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EZproxy for Windows update

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The instructions on this page describe how to update EZproxy for Windows.

Ability versus right

EZproxy allows you to extend access to your databases to remote users. However, your licensing agreement with database vendors may not authorize you to provide remote access. As an implementer of remote access, it is your responsibility to verify licensing agreements and only permit remote access as authorized.

Update to EZproxy 7.3 GA for Windows

The following instructions cover how to update existing installations to EZproxy 7.3. These instructions are valid to update from any version of EZproxy to this release. This process will preserve all existing configuration files.

Before getting started

EZproxy 7.3 requires users to obtain a WSKey to run the software. Before downloading EZproxy, please request your WSKey. To request and obtain a Key, please see Request a WSKey.

If you have already obtained a WSKey for any EZproxy V6.x, you can use this same WSKey to upgrade to the newest version.

  1. Download ezproxy-windows.exe and ezproxy-windows-sha256.sum to the server where you will install EZproxy. To verify the integrity of the downloaded file, run the following Windows Powershell command: 
    certutil –hashfile ezproxy-windows.exe sha256

Compare the output of certutil and hashed summary in the ezproxy-windows-sha256.sum file to make sure the hashed summaries are the same.

  1. Open a Command prompt.
    1. Go to Start > Run... and type cmd in the Open box.
    2. Click OK.
  2. Change your current directory to the directory where EZproxy is installed with commands such as:
    • c:
    • cd\ezproxy
  3. Stop EZproxy. You will see messages confirming that EZproxy has been stopped and is no longer installed as a service.
    • If EZproxy is currently running on your server from a command prompt, press Ctrl+C to stop it.
    • If EZproxy is currently running as a service, use the Administrator command prompt and stop it with the command:
      ezproxy -sr
  4. Rename your existing copy of ezproxy.exe to another name such as ezproxy-yyyymmdd.exe, replacing yyyymmdd with the current year, month, and day. 
    rename ezproxy.exe 20180607.exe
  5. Rename ezproxy-windows.exe to ezproxy.exe with the command: 
    rename ezproxy-windows.exe ezproxy.exe
  6. During this step, if you are updating from EZproxy 5.0 or earlier, you will be asked to allow ezproxy.cfg to be renamed to config.txt and to allow ezproxy.usr to be renamed to user.txt.
    Create any new files required for the update release with the command: 
    ezproxy -m
  7. Optional. If you are updating from EZproxy 5.0 or earlier, you can choose to rename your existing ezproxy.msg to messages.txt, or you can leave the existing file alone and EZproxy will create a new messages.txt file.
    If you would like to rename the existing file, issue the command 
    rename ezproxy.msg messages.txt

  8. If you are updating from EZproxy V5.7.44 or earlier, copy your new, full WSKey from the OCLC Developer Network WSKeys screen (obtained by following the instructions at How to Request a WSKey), and paste it into your command prompt window with the key command as follows, substituting your complete key for 123456789101112. If you are updating from EZproxy V6.0.8 or newer, you will not need to re-enter your WSKey to update:

    ezproxy -k 123456789101112

     Note: In the Windows Command Prompt, the keyboard shortcut Control-V will not paste the copied text into the command line. You must right-click to open a list of options and click paste to enter the copied text.

  9. Start EZproxy:

    1. If you run EZproxy directly from the command line, start it with the command:

      ezproxy
    2. If you run EZproxy as a service, start it with the command: 
      ezproxy -si

      This command will cause EZproxy to automatically start when you reboot your server. See Configure EZproxy to run as a Windows Service for more information.