Moving a Geocortex Essentials installation

Overview:
This article will explain how to move your Geocortex Essentials installation from one file location on your server to a different file location.  Since the installation of Essentials will also result in the installation of several other components, and those components will not move once you have installed, the best way to move the Essentials installation is with a complete uninstall / reinstall.

Solution:

1. Start by making a backup of the Sites folder (located here by default: C:\Program Files (x86)\Latitude Geographics\Geocortex Essentials\Default\REST Elements\Sites ).  This folder contains all the configuration files for your sites and viewers. It will remain after the uninstall but we recommend making a backup while the entire system is still working as a precaution.
2. If you're using Geocortex Identity Server for site authentication, you should also back up C:\Program Files (x86)\Latitude Geographics\Geocortex Identity Server\Web\App_Data\IdentityServerConfiguration.sdf and C:\Program Files (x86)\Latitude Geographics\Geocortex Identity Server\Web\App_Data\IdentityServerUsers.sdf, to preserve your users, groups and Identity Server configuration.  
3. Stop the Geocortex Core service, and make a backup of the Core Data directory (Default Location: C:\Program Files\Latitude Geographics\Geocortex Core\Data)
4. Make a note of the cluster name in the following file: C:\Program Files\Latitude Geographics\Geocortex Core\Bin\Geocortex.Platform.Host.exe.config
5. From add/remove programs, uninstall ALL Geocortex software (Geocortex Essentials, Geocortex Core, Geocortex Application Services 2, Geocortex Identity Server and Geocortex Agent). Agent will only be present if you installed Essentials 3.x.
6. Install Essentials to its new location.  When you get to the cluster configuration, use the same cluster name you made note of in step 4.
7. Once that's done you can run the post installation again, then restore your Sites, and Identity Server configuration from backup.
8. When you have finished, stop the Geocortex Core service
9. Move the backed up Core data directory to the new location (delete the new data directory before replacing it with the backup.  Do not merge the folders).
10. Re-run the Post installer.  
11. If any site configuration (or workflows) referenced the old file location, those will need to be updated. Otherwise, everything should function exactly as it did before moving the installation.