Author Topic: Portable vs Non-Portable and "config files"  (Read 6658 times)

garryggreen

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Couple of questions:

1) If MB is installed as a Portable Application( downloaded Portable version) - and installed it to a "non system location" e.g. c:\musicbee  and I specify the location of my music (an external drive d:\), where are the configuration files stored - in c:\musicbee or the location of my music.  I can see MusicBeeLibrary files in the same folder as my music - I thought MB stored its files only in the folder from whence it was executed when in Portable Mode?

2) If I download the Portable version, there is no option to switch to non-portable mode, correct?

3) If I download and install the Regular version, I can convert it to a Portable version, correct?

4) I have 2 computers that each have a Music folder/subfolders containing the music; I noticed that if MB's control files are stored with the Music, when I daily sync the Music folder between computers, MB gets confused.  How would the forum members recommend - I want to have my master computer sync to my laptop (one direction only); I cannot share the disk between 2 computers as the laptop is MOBILE and may not have access to the music disk, hence the daily sycing.  I'd prefer to install MB as Portable, but it seems on insisting on writing its control files MusicBeeLibraryxxx into the folder where the music is - when it is sync'd, MB gets confused.

I'd like to have ALL of MB's control files located in the folder where its executing out of (or a subfolder APPDATA) and not with the music.  Any suggestions?

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Pingaware

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1) If MB is installed as a Portable Application( downloaded Portable version) - and installed it to a "non system location" e.g. c:\musicbee  and I specify the location of my music (an external drive d:\), where are the configuration files stored - in c:\musicbee or the location of my music.  I can see MusicBeeLibrary files in the same folder as my music - I thought MB stored its files only in the folder from whence it was executed when in Portable Mode?

The library is not a configuration file, and is saved wherever you initially chose to save it. This can be changed using Preferences>Library>Move Library (button near the top).

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2) If I download the Portable version, there is no option to switch to non-portable mode, correct?

Correct. You can of course save all the settings and library files and then install the non-portable version as well, but you can't change that existing installation.

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3) If I download and install the Regular version, I can convert it to a Portable version, correct?

Pass, but I suspect you're wrong about that.

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4) I have 2 computers that each have a Music folder/subfolders containing the music; I noticed that if MB's control files are stored with the Music, when I daily sync the Music folder between computers, MB gets confused.  How would the forum members recommend - I want to have my master computer sync to my laptop (one direction only); I cannot share the disk between 2 computers as the laptop is MOBILE and may not have access to the music disk, hence the daily sycing.  I'd prefer to install MB as Portable, but it seems on insisting on writing its control files MusicBeeLibraryxxx into the folder where the music is - when it is sync'd, MB gets confused.

I'd like to have ALL of MB's control files located in the folder where its executing out of (or a subfolder APPDATA) and not with the music.  Any suggestions?

In those circumstances, I'd just create a library on your laptop, having made sure to move the initial library out of the music folder.
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Big Mons

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Are there any functional differences between the portable and installed versions of MusicBee? I started with the portable version to try it out and see if I like it. I like the software a lot and plan to use it going forward as my music playing solution on my PC. Do I lose anything at all by staying with the portable version sitting on my desktop, or should I go ahead and install the app and move my settings to the installed version now that I know MusicBee is a keeper?

To switch to the installed version, which files would I need to copy over to my installed version in order to keep all of my settings?

EDIT: Still curious about any differences in the two versions, if any. I tried to install the Mod'ernaire theater mode and had issues. After switching to the full installation, I still can't get the theater mode to work properly for Mod'ernaire. Anyway, to answer the question about copying files, I copied the following and the installed version now seems to look and act the same as my portable version.
PORTABLE > INSTALLED LOCATION
MusicBee\AppData > Users\NAME\AppData\Roaming\MusicBee\InternalCache\*
MusicBee\AppData > Users\NAME\AppData\Roaming\MusicBee\ActivityLog.dat
MusicBee\AppData > Users\NAME\AppData\Roaming\MusicBee\MusicBeeSettings.ini
MusicBee\AppData > Users\NAME\AppData\Roaming\MusicBee\StartupSettings.ini
MusicBee\AppData > Users\NAME\AppData\Roaming\MusicBee\TheaterModeState.ini

MusicBee\Library\* > Location of my music library\MusicBee\

MusicBee\Plugins\* > C:\Program Files (x86)\MusicBee\Plugins\

The only issue is that the ini files reference locations in the portable install folder. Is there any method to backup my settings and then import or restore them to the installed copy? I don't want to start over.
Last Edit: December 30, 2014, 05:00:44 AM by Big Mons

psychoadept

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Functionally, there's no difference if you're only using it on one computer.  As for how to go from Portable to integrated, this might help: http://musicbee.wikia.com/wiki/Backup_%26_Restore

For what it's worth, if you move your AppData portable folder into the MB install directory, MB will still find it.  Or you can copy the contents into AppData/Roaming/MusicBee/, which is the more traditional location.  I confirmed this just a couple of days ago, when I moved it from the program directory to the official AppData directory.
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Big Mons

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Doh! I updated/added quite a bit to my post while you were responding (didn't want to double post). I'll check that wiki page and see what I find. Thanks!

Big Mons

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Doing it the wiki way didn't seem to make any difference. I guess I'll just go through the ini files and manually change the paths. For example:
<SettingsPath>C:\Users\NAME\Desktop\MusicBee\AppData\</SettingsPath>
Will need to be changed to: C:\Users\NAME\AppData\Roaming\MusicBee
and
<SystemPlugin>
 <State>
  <Id>\Users\NAME\Desktop\MusicBee\Plugins\mb_TheaterModePlugin.dll</Id>
will need to be changed to: C:\Program Files (x86)\MusicBee\Plugins\mb_TheaterModePlugin.dll

In the wiki it says to install MusicBee but do not run it yet. Then the next step says to copy files from the old AppData folder to the new one, however, I didn't have a new AppData folder until after I ran MusicBee the first time. Then it was created in C:\Users\NAME\AppData\Roaming\MusicBee.