Subject: This could come to be if the previous server was a partitioned server
with one partition (left or created originally).
Partitioned servers have notes.ini in each partition, i.e. data directory.
Non-partitioned servers on Windows still have their notes.ini in program directory. The intention was to make it the same across the platforms, but it proved to be more worrisome for our customers than preserving the original location of notes.ini in program directory for non-partitioned servers.
So the only difference between partitioned server with single partition or non-partitioned server is the location of notes.ini.
Please, compare paths is in your notes.ini with your registry paths. You can paste contents of notes.ini here.
How do you start server manually?
is this the “same” installation as 8.5.3 - or you had installed accidentally in a new location.