HELP! Accidentally uninstalled Musicbee program with all the settings

[J_Overcraft]

Ok, I may have done an oopsie.

As I was checking my programs for updates and uninstallations (to save space on my hard drive), I found that my MusicBee was not on the most recent version. I was running 3.5.something, while the most recent version seems to be 3.6.

Before updating the MusicBee, I found out that there seem to be two MusicBee programs in Apps and Functions menu on windows. One was titled MusicBee 3.4.something. As I thought deleting it won't do anything for my 3.5.something version, I decided to uninstall it.

Oh boy I was wrong. My entire settings are gone (thankfully not the music too). Is there a way to restore the deleted settings file?

[sveakul]

This is what happens when you have multiple versions of the same program installed, and we don't even know the type (Installer, Store, Portable).  For example, the Installer versions will use the same folders.

Though you say you ran an uninstall for 3.4, there are probably pieces of that and 3.5  scattered all over your PC and registry.  At this point forget about the "settings" file, and use your mistake as an opportunity to do a clean install of 3.6.  The key point being, you HAVE the music files, thankfully.  Be sure that they are backed up in a separate location that has nothing to do with MusicBee, and do not use that word in the folder name.

First check the Add/Remove Programs in Windows and run the uninstall for any "MusicBee" entries still there.  Then manually do a search for any file or folder with "MusicBee" anywhere in the name, preferably using a direct file table searcher like SwiftSearch64 , and delete what you find.  Finally, restart your PC.

There probably will also be registry entries left over but rather than wade into that we'll avoid it altogether by installing the PORTABLE version of MusicBee 3.6.  Install directions for the Portable version are here:
https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=40059.0 .  Remember to finish up with Step #7 to get the latest update.

Now you can start over clean, creating a new library from your music files.  Doing the settings over will be a good learning experience to find all the new options you may have missed before.  And because now all your MusicBee settings and files will be in a single folder, backing it up will be as simple as a 2-step folder copy operation.  Take advantage of that to try new layouts, knowing that if you end up down some rabbit hole returning to the last good copy is as easy as copying back your Portable's backup folder to give things another shot.

Note:  please resist the temptation to let MusicBee "auto-organize" your music files at the new install.  This can be quicksand unless you know exactly what you are doing.  This operation can be done afterwards at any time, so if later you are still interested take the time to read the multitude of forum posts concerning it first.  This custom forum searcher by hiccup is your friend:  https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=426af386625354430#gsc.tab=0

[phred]

There probably will also be registry entries left over but rather than wade into that we'll avoid it altogether by installing the PORTABLE version of MusicBee 6.x.

sveakul  means version 3.6.x

[sveakul]

There probably will also be registry entries left over but rather than wade into that we'll avoid it altogether by installing the PORTABLE version of MusicBee 6.x.

sveakul  means version 3.6.x

That I did, sah!  Fixed.

[J_Overcraft]

Thank you both for the replies! It's sad to hear that many, many hours of customizing MusicBee exactly to my needs were just washed down the drain, but I suppose I can take this as an important learning experience.

First check the Add/Remove Programs in Windows and run the uninstall for any "MusicBee" entries still there.  Then manually do a search for any file or folder with "MusicBee" anywhere in the name, preferably using a direct file table searcher like SwiftSearch64 , and delete what you find.  Finally, restart your PC.

There probably will also be registry entries left over but rather than wade into that we'll avoid it altogether by installing the PORTABLE version of MusicBee 3.6.  Install directions for the Portable version are here:
https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=40059.0 .  Remember to finish up with Step #7 to get the latest update.

Now you can start over clean, creating a new library from your music files.  Doing the settings over will be a good learning experience to find all the new options you may have missed before.  And because now all your MusicBee settings and files will be in a single folder, backing it up will be as simple as a 2-step folder copy operation.  Take advantage of that to try new layouts, knowing that if you end up down some rabbit hole returning to the last good copy is as easy as copying back your Portable's backup folder to give things another shot.

Using the opportunity for a clean install of MusicBee seems to be a great idea, but after exploring what remained, I found out that some things seem to be preserved in MusicBee - such as playlists, or some custom tags. I'm afraid to lose those as well, therefore I am hesitant to proceed with your instructions of deleting the remaining MusicBee entries.

I'm interested in hearing how to proceed in this situation!

Thank you for your help thus far and kind regards!!

[sveakul]

Well, see how many MusicBeeLibrary.mbl files are on your PC--hopefully one.  That has the stuff like custom tags (if you chose to store them there instead of in the music file), ratings etc.  Then point to that file when creating the new library.  We're still guessing as to the type of MusicBee you had installed previously.

Playlists are stored as files in a folder "Playlists" in your "Library" folder.

A recovery application like "Recuva" or "Puran file recovery" may help you restore the deleted settings file (MusicBee3Settings.ini) if it hasn't been overwritten yet.

Next time remember to do an Edit->Saved Settings->Save Settings Snapshot if you aren't backing up the whole MusicBee Portable folder (but I hope you do the latter).  Then backup THAT file somewhere, which can be restored by "LOAD Settings Snapshot" in the same menu.  There is also a File->Library->Backup Library choice.  You have to, a) MAKE these things in the first place, and b) store them somewhere outside of the MusicBee application.

Good luck, and don't try to remember exactly how you had it before, take the chance to try something new when the opportunity presents, that's where the "fun factor" comes in.