Installation and Upgrade > Installation and Configuration Guide - Update Existing Installation > Updating an Existing Installation > Using the Staging Directory
  
Using the Staging Directory
Select your staging directory location. You may specify up to five staging directories.
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The term "product CD" can refer to either the physical CD media or the equivalent files downloaded from PTC.com.
PTC requires the use of a staging directory. A staging directory is a directory where you load all of your product CDs before beginning the installation. This allows the PTC Solution Installer to access each CD image without stopping to prompt you during installation.
Using a staging area provides a faster installation experience and removes the need to insert CDs during installation.
After you enter the location of a staging directory, you can browse for, and load, each installation CD if they are not already in the staging directory.
When you are done, click Next.
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Do not specify a Uniform Naming Convention (UNC) path name (such as \\host\path\to\JDK) for either the JDK or the Windchill Directory Server installation directory file paths. Additionally, if you specify a mapped or SUBST drive in the file path for the Windchill Directory Server, you cannot run the server as a Windows service. Do not to use a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path (for example, \\<serverName>\<sharedResourcePathname>) for your staging directory, as not all products install properly if a UNC path is provided. As an alternative to using UNC paths, map a network drive to the UNC location where the CDs are staged and use the network drive as the staging directory.