Chapter 1-1. Installing Stata and Recovering Stata Windows
These instructions assume you are installing the Stata/IC flavor of Stata. If you purchased a
different flavor, then replace Stata/IC with Stata/MP, or whatever flavor you purchased, in the
instructions below.
Installing Stata
During the installation you will be asked:
Full Name: < use your own name >
Organization: < use your orgnization name >
Stata flavor: < e.g., Stata/IC > do not just take the default—the distribution CD
frequently is not set to the correct default—make sure you know which
“flavor” you have a license for; otherwise, you will have to reinstall all
over again.
There is really only one Stata, as far as the statistical routines go. The “flavor” is
simply some performance limits, such as the number of variables you can use or
how fast it runs. The “intercooled” flavor, or “Stata/IC”, will work just fine for
probably any dataset you have. After the software is installed, you can see what
the limits of the various flavors are by running the following command in the
command window:
help limits
Destination folder: <C:\Program Files\Stata12 >
Working folder: < My Documents >
_____________________
Source: Stoddard GJ. Biostatistics and Epidemiology Using Stata: A Course Manual. Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah
School of Medicine. Chapter 1-1. (Accessed Jan 8, 2012, at http://www.ccts.utah.edu/biostats/
?pageId=5385).
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Adding an Icon to the Desktop (Windows Operating System)
The installation process does not create an icon on the desktop. To do that yourself, use
Start <- lower left corner of computer screen
Programs
Stata12
StataIC 12
right click on mouse
create shortcut
drag “StataIC 12(2)” to desktop
right click on this icon
rename
backspace to delete “(2)”, or leave it like that if you like
hit the enter key to exit renamethe rename step
Run Stata to Finish Setup
The first time you run Stata, you will be asked some more questions to finish the setup.
Note For Windows Vista Users: For Windows Vista, you must run it the first time as the
administrator; otherwise, it cannot create the license file. You must run the original executable
file, not the shortcut, which will be in the C:\program files\stata12 directory. Find the program
name, stata12.exe or stataic12.exe, right click on it, and select “run as administrator”.
The “Stata/IC initialization box” will appear, asking for:
Name: < your name >
Organization: < your organization >
Serial Number: < use number specific to your license >
Code: < use number specific to your license >
Authorization: < use number specific to your license >
Then you will be asked,
Would you like to register Stata now? < Yes/No >
You should probably answer no to this if you are installing a site license.
Otherwise, you go on Stata’s mailing list, receiving a newsletter that you are likely
not interested in, so why make StataCorp go to the expense of sending it to you.
Would you like to enable automatic update checking? < yes >
Definitely answer yes to this. This allows bug fixes and enhancements to be
automatically provided to you when you are connected to the internet.
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Check for updates now? < yes, if you are connected to the internet, otherwise no >
If you answered yes, you will see a screen that says
Recommendation
Update ado-files and executable < click on this link >
Type update swap < click on this link, which causes the current Stata to
shut down and the new version of Stata to start up >
After Installing Stata, Do the Following Update
After the Stata installation, you can get all of the bug fixes and latest version by updating the
software across the internet. If you did not do this at time of installation, when Stata asked if you
wanted to do the update, then at some point soon after you should do this:
update all
If for some reason that crashes, doing the update in steps will probably work just fine:
Step 1) be connected to the internet
Step 2) in the Command window, run the command
update executable
Step 3) when this finishes, run the command
update swap
Step 4) run the command
update ado
Note For Windows Vista Users: For Windows Vista, you can perform the “update executable”
only if you are running Stata as the administrator. You must run the original executable file, not
the shortcut, which will be in the C:\program files\stata12 directory. Find the program name,
stata12.exe or stataic12.exe, right click on it, and select “run as administrator”.
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Recovering Windows
It is possible that you might mess up your Stata windows, such as one of them no longer shows,
or you switch monitors so that part of a window goes off the page and you cannot resize it.
You can get the windows back to the state they originally came in when you first installed Stata
using the Stata toolbar,
For Stata version 11, use
Edit
Preferences
Manage Preferences
Load Preferences
Factory Settings
For Stata version 12, use
Edit
Preferences
Load Preference Set
Combined Layout
Click on X to close the Properties window (not needed and is distracting)
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