I’m a new convert from using DAK and really like Audacity. My hats off to the development team for such a flexible and functional audio tool as this! A simple question I couldn’t find in the FAQ or user manual.
Already have Beta version 1.3 with LAME installed. Before upgrading to 2.0 is it necessary to uninstall previous versions? Does LAME need to be reinstalled also? I’m running 64bit Win7.
Thanks very much!
Monty
It’s probably best to uninstall Audacity 1.3.x beta first so as to avoid complications with file associations.
If you have a reasonably recent version of Lame that works with Audacity 1.3.x then Audacity 2.0 should pick it up automatically (so leave LAME installed and when you have installed Audacity 2.0 check that MP3 export works OK).
I have successfully installed v2.0 alongside v1.3.14 without any problems. As far as I recall, the file associations moved over to v2.0 automatically. I have discovered that, if I really want to, I can switch them to and fro using a right-click on an .aup file then choosing “Open With… Choose default program…”. This is on a Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1 system. I didn’t need to re-install either LAME or FFmpeg - these were picked up automatically by v2.0.
I think that is what should happen but Windows can misbehave and get confused, so uninstalling 1.3.x first is the safer option.
That seems to work reliably 
Uninstalled the old and installed the new without any trouble. Updated to LAME 3.99.3 from 3.98.3 and added the plug-in file as well. Talk about effects choices! Works like a charm.
Great work! Using Audacity is truly a joy in function and flexibility.
Thanks again!
Monty
Danville, CA
If there are existing Audacity 1.3.x associations with audio files, associations for 2.0 won’t be creatable with “Open with” whether you uninstall 1.3.x or leave it in situ unless you:
See (soft) file associations lost - Windows - Audacity Forum .
Gale
@Gale,
That’s not true as my posts in that topic make clear. I have both v2.0 and v1.3.14 installed alongside each other and can use “Open with” to change the file association from one to the other as and when I choose (not that I actually want to). Like the original poster, I’m also on a Win 7 64-bit system so would be interested to hear whether this is true on his/her system.
It’s true for most people - it’s getting complained about frequently now 2.0.0 is out. I’m aware it works for you - but since no-one knows why, we can’t give them your solution.
Gale
If it will increase understanding, I’d be happy to take screen grabs of parts of my Registry - if someone could tell me which bits to grab 
@PGA, did you ever have Audacity 1.2.x installed on that machine?
Could you remind me which version of Windows you use.
Steve, This PC never saw 1.2. The first version it saw was 1.3.11, then 1.3.14, then 2.0.0rc1 and finally 2.0.0 official. v1.3.11 was uninstalled once I was happy that 1.3.14 was stable in those areas that I used regularly. v2.0.0 official over-wrote v2.0.0rc1. Is this a significant factor, I wonder? The system runs Win 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit. Having just now renamed audacity.exe in C:Program Files (x86)Audacity to audacity2.exe (as suggested elsewhere on the forum), I have now been able to set file associations for WAV and MP3 to Audacity 2.0.0. I am now in a position to uninstall v1.3.14. Would like me to hold fire on that in order to facilitate further diagnosis of this problem?
Also, I note that there are several forum threads on this “File association” problem now. Can I suggest that you, Gale and I nominate one of them in which to continue our technical dialogue? In that way I will not be interfering in the attempts by the pair of you to solve the problems that the other users are having. And we will not be baffling users (possibly not native English speakers) by our use of technically oriented and sometimes, perhaps, idiomatic English language in their threads.
@PGA I doubt uninstalling Audacity affects this issue because as noted before, the uninstallation does not modify file associations (except for .aup).
If you want to continue this, I suggest https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/firebox-or-inspire/174/1 .
Gale