Manufacturing Refreshes (MRs)

Manufacturing refreshes are packages containing a bundle of APARs and possibly new product options and improvements. For Personal Communications, new manufacturing refreshes are cumulative. To check for manufacturing refreshes, click Check for MRs in the Product Update Tool.

Installing a manufacturing refresh is similar to a reinstallation of the product (removing old product files and installing new files); therefore, there is no test and commit process available for manufacturing refreshes. To remove a manufacturing refresh, your only option is to uninstall the current Personal Communications product level, then reinstall the prior level.

You can obtain manufacturing refreshes only if you have purchased a full version of the product. This is validated by entering a service key, which is included in the original package of Personal Communications. When you check for manufacturing refreshes, your Internet browser opens to the manufacturing refresh site, where you are prompted to enter your registration data and service key. When registration is complete and the service key is entered, you can select the product, version, and language for which you need the manufacturing refresh update.
Note:
A manufacturing refresh file is usually larger than 100 MB.