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[glynor]

I just thought I would post that I had figured out an really easy way to "share" the Column views, layouts, and all MC settings between all of the users on an XP system ...

It works simply by automatically saving the registry settings for MC to a file exery time you log off of the system, and then importing those settings when you log in.  I have used this sucessfully with various MC versions (9.1 and 10 beta).

WARNING:  This works fine on my system, but you have to make SURE you do this EXACTLY as described, and I make no promises about your system.  It involves messing with the registry, so the usual caveats apply.  I also STRONGLY recommend that you back up your registry before proceeding.

To do it, follow these steps:

1.  Create a folder to hold the files (I called mine Export_MC but you can call it whatever you want)

2.  Create two batch files inside that folder (text files with .bat extensions instead of the regular .txt).  Call one Export.bat and the other Import.bat

3.  Inside Export.bat place this text:

Code: [Select]

del "C:\Export_MC\prior.reg"
move "C:\Export_MC\last.reg" "C:\Export_MC\prior.reg"
reg export "HKCU\Software\JRiver" C:\Export_MC\last.reg
MAKE SURE to edit the pathnames if you don't put your stuff where I did!

4.  Inside Import.bat place this text:

Code: [Select]

echo .      >>     C:\Export_MC\ImportLog.txt
echo Username %username%     >>     C:\Export_MC\ImportLog.txt
echo %date% %time%     >>     C:\Export_MC\ImportLog.txt
echo Importing C:\Export_MC\last.reg     >>     C:\Export_MC\ImportLog.txt
reg import C:\Export_MC\last.reg     >>     C:\Export_MC\ImportLog.txt
echo =========     >>     C:\Export_MC\ImportLog.txt
Again, MAKE SURE to edit the pathnames if you don't put your stuff where I did!

5.  Then you just need to set up Group Policies to automatically run these scripts when you log in and off.  This is easy.  Go to Start --> Run and type "gpedit.msc" in the box (without quotes).

This will launch the Group Policy Editor.

6.  In the pane on the right (or in the tree view if you like) double click on "User Configuration".


7.  Then open "Windows Settings" and then finally "Scripts (Logon/Logoff)"

8.  You are now going to make one script for logon and one for logoff.  First, double click on "Logon"

9.  In the new window, click "Add" and then type in (or browse to) the path to your Import.bat script.  If you are following along just as I did, it would be C:\Export_MC\Import.bat.  Leave script parameters blank and click "OK".  Then click "OK" again to get rid of the "Logon" configuration.

10.  Now double click on "Logoff" and then click "Add".  Type in the path to your Export.bat script, which in my case was C:\Export_MC\Export.bat.  Again, leave the script parameters blank and click "OK" twice.

11.  Repeat the Group Policy editor steps above (5 - 10) while logged in as each user who will use MC (so the scripts run for them as well) and you should be all done!

A COUPLE OF NOTES:

This will create an unprotected log of the time, date, and username of each user that logs in to the system.  If you are paranoid, simply remove the
>>    C:\Export_MC\ImportLog.txt
from the end of each line in Import.bat.  I used this log mainly for testing, but I don't really care if people using my computer know when so-and-so user logged in, so I left it alone.  You can also delete all of the "echo" statements from the Import.bat file if you will not be using the log.

You have to include fully qualified pathnames in the bat files (meaning, they have to be C:\blah\blah\blahfile.bat as opposed to just blahfile.bat) or it won't work.  This is because Group Policy runs startup scripts from inside each user's "Documents and Settings" folder.  If the bat files don't specify what folder to save/import the last.reg file to/from then it will create a new one in the user's documents and settings folder.  This defeats the purpose of the script, because each user has their own folder (and will generate their own reg files)!

This "shares" ALL of the settings for MC.  As you can see, I am exporting/importing the entire "JRiver" section of the registry.  You could probably test and fiddle around and only "share" some of the settings.  That's not what I wanted to do, so this worked fine for me.

This could very well work on Windows 2000 (or other versions of Windows with some modifications).  I don't know, as all of my Windows boxes are XP.

Hope it works for others ... It has been working perfectly for me!