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Topic: [howto] change location of foobars default application folder (Read 8126 times) previous topic - next topic
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[howto] change location of foobars default application folder

Hey yall, i spent a few hours messing around today trying to figure out how to change foobars config folder to a different location. After reading through the forums and much googling it seemed there were other people who were looking to do the same without having to resort to using a portable install and losing some functionality of having foobar installed natively.. so this tut is for anyone stuck in the same boat. this is a basic guide for windows 7 32bit after my own tinkering about, if you need to learn more about symbolic links etc please read the documentation here.

basically what you're going to do is create a symbolic link which will point a pseudo folder in %appdata% to the new location.

what you need..

grab the two files from the url below (for whichever version of windows you require and install)

http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellex...t.html#download

for obvious reasons, before you start, make a backup of your application data folder

to access the folder with foobar open you can shift click the 'File' option > browse configuration folder
or type %appdata%\foobar2000 into a run box and hit enter


at this point be sure to close foobar and remove/delete any foobar2000 folder left in the roaming folder

now create another copy of the appdata folder in your desired location (leave your backup intact in case you screw things up)

right click on this folder and select 'pick link source'

browse to %appdata% > right click on the root folder ie, roaming, or right click in a blank space in the roaming folder and select 'drop as > junction'

that's it! fire up foobar to make sure everything works as it should.

*nb* initially i created a symbolic link clone (as i was attempting to have the appdata folder on another volume.. otherwise you would create a hardlink clone) but i noticed some files were still saving to %appdata%\roaming eg, Core.cfg. comparing the timestamps revealed the files were not being synchronised correctly between directories but creating a junction seems to have fixed this.

btw, same method could be used to sync with a drobox folder or whatever but you may need to experiment with the different kinds of symbolic links depending on your circumstance.

i also came across another tool which may or may not perform the same function (creating a junction) .. i haven't tested it myself so you're on you own if you go that route.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768

hope that helps!

foobar <3





[howto] change location of foobars default application folder

Reply #1 –
Just out of curiosity, why do you want your application data folder to be in a different location?

[howto] change location of foobars default application folder

Reply #2 –
well personally, i had an extra 2GB of ram to spare that i can't use with win7 32bit.. so i created a ramdisk and put my config folder on that, which shaved a good chunk off foobars load time. others might find it useful for syncing one foobar instance across multiple computers/networks etc.

[howto] change location of foobars default application folder

Reply #3 –
What stops you from simply syncing (a portable) foobar altogether?

[howto] change location of foobars default application folder

Reply #4 –
..because you lose certain functionality with a portable install, this is just a different approach with different outcomes and possibilities

[howto] change location of foobars default application folder

Reply #5 –
@dyermaker:
you will lose zero functionality with portable foobar install. All you need to do, is to copy foobar2000 Shell Associations Updater.exe from regular install and you're set.

[howto] change location of foobars default application folder

Reply #6 –
good to know!

i was wondering, if you remove the 'user_profiles_enabled' file, will that force foobar to load its configuration from the main installation folder as well?

anyway, my goal was to actually change the location of the appdata folder, so problem solved in that respect

[howto] change location of foobars default application folder

Reply #7 –
Quote from: Manchesterer on
@dyermaker:
you will lose zero functionality with portable foobar install. All you need to do, is to copy foobar2000 Shell Associations Updater.exe from regular install and you're set.


Realy good to know. I used to install foobar as portable and then install regular version over portable.

[howto] change location of foobars default application folder

Reply #8 –
Quote from: Manchesterer on
@dyermaker:
you will lose zero functionality with portable foobar install. All you need to do, is to copy foobar2000 Shell Associations Updater.exe from regular install and you're set.

This is bad advice and not a supported configuration.

Quote from: dyermaker on
i was wondering, if you remove the 'user_profiles_enabled' file, will that force foobar to load its configuration from the main installation folder as well?
Yes, if you do a standard install and remove that file it will do as you say. This is also not (well, not any longer) a supported configuration*,  but if you are installing fb2k in a folder accessible to user-permissions, it is probably a safer idea than Manchesterer's above advice.

*(because in any version of Windows other than XP, you'd have to force fb2k to run as administrator to make changes when installed in the default Program Files folder)
elevatorladylevitateme

[howto] change location of foobars default application folder

Reply #9 –
Quote from: shakey_snake on
Quote from: Manchesterer on
@dyermaker:
you will lose zero functionality with portable foobar install. All you need to do, is to copy foobar2000 Shell Associations Updater.exe from regular install and you're set.

This is bad advice and not a supported configuration.

I have been running this config for some years now, without slightest hiccup. It allows me to pimp FB on one machine, and carry this version to other machine, having it registered as default music player on both. I forgot to mention, you also need to copy ShellExtXX.dll.

[howto] change location of foobars default application folder

Reply #10 –
Quote
I have been running this config for some years now, without slightest hiccup.

But as soon as you do (which could be caused by something as simple as updating fb2k to a newer version), we would rightly tell you to go use a supported configuration. Do you not understand what supported means? So why would you potentially cause that type of headache for someone else?

Quote
I forgot to mention, you also need to copy ShellExtXX.dll.
And the icons folder...
elevatorladylevitateme

[howto] change location of foobars default application folder

Reply #11 –
Quote from: shakey_snake on
Quote
I have been running this config for some years now, without slightest hiccup.

But as soon as you do (which could be caused by something as simple as updating fb2k to a newer version), we would rightly tell you to go use a supported configuration. Do you not understand what supported means? So why would you potentially cause that type of headache for someone else?

I don't know if you noticed, but this thread is about doing something unsupported/unusual right from the beginning. I'm only sharing my experience with portable FB install, which is also able to associate file types.
You're right about updating to a newer version, which is best done manually in this case. Apart from this, there is nothing dangerous and I think devs will agree. Please feel free to delete my posts if I'm violating some forum rules here, however I feel there are many people with the same approach to FB where there is need for syncing home/work/laptop FB configs.

Edit: I just found this  http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....c=90599&hl=
Funny...