Open Dental Forum

I am trying to verify the quality of my backups. The backup file that I test has been unzipped and the data was imported into another server instance that has a MySQL server running. A database 'opendental' and user 'opendental' with appropriate permissions were created prior to the import.
I am trying to get OD to select the server and the usual way to do so is to input during the first client start. The option "file->choose database" brings up the same window, however the server and database fields are greyed out there. The only editable fields are user and password. If for any reason the connect to that database cannot be established during the start of the client, the window comes up with all of the fields capable of accepting edits. Is this suppose to be like that? Is there any other ways to connect to a backup server?

Switching databases after the program has been started is a tricky and difficult scenario, so we don't support it currently. To have that window show up and choose a server location/database there is a checkbox that says "Do not show this window on startup" and if you uncheck it you'll then be able to change the required fields on subsequent startups.

You can have the Choose Database screen show when you launch Open Dental. http://opendental.com/manual/choosedatabase.html
It sounds like you have the 'Do not show this window on startup' checkbox selected. Uncheck that, and you'll have the option to choose when you launch Open Dental.

Yes! It worked. My backups are useful now! Thank you dgraffeo.