Instructions for installing DesignaKnit 8 on a network server

  1. Obtain the file Dk8Net.ini from your DesignaKnit supplier. This file contains the name of your organization and your licence number.
  1. At the network server, log onto Windows as an Administrator user.
  1. Referring to the Installation Guide that is in the CD case, install DK8 in the normal way into a hard drive folder that can be shared by remote workstations. Do not install onto removable media. The selected installation folder must be a remote folder as far as each workstation is concerned.
  1. For easiest installation it is recommended to update to version 8.07.20 or later – see Maintenance Updates below. Updating can be done at this point or at any point in the future.
  1. Still as the Administrator user, run DesignaKnit 8 from the server, and enter a user name (for example a school name) and licence number. This user name doesn’t have to agree with the user name in the Dk8Net.ini file, but the licence number must match that in Dk8Net.ini. When the key number is then requested, select Cancel and DesignaKnit will close.
  1. The last few lines of Dk8Net.ini can be edited to set up the following options. They may be set up now or at any point in the future as convenient.
  • The ”Days warning before expiry” may be set to any convenient number.
  • There are separate lines for the default locations of stitch pattern, shape, and graphic files. Leave these blank if you want to use DesignaKnit’s usual defaults. Or enter a single line of text which gives the path to the user’s own work area, eg “n:\mywork” (without the quotation marks).
  • There is also a line REQUIRE =. A filename may be added here if you want to make sure that DK8 can only be run at certain workstations. Make a file of any name which is visible from only the allowed workstations. The contents, size, and type of the file are not important. For example REQUIRE = C:\AllowDK8.dat. A remote or a local filename may be entered, and the Hidden file attribute may be set if required. All users must have read access to that file.
  1. Still at the server, copy Dk8Net.ini into the DesignaKnit 8 installation folder. Also copy DK8.CGN (containing the newly entered licence number) from the Administrator user’s Application Data area into the DK8 installation folder. The licence number will thereby be applied automatically for each workstation and it will not be necessary to enter it manually for each one.

If there are permissions problems copying the above 2 files to the installation folder, they may instead be installed as follows:

Still on the server as the Administrator, make a folder anywhere on the server and put Dk8Net.ini and one of the following Dk8NetSetup files in it. Use the relevant Dk8NetSetup for the language version of DesignaKnit. Run the relevant Dk8NetSetup. When the installation folder is requested, browse to the DK8 installation folder that will have previously been created by the DK8 Setup program. Dk8NetSetupXX supplies any necessary permissions to copy files into the installation folder. Dk8NetSetupXX is available here:

(for German DesignaKnit)

(Finnish)

(French)

(Norwegian)

(International English)

(American English)

These programs don't show any windows and it may look like they aren't doing anything, but they install Dk8Net.ini and DK8.CGN.

  1. Run DK8 from a workstation as a Standard (Limited) user, or as an Administrator user if preferred. DesignaKnit 8 should then open normally and show the organization and licensed number of users at the bottom of the welcome screen.

Maintenance Updates

The normal procedure for getting maintenance updates for standalone PCs is to open the Help menu in any of the main 5 sections of DesignaKnit, and select Web Updates and then Program Update, but this doesn’t apply to the network version. Remote workstation PCs will not have the necessary Windows permissions to update the server, so it will be necessary to use the following procedure instead. At the server, as an Administrator user, use a web browser to open the page and select the link for English (International) or whichever language is installed. After this update has downloaded and executed, it will then finish by trying to open DesignaKnit. The network version of DesignaKnit is intended to be opened only at remote PCs and at this point a message saying “Cannot run from server” will appear. Just click the OK button and DesignaKnit will close. The downloaded update will nevertheless have worked, which you can verify by opening DesignaKnit at a remote PC and checking the version number shown in Help / About.

Licence Renewal

The licence will be renewed without further charge. At any time during the warning period you may ask us for a new Dk8Net.ini. If you let us or your DesignaKnit distributor know your organization’s email address, we will email you an updated file as a matter of course before the expiry date so that you can have continuous use of the program. Please send an email to to your distributor to inform where to send future DK8Net.ini licence update files.

Troubleshooting

1. When you try to start the program you get a message saying that DK8net.ini is not found, but you know that this file does exist in DesignaKnit’s installation folder:

- In a Computer window go to Tools/Options and make sure that Hide extensions for known file types is not checked. Now check to see if a .txt extension has been added to the file by an email system and if so, rename the file Dk8Net.ini.txt to DK8net.ini.

2. If, when trying to run the program, you get a dialogue titled Licence Check telling you that there is no installed life on your Hard Disk

- Same remedy as the previous point.

3. If an error is reported when DesignaKnit 8 opens at any of the workstations, please use a web browser to get a program update from Be sure to select the same language version as on the CD. UK customers should select International English.

4. A workstation is not able to display the knitting symbols used in for example Stitch Designer’s Palettes / Symbols Organizer.

- This probably means that the KnitWriteDK TrueType font ( KWdk8.ttf ) has not been installed locally. The font may be installed manually, by copying it from the server’s Windows / Fonts folder into the workstation’s Windows / Fonts folder. Alternatively, log into the affected workstation as an Administrator user and run this installer:

The latest version of these instructions may be found at

Please note that underline characters and no spaces are used in this link.