System Setup Required Message + Copy Live Store Records Into Demo

[sparrowce]

I have installed 151 in a demo folder, live store (139) is still running ok. Have deleted the test records from demo and next step would have been copying the live store records (products/categories). However, today when I tried to logon to demo store, got the below message. I haven't logged in in quite a while working on other things, but in the past was able to login with no trouble and the configure.php files mentioned below seem to point to the right place. I am not sure what to do next to be able to login to demo store, and then to copy the records from live store to demo. In the past I got some errors on that, but can't recreate to provide error message and hindered by not being able to login. Appreciate any help, thank you.

Hello. Thank you for loading Zen Cart®.
You are seeing this page for one or more reasons:

This is your first time using Zen Cart® and you haven't yet completed the normal Installation procedure.
If this is the case for you, you will need to upload the "zc_install" folder using your FTP program, and then run zc_install/index.php via your browser (or reload this page to see a link to it).

Your /includes/configure.php and/or /admin/includes/configure.php file contains invalid path information and/or invalid database-connection information.
If you recently edited your configure.php files for any reason, or maybe moved your site to a different folder or different server, then you'll need to review and update all your settings to the correct values for your server.
Additionally, if the permissions have been changed on your configure.php files, then maybe they're too low for the files to be read.
Or the configure.php files could be missing altogether.
Or your hosting company has recently changed the server's PHP configuration (or upgraded its version) then they may have broken things as well.
See the Online FAQ and Tutorials area on the Zen Cart® website for assistance.

[dbltoe]

More than likely, your databases do not match when it comes to the prefix. One may be zen_#$#$(&# and the other #$#$(&# without the prefix.
Both must match so you are getting

Your /includes/configure.php and/or /admin/includes/configure.php file contains invalid path information and/or invalid database-connection information

[sparrowce]

I am lost when it comes to the databases. How do I get them to match? Thank you so much for the help.

[sparrowce]

Also, I used to be able to login to the demo site and had removed the install files via FTP per the instructions once the demo was installed ok. Do I need to put them back and start over? I would like to first be able to get logged in to the demo store again and have not made any changes to the files, though it has been a very long time since I've logged in if that makes a difference, thank you.

[schoolboy]

If your objective is to UPGRADE, you have "partly" followed the various stages. There are lots of posts on UPGRADING and there is a FAQ section devoted to the procedure.

[sparrowce]

Yes, I sure do need to upgrade the demo to the live products. However, I can't get logged into admin anymore due to the system setup error, and I don't know what to do to overcome that. Should I just put the install folder back into the demo and reinstall? Have already modified the demo files to match the customizations the live store has, but something I've done has locked me out and I don't want to mess up the customizations that have been made (settings, ship zones, store template). Last time I was able to login, everything seemed fine, except there were no store products - I'd deleted the demo products and manually entered one actual to be able to test it. After I did that and logged off, it was quite a while before I went back, as was working on other things, but then bumped into the system setup error. Thank you.