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[fredhammersmith]

Hi. This must be easy, but still I have not find the way to do it.
I did a lot of customization in my library, my fields and my library views on my desktop installation, and I'd like to copy them on my laptop library.
Each of my computers have each their music files, and I just want to laptop to mimic my desktop for the interface.
How-to?

Thks in advance,

[Arindelle]

Backup you library and copy it to the other PCs. On these machine choose to restore this backup copies. Make sure to check only "restore settings"

[glynor]

Many of the customizations you've done will be contained in the Library.  If you're just looking to copy "settings" over (Zones, DSP, etc) then Arindelle's suggestion will work.  However, if you're looking to copy the Library structure or Theater View settings over, Smartlists, and other similar "settings" then these are all part of the Library itself.

I regularly update the "local" Library on my laptop to match my "master library" at home.  In my case, the media itself on the Laptop is all "temporary" (just copies of assets from my main library at home), so I don't have to worry about wiping out metadata in the library on the laptop.  Here's what I do:

1. On the Server, make a Library Backup of the main library.
2. Copy the ZIP over to my Laptop (Dropbox works awesome for this).
3. On my Laptop, switch to the Local Library if needed.
4. Make sure any metadata in local files I care about are synced to the in-file tags (select files, right-click > Library Tools > Update Properties from Library).
5. Restore the Library Backup, usually only the Library itself and not the settings.
6. Go to the All Media view I made in my Library, select-all, delete and choose remove from Library (because the Library restore brings in all the files from the other library, so it is full of broken links).
7. Fix Auto-Import settings (because they'll now all point to where the stuff was on the master Library).
8. Import the media off of the Laptop.

A tip that makes this much more simple, if you can manage, is to make sure the paths on the main library and laptop library match as much as is possible.  If you need to, you can map fake network drives or use SUBST to accomplish this as is needed.  That way you don't have to do as much in steps 6-8.

It isn't super simple to do over and over this way, but if you only need to do it once in a while it isn't too bad.

[magnust]

You can also use "mklink" instead of "subst"

[Arindelle]

Hey Fred

euhh ... Glynor is....  euhh....  totally right -  I meant to say the exact opposite make sure to not check restore settings. 

And the rest is very complete - thank you Glynor for not making me look completely incompetent ! I doubt your zones and audio settings are the same  -- now that I think of it,  the last time I did this I checked both because of all the options I have set up.

[fredhammersmith]

Many of the customizations you've done will be contained in the Library.  If you're just looking to copy "settings" over (Zones, DSP, etc) then Arindelle's suggestion will work.  However, if you're looking to copy the Library structure or Theater View settings over, Smartlists, and other similar "settings" then these are all part of the Library itself.

I regularly update the "local" Library on my laptop to match my "master library" at home.  In my case, the media itself on the Laptop is all "temporary" (just copies of assets from my main library at home), so I don't have to worry about wiping out metadata in the library on the laptop.  Here's what I do:

1. On the Server, make a Library Backup of the main library.
2. Copy the ZIP over to my Laptop (Dropbox works awesome for this).
3. On my Laptop, switch to the Local Library if needed.
4. Make sure any metadata in local files I care about are synced to the in-file tags (select files, right-click > Library Tools > Update Properties from Library).
5. Restore the Library Backup, usually only the Library itself and not the settings.
6. Go to the All Media view I made in my Library, select-all, delete and choose remove from Library (because the Library restore brings in all the files from the other library, so it is full of broken links).
7. Fix Auto-Import settings (because they'll now all point to where the stuff was on the master Library).
8. Import the media off of the Laptop.

A tip that makes this much more simple, if you can manage, is to make sure the paths on the main library and laptop library match as much as is possible.  If you need to, you can map fake network drives or use SUBST to accomplish this as is needed.  That way you don't have to do as much in steps 6-8.

It isn't super simple to do over and over this way, but if you only need to do it once in a while it isn't too bad.

Thanks glynor, that worked perfectly. This is great.

[glynor]

You can also use "mklink" instead of "subst"

That's a great point.

Actually...Skip all that manual BS, and just use the fantastic Link Shell Extension.  One of those little utilities that is so useful (and stable) that I immediately install it on all of my machines and then promptly forget that it isn't part of Windows (until forced to use someone else's box like an animal).