Remember this while upgrading from WSS 2.0 to WSS3.0

In this article we would try to figure out few small things which you must remember before/during an In-place upgrade from WSS 2.0 to WSS 3.0. 1. Connection strings/ connection string information: If you have a custom application running under a sharepoint site, make sure that you do not have connection string like "Data Source=(local);Initial Catalog = MyDB;....." etc. This is because the upgrade might fail because of the word (local). Same is applicable to your settings in Sharepoint Central Administration. Make sure that Content/configuration Database server name is not (local) or . Even if you are using local server as database server, make sure you give Full Name. 2. Prescan-tool: After the last step of Installation of WSS 3.0, the installation wizard have one check-box for executing Sharepoint Technology Configuration Wizard. This check-box is checked by default. However the upgrade would fail if you continue as is. Ensure that you have executed Pre-scan tool before execution Sharepoint Technology and configuration wizard. The prescan tool exists under programfiles/Microsoft Shared/Web server extension/12/bin directory. 3. Rights: Make sure that the service accounts are set properly and that these accounts have all required access to all servers and to the database. In the unfortunate even of upgrade failure, don't worry. Just visit upgrade log available under programfiles/Microsoft Shared/Web server extension/12/logs. Understand the exception and act accordingly. Though wizard states that the process is irriversible, you can always correct the issues and execute the wizard again. In most of the cases, the upgrade fails because of few obvious reaons. Enjoy !! Subhash