Migrate preferences anomoly

[Joey Ponthieux <j.g.ponthieux(at)LaRC.NASA.GOV>]

Hello,
   I discovered an unusual anomaly with the Migrate Preference this 
morning while installing XSI 6.01. As a matter of standard install 
procedure I never use C:\users\%user%\Softimage to store my user root 
directories. Instead I have placed user root in an alternative location 
on another logical hard drive. Typically E:\SIuser\etc. In past versions 
I seem to recall that XSI installer provided a method at install time 
which streamlined the process of a custom location. Apparently with 
version 6 or so, something changed in the install process which affected 
an automated custom location setup. For custom locations its become 
necessary to process this manually, copying files as necessary and 
editing the Setenv.bat. If you have been using a custom location for 
your user root, and are having difficulty getting your preferences to 
migrate, this may help you.

If you do not use custom locations for User Root, this probably does not 
apply to you.

This problem is typically obvious if you have versions prior to 6 still 
installed and when you attempt to migrate preferences the migrate dialog 
only shows 6.0 and 6.01 to choose from.

Open XSI 6.0, if your preferences, workgroups, addons, project locations 
etc, are correct, then navigate to your user root directory by choosing  
View>Layout>Tools Development Environment. Navigate to the Plug-ins Tab, 
then the Tree subtab. Right-click User Root and select browse.

If your User Root is NOT C:\users\etc... then write it down. It should 
be the same as what is found in your Setenv.bat for that version.

In windows navigate to this location. Navigate up one directory until 
you are at the Softimage directory.

Then in another window navigate to C:\users\%user%\Softimage

In C:\users\%user%\Softimage you may see an XSI_6.0 and XSI_6.01 
directories. In your custom User Root location  you may see an XSI_6.0 
directory, but not a n XSI_6.01, and you may also see versions prior to 
6.  This XSI_6.0 User Root should be the correct User Root directory if 
it matches the location you checked from the Tools Development layout.

Now move the User Root directories in C:\users\%user%\Softimage to a 
safe location, but make sure that C:\users\%user%\Softimage is empty

Close and reopen XSI 6.01. Select Migrate Preferences. Since it finds no 
User Roots in C:\users\%user%\Softimage it now searches the location 
found in the Setenv.bat. In my case it listed preferences all the way 
back to 4.2.

Select a preference and copy.

Your preferences from your custom location should be copied now to 6.01. 
Restarting XSI_6.01 should confirm this.

Apparently a change was made in 6.0 that ignored any custom user 
location as viable preference location unless the default user location 
was completely empty. This may have been the default for years, this 
uncertian, but it would force an XSI_6.0 and now an XSI_6.01 directory 
to be created in C:\users\%user%\Softimage by default. Once the default 
directories were created, probably because the installer would no longer 
give you an option for a custom location, any subsequent attempt on 
XSI's part to migrate preferences from a custom location would fail 
because it found the default user roots in the default location and just 
assumed there was no need to look elsewhere. Basically XSI won't find 
the custom location until the default location created upon default 
install is empty or non-existent.


--
Joey Ponthieux
NCI Information Systems Inc.
NASA Langley research Center
____________________________________________________________
Opinions stated here-in are strictly those of the author and
do not represent the opinions of NASA or any other party.

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