.
Troubleshooting Installation Problems
This section contains some technical notes on problems that can happen during the install and uninstall process.
Run As Administrator
The most common install problems are caused by permissions. Resolve these by right-clicking the install file and selecting Run as administrator. You may need to do this even if you are signed on as a user with administrator rights.
AQT One does not start after the install
If Windows shows a message such as “To run this application, you must install .NET Desktop Runtime” or “framework ‘Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App’ … was not found” when you start AQT One, the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime is missing. This happens when:
a firewall or proxy blocked the runtime download during the install (the install log shows “.NET runtime download did not complete”)
the install ran with /OFFLINE and .NET was not installed separately
you copied the install directory to a machine without the runtime
To fix this, install the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime (both x64 and x86) from Microsoft, then start AQT One again. You do not need to reinstall AQT One.
Installer information in the registry
Windows keeps information on installed products in the registry. The AQT One entry is:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{B7D4E6F1-9C3A-4E82-B5D2-7A8C1F3E6B9D}_is1
This entry gives the install location and the path of the uninstaller. The uninstall can fail if this entry has been removed or corrupted. In that case, delete the install directory C:\Program Files\AQT by hand, then run the installer again if you wish to reinstall.
Known problems with installing AQT One
The update check shows “Hash Verification Failed”. The downloaded install file did not match the hash on our server. This usually means a proxy changed the file, or the download was incomplete. Click No, then download the install file from the Licensing Portal and run it by hand.
The update check shows “No updates are available on the ‘beta’ channel”. There is no build on the channel you selected. Change Update channel in Options > General back to Stable.
Help > Check for Updates is missing from the Help menu, or shows “Auto-updates have been disabled by your organization’s administrator.” Your IT team has disabled automatic updates. Ask them for the new release.
The install fails with a message about a file in use. Close AQT One (both the 64-bit and the 32-bit editions) and run the install again. For scripted installs, add /CLOSEAPPLICATIONS.
Installing AQT One on a 64-bit version of Windows
When you install AQT One you get both a 32-bit and a 64-bit executable. The Start menu group AQT has two shortcuts:
AQT - this runs the 64-bit executable, aqt.exe
AQT (32-bit) - this runs the 32-bit executable, aqt_x86.exe
You have the choice of running either the 32-bit or the 64-bit executable. Which one you use depends on the ODBC Datasource you wish to connect to:
the 32-bit AQT executable can only connect to a datasource that uses a 32-bit ODBC Driver
the 64-bit AQT executable can only connect to a datasource that uses a 64-bit ODBC Driver
AQT 32-bit versus AQT 64-bit
The 32-bit and 64-bit AQT executables are the same program and have identical capabilities. They have just been compiled with different settings. Their performance is almost identical.
The 64-bit executable uses more memory than the 32-bit executable, because all memory-address pointers use 64 bits rather than 32 bits.
The advantage of the 64-bit AQT is that it can use more memory. 32-bit applications cannot use more than 2 GB of memory. In most cases AQT uses far less memory than this. However, if you have a lot of physical memory on your machine and you wish to display very large tables, the 2 GB memory limit of the 32-bit AQT may be a limitation for you. In this case, run the 64-bit AQT.
Use the 64-bit AQT unless you need a 32-bit ODBC driver.
ODBC Drivers and Datasources
The Signon window lists 32-bit and 64-bit datasources together, and you cannot tell them apart from the list. If you connect with the wrong edition of AQT you get an error such as The specified DSN contains an architectural mismatch between the Driver and Application. This is explained in Configuring a Database Connection (32-bit versus 64-bit Datasources) and Signing on to a Database. Microsoft describes the cause in KB 942976.
Clicking Configure selected Datasource on a datasource of the other architecture can give the message The setup routines for xxxx ODBC Driver cannot be found. Use the matching edition of AQT for that datasource.
Oracle Problem
When you attempt to connect to an Oracle database, you may get the message:
TNS could not resolve the connect identifier
There are a number of possible causes of this error message. Check your tnsnames.ora file and your Oracle client configuration first.
Older Oracle clients fail to parse tnsnames.ora when you run a program from a path with a bracket in it, such as C:\Program Files (x86). This gives the message above. AQT One installs into C:\Program Files\AQT, which has no bracket, so this problem does not affect a default install. If you installed AQT One into a directory with a bracket in the name (with /DIR), move it to a directory without one.