Migrating to Application Data folder from Program Files
Bob Bailey
[dis]advantages of doing it one way or the other.
I still have a legacy install with data in Program Files. Is there a
relatively easy / painless way to migrate to using Application Data folders?
tia... Bob
Bob Bailey
Never mind. I think I found the answer at
http://www.eudora.com/techsupport/kb/1602hq.html
Other thoughts welcome...
Bob Bailey
Well, maybe not. I'm getting confused. If I do these things:
- copy eudora.ini to the appdata folder
- rename the eudora.ini
- tell deudora.ini to use the appdata folder. How?
- copy all my mailboxes, etc, to appdata
...will Eudora find it all?
tia... Bob
John H Meyers
> Never mind. I think I found the answer at
> http://www.eudora.com/techsupport/kb/1602hq.html
>
> Other thoughts welcome...
Here you go, then... :)
I have often suggested that a brand new install
(as when starting on a new Vista or W7 computer)
accept the defaults suggested by the installer --
let Windows protect the program files,
and let user data be presumed to go in "user app data,"
as most other programs simply assume, without asking.
I then suggest that after installing and starting up Eudora,
one may cancel the New Account Wizard,
find out where the "data" folder is (and open it)
by clicking on its path in "Help" | "About Eudora," then
close Eudora and copy one's old complete "data" folder contents
to the new location, without worrying that
some copies of old program files have come along
for the ride, sitting idly by in the "data" folder,
while the newly installed programs actually do all the work.
This is generally reported to work fine; however,
there is one more way in which "separating out
the old program files" can be done in advance,
which is simply to "uninstall" Eudora from the
original location, where program and data files
had been mixed together.
The "uninstall" procedure does quite a neat job
of removing exactly what the original installer installs,
without removing any "user" files at all,
thus leaving a very "clean" folder of "just data,"
which can then be relocated to a better place,
before installing (or re-installing) just the program files.
I would emphasize that before beginning anything,
you should make a complete backup of what you now have
(a "zip" of the main folder, with its subfolders included,
is handy, and compresses as well, but one can use
any means that makes sure to have backup).
As an example of why you should always do this first,
if you uninstall a Eudora version 7 which included
the "X1" (paid mode) feature, it will remove the
program library (x1lib.dll) which makes that feature work,
and if you download a new version 7 installer,
it won't re-install that library -- this is one reason
to have that backup handy, just in case
you have any such detail that needs fixing,
after performing the one-time "surgery"
to separate programs from data,
even though many (or most) people do not need
any follow-up surgery afterwards.
It is likely that one will continue doing upgrades,
getting new computers, etc., and might want to simplify
and standardize application installation as much as possible.
For those who want to standardize their way of installing
all applications, to keep Eudora from always being an exception,
the one-time surgery above can do this.
For those who want to put Eudora off to the side somewhere,
such as in C:\Eudora or D:\Eudora or anywhere else,
keeping the programs and data merged together,
you can take that route as well -- you can even follow
another suggestion, often used on a USB stick,
to copy or install programs to G:\Eudora\Programs
and data to G:\Eudora\Data, thus having "everything"
in G:\Eudora, yet still separating your changing personal data
from the never-changing program files, and possibly
applying more malware protection to the programs.
If you install the programs into the recommended
"sheltered" area, and also let the installer assume
that your data will be in the default place ("user app data"),
you can still keep your data folder anywhere else --
all you need to do is add a data folder path
to a "shortcut" that launches Eudora, overriding any default;
letting the installer assume its normal defaults
thus does not "commit" you in any way.
In fact, the "data" location which you tell the installer
is remembered in a single line in a single "program file"
(Deudora.ini -- note the leading "D")
which you can always edit later anyway, so nothing is "written in stone"
and everything is easy to modify (or correct) later, if desired.
Personally, I like to assume the standard defaults,
which seem to suit non-experts better than special installations.
After all, perhaps you add a new user account to your computer,
and want to let that user have his/her own Eudora data --
if you had installed in the default manner, this all happens
automatically; otherwise some inevitable "surgery"
has only been postponed.
Well, I failed again -- the intention was to write
a very short story, but once again,
it came out as a "novel length" production :)
Where can I go to learn "compressed writing,"
or when will there be a "writer's zip" program,
to feed in verbose talk and come out with
the minimal size talk that could have done the same job? ;-)
--
John H Meyers
> [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Qualcomm]
[...]
> Offhand, it looks like the path per user is configured
> as a nested set of registry keys
> (each directory being a new level of keys)
This is a history of previously used data folders and command lines,
examined only if Eudora can't find a data folder when starting up,
after consulting its actual command line first, etc., following the logic
mentioned in detail in the "Readme.txt" file, as installed with the program.
Eudora gets its own run-time information from "INI files"
(the user's Eudora.ini, plus optional defaults in Deudora.ini,
the latter of which is installed with its program files)
Eudora does not otherwise need or use the Windows registry,
but it does create some other (HKLM,HKCR) entries
which Windows itself needs,
most of which are created during every launch;
the installer may also create something for Windows' sake,
to establish Eudora as an installed email application.
Therefore, when you move or install Eudora somewhere else,
including on other computers, you do not need to transfer
any registry entries, because your own settings are contained
entirely within your own Eudora.ini, which in turn
is normally in your main Eudora "data" folder.
If you let the installer default the "data" location
to "user app data," this permits automatic setup
of a private individual "data" folder for every different user
who has a private Windows login account.
You can still always tell Eudora to use any other folder you wish,
just by appending its path to the command line which launches Eudora
(every program-launching "shortcut" contains a command line which you can edit),
or by dragging any folder directly to the Eudora.exe program file,
or even to a shortcut which doesn't already specify a data folder path.
Even if you change your mind after installing Eudora,
about where you would like to have told it to assume its "data" file,
you do not need to reinstall -- you can just change one line
in Deudora.ini, which is installed with the program files,
in its [Settings] section, where that decision is remembered:
DataFolder=...a full path to any fixed folder...
OR
UseAppData=1
The latter is, of course, how "use app data" is remembered,
and note once again, that the Registry has nothing to do with this.
--
Bob Bailey
Here's what I did:
- Moved mailboxes, sigs, stationery, etc to App folder
- Moved eudora.ini
- Changed deudora.ini to add "UseAppData=1" NOTE: DataFolder= did NOT
work properly.
- Fired up Eudora. Worked fine.
Thanks for the help... Bob