Downgrading TradeStation and Freezing TradeStation Updates
One frustration with TradeStation is their adoption of “forced automatic updates”. Many times these updates cause issues or break TradeStation. Here is an example from TradeStation Updates 89-90 and Update 91. These updates introduced serious issues that impacted MultiWalk and other 3rd party TradingApps from Oct 2025 to Feb 2026 (still ongoing as of 2/17/2026), making them unable to run, or to run incorrectly. Click on the TradeStation menu option Help->About TradeStation to display your TS version. If you are unsure what version you are running, email me a screenshot of your About TradeStation screen.
So once I get a version that I am happy with and is not causing trade or development issues, I will “freeze” it in place to prevent future updates. This gives me the discretionary control over updates. This article will walk you through the steps to either install or downgrade to a previous version of TradeStation.
Changes to TradeStation Update Methods
Feb 2025
In early 2025, TradeStation has instituted a different method to enforce automatic updates that is more difficult to circumvent. You will now see this popup box at the bottom of the screen when an update is available.
You can click the X to ignore or sometimes delay it for a week, but the notification will keep coming back and at some point force you to update whether you want to or not.
The last version of TradeStation that can be reliably blocked from automatic updates is Update 81. You will never see the above popup. If you are installing TradeStation for the first time, jump to this section below to install a previous versions of TradeStation.
March 28, 2026
Something once again changed with TradeStation’s update behavior.
On March 28, 2026, TradeStation made a change that forced older installations of TradeStation to update. I don’t know what changed, but renaming the TradeStation update programs (PatchDownloader.exe and PatchInstaller.exe) no longer works to prevent automatic updates. At least not entirely.
Time to change tactics.
A better approach now is to use part of my previous instructions and a new method to stop TradeStation from talking to its update server. We do the latter by redirecting TradeStation’s requests to the update server to a black hole. When it receives no response, it will continue loading TradeStation.
This article has been updated with this new method of circumventing TradeStation’s automatic updates.
If TradeStation just silently exited after logging in (no crash, no error, just exited), then the fix is very simple for you. No need to go through the full unintall/reinstall method below. Just follow the two-step method in this article..
Important note about workspaces if you are downgrading your version of TradeStation: If you downgrade your version of TradeStation, you will not be able to open TradeStation workspace (.TSW) files you created with the newer/previous version you were using. TradeStation does not enforce backward compatibility with their workspace files or backup archives. I have written a utility program that can reset the TradeStation version stamped in the .TSW workspace file, but it may or may not open correctly depending how far back you are trying to downgrade. For example, trying to open a workspace file that was created on Update 91 will probably not open on Update 65, but it may open on Update 81.
You can download my workspace downgrade utility and see if you can open the workspace files. If it does not open correctly, I recommend starting with a fresh, clean workspace and reconstruct all the elements and charts that were in the workspace.
First Step: Backup Everything!
If you are a new users and have just installed TradeStation and simply want to install or re-install with one of the below versions, there is no need to perform these backup steps since you don’t have any personal code to back up yet. You can skip to the installation step.
When I revert back to the base version of TradeStation, I like to wipe everything and start from a clean slate. This includes removing the TS work folders, which may or may not be removed when you uninstalled TradeSation, so I remove them manually. So to prepare for this, I back up everything three different ways.
Note: if this is the first time that you have installed TradeStation and simply want to remove TS from your system and install a previous version, there is no need to back anything up since you will not have any personal code to back up. You can just jump to the section “Uninstall TradeStation”.
Export ALL EasyLanguage Code
Export ALL the EasyLanguage code to an ELD file. This ELD file will be used to restore your EasyLanguage source code when the downgraded version of TradeStation is installed.
Move/Remove the EasyLanguage Work Folder
Locate the EasyLanguage work folder on your system. It is usually under your user login documents folder:
Rather than delete the folder, I like to rename the folder, as you can see I did once before when I reverted TradeStation back to base version on 8/24/2023. This accomplishes two things:
- Forces TradeStation to create a new, fresh work folder. I have found that the work folder can become corrupted and do not want any corruption to become part of the new TS installation.
- I can simply rename it back if things go terribly wrong.
The folder now looks like this:
Backup TradeStation
This step is not stricly necessary, and you can skip this step. But I include it as a fail-safe so that, if something goes wrong in this downgrading process, I can completely restore the TS environment to a new version of TS. TS backups cannot be restored to older TS versions, so this backup is only good for the version (or future versions) it was made on.
I perform a full backup of everything except the data cache. I would rather let that be reconstructed if I restore later and don’t waste time or space on it here.
Save Custom Sessions
If you have custom session templates, save them to another folder so that they can be restored later:
Using TradeStation Rollback Option
If you simply want to roll back to the previous version of TradeStation that you had installed or updated from, you may be able to do this by using the TradeStation Update Manager to roll back to that version.
Note: this option will only be available to you if you had previously installed an earlier version of TradeStation. If you do not see a rollback option , then you will need to skip to the step Installing Older TradeStation Version.
Remember: you MUST export all your EasyLanguage code BEFORE rolling back so that you can import it after the rollback. The older version will not be able to read your TradeStation work spaces/EasyLanguage code database.
Clicking on the above option will start the Update Manager. For me, the Update Manager opens with a tiny font and resolution, so I need to click and drag the window to make it larger.
Click on Show All in the bottom right corner.
This is what I saw on one of my systems.
I wanted to roll back from Update 89 to Update 88.
I had to perform TWO rollbacks to get to this previous version.
Each time I saw these messages:
It says that you will lose any changes made to your work environment. This is not entirely true. You will lose ALL your EasyLangage code, period. It must be exported to an ELD file before continuing as explained earlier in this article.
Once I performed the SECOND rollback, I saw this:
Once this finished, TradeStation restarted and present this message:
This is where you lose all previous work since you need to click “Restore Default Work Area”.
Once complete, I was actually rolled back to Update 88!
IMPORTANT: Now freeze this version in place so that it does not automatically update again. You can use the two step process documented in this article.
Installing Older TradeStation Version
If you cannot rollback using TradeStation’s Update Manager, then you will need to uninstall TradeStation and install using one of the following TradeStation installers. TradeStation does not provide older versions of their installation programs. I saved the below downloads directly from TradeStation’s website at various points when I installed TradeStation on my machines. Download one of the following to downgrade:
Any of the below versions will reliably run MultiWalk. However, there are two versions of TradeStation I suggest to use for the following reasons:
- Update 65: Kevin continues to use this and I use it to develop MultiWalk.
- Update 81: This is the last known update I know of that can reliably prevent TradeStation’s automatic update.
Then, uninstall TradeStation. Use Window’s Add/Remove Programs to uninstall TradeStation from your system:
Remove EasyLanguage Work Area
If you have not done so yet, be sure that the EasyLanguage work folder on your system has been removed. This is just a reminder as you should have already done this above in the section “Move/Remove the EasyLanguage Work Folder”.
If this folder is not removed, it is quite probable that TradeStation will be unstable, especially when running TDE (TradeStation Development Environment).
After you are sure that folder has been deleted, run the TradeStation installer you downloaded, BUT with one CRITICAL exception: do NOT just follow the prompts. There is an important extra step to be handled. Read the following steps and follow each one very carefully, or else TradeStation will automatically try to update to the newest version. We do NOT want it to do that. See below step in red.
Block Update Server Requests
Do this step BEFORE installing TradeStation.
Windows has what is called a “hosts” file where you can, on a system level, redirect Internet based addresses from one address to another. What we want to do is redirect any requests sent to TradeStation’s update server address to a valid, but unresponsive address. This way when TradeStation attempts to talk to the update server, it gets the proverbial “cold shoulder” — silence. This “cold shoulder” treatment is not enough reason to block TradeStation from running (sometimes servers are just down or unresponsive), so it seems to just ignore the silence and bypasses the update check.
Download the following batch file. Your antivirus software or browser may give warnings and prevent the file from downloading since it is a batch file. You can safely ignore any warnings and download the file. I fully disclose the batch file contents below.
Important: Once downloaded, run it with Administrator Rights:
Full disclosure: this is the full contents of the batch file:
@echo 127.0.0.1 svc.update.tradestation.com >> C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts @ipconfig /flushdns @echo ................................................................................................... @echo .TradeStation requests to its update server have been redirected to a black hole. No more updates. @echo ................................................................................................... @pause
Install TradeStation
Following the prompts and install.
When you get to this screen — **** STOP ****. Do NOT, NOT, NOT click “Continue”. Leave this window open while you do the next step.
Preventing TradeStation From Installing Patches
Be sure to have blocked TradeStation from update checks first.
Using Windows, go to the TradeStation program folder on your system. The default location is:
Rename the TradeStation updater program PatchInstaller.exe so that it cannot be “seen” by TradeStation.
- PatchInstaller.exe -> PatchInstaller.bak
Do NOT change PatchDownloader.exe. TradeStation MUST be able to see this program using our new method.
In other words, you want to do this:
Renaming the patch installer ensures that TradeStation does not try to install any previously downloaded patch updates.
Continue TradeStation Installation
NOW you can go back to the TS installation window and click “Continue”:
At this point TradeStation may stall as it tries to talk to the (now) unresponsive update server. If it continues to feel “stuck” after several minutes, you can use my KillTS utility to terminate all the TS processes, or simply reboot your machine.
Start TradeStation.
TradeStation will continue setting itself up:
If you see this window, select “Restore Default Work Area”:
Another user got this screen warning:
This message can be ignored. It is exactly what we wanted — preventing update checks until we are ready to update.
Be patient, this process may take a long time.
When it is complete, you can check the TradeStation version installed from the Help -> About TradeStation menu. The following example shows 10.00.04.118 Update 65 installed (which TradeStation, at the time, called “Base”):
Restore Your EasyLanguage Code
Import all your EasyLanguage code that was previously exported to an ELD file:
You will receive pop-ups such as this:
We do not want to overwrite the TradeStation functions in the newly installed version, so click “No to all”.
Follow any other prompts and click “Ok/Yes” when prompted to also import functions/strategies.
This process can take a long time depending on how many strategies or functions you have in your EasyLanguage code collection. You should eventually see this:
Restore Custom Sessions
If you have custom session templates, copy them back to this folder:
And that’s it! TradeStation will no longer update and you have restored all your EasyLanguage code.
Reinstall MultiWalk
When you uninstall TradeStation, it will also remove the MultiWalk DLL files. Therefore you need to run the MultiWalkSetup.exe file to replace the missing DLL files. Click here to download the latest version of MultiWalk.
Downgrading Workspace Files
TradeStation workspace (.tsw) files are not backward compatible. So if you have workspaces that were created with TS Update 70, they cannot be opened by older TS versions (such as Update 65). I wrote a hackish utility that can downgrade these files.
Note, that as of TS Update 72 version 10.0.6.1196, TradeStation has changed something in their chart format. This makes charts incompatible with previous versions of TS. So if you are running Update 89 and downgrade to Update 65, the charts in the workspace will appear blank. You will need to recreate the charts manually. MultiWalk projects, however, continue to downgrade fine. TS has not (yet) changed TradingApp formats.
But it is worthwhile to try and use the patch on your TSW files. If you just want to downgrade a couple of versions, such as Update 90 to Update 88, then the workspace may downgrade just fine.
See my free utility PatchTSW to downgrade TS workspaces.
Resuming TradeStation Updates
If you ever wish to resume TradeStation updates, then:
- Remove the line “127.0.0.1 svc.update.tradestation.com” from this file: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
- Rename the fie PatchInstaller.bak to PatchInstaller.exe