Chapter 1-1. Installing Stata and Recovering Stata Windows
Installing Stata (These instructions are somewhat specific to Stoddard’s classes at the U of
Utah—instructors at other institutions will need to modify these.)
During the installation process, you will be asked the following questions:
Full Name: < use your own name >
Organization: < University of Utah > <- if you are part of the U of Utah
Stata flavor: < Stata/IC > default is Stata/SE, so be sure to change it to Stata/IC
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\Stata11 >
Working folder: < My Documents >
Adding an Icon to the Desktop (PC Windows)
The installation process does not create an icon on the desktop. To do that yourself, use
Start <- lower left corner of computer screen
Programs
Stata11
StataIC 11
right click on mouse
create shortcut
drag “StataIC 11(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
_____________________
Source: Stoddard GJ. Biostatistics and Epidemiology Using Stata: A Course Manual [unpublished manuscript] University of Utah
School of Medicine, 2010.
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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\stata11 directory. Find the program
name, stata11.exe or stataic11.exe, right click on it, and select “run as administrator”.
The “Stata/IC initialization box” will appear, asking for:
Name: < your name >
Organization: < University of Utah >
Serial Number: < use number on inside cover of Stata CD case >
Code: < use code on inside cover of Stata CD case >
Authorization: < use number on inside cover of Stata CD case >
Then you will be asked,
Would you like to register Stata now? < No >
Answer no to this if you are at the University of Utah installing the multiuser
license CD provided by Greg Stoddard. It is already registered to Greg Stoddard,
so there is no need to have it registered again.
Would you like to enable automatic update checking? < yes >
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 >
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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. You should do this:
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
These steps work better than
update all
which sometimes crashes.
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\stata11 directory. Find the program name,
stata11.exe or stataic11.exe, right click on it, and select “run as administrator”.
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,
Edit
Preferences
Manage Preferences
Load Preferences
Factory Settings
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