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[bunglemebaby]

I'm currently working on setting up my fancy new HTPC (Huzzah!!). I've set up an admin account and a normal user account, and have been working on getting MC set up using both accounts. I realized today that each account seems to be working from its own MC library. I'm not sure how I missed this before, but I did and now I've given myself an extra bit of work to get everything back together. Moving forward though, how can I ensure that both account use the same library?

Also, are there any other pitfalls of using two accounts on an HTPC that haven't occurred to me?

Thanks for any advice,
JB

[CountryBumkin]

Perhaps you should turn on Media Network (sharing) under the Admin account, then could have each User sharing the Library (as if they are separate computers).
When you have "multiple" Librarys running, keeping things maintained and sychronized is a time consuming job.

[bunglemebaby]

When you have "multiple" Librarys running, keeping things maintained and sychronized is a time consuming job.

Agreed. I'm really looking to avoid two libraries and don't have any actual use for two. If possible I'd like both accounts to access the same library. I can't seem to find "library location" under options anywhere though. I thought this was able to be modified at one point, but I might just be thinking of moving the automatic library backup location. Is there a way to move the MC library location?

My other option would be to just not use MC when in the Admin account. Eventually this will be pretty easy, but as I'm getting things setup this would be a pain.

[CountryBumkin]

You probably do not have Media Network turned on. Go to Tools>Options>General>Features and check the box next to Media Network. That will give you a "tab" in Tools>Options

[Alex B]

It is easy to set two Windows user accounts to use the same MC library. You will just need to create a new library on one of the accounts and then, on the other account, add a library that points to the same location.

To preserve the thumbnail cache you must make a small Windows registry tweak and edit the thumbnail folder location on both Windows user accounts. Otherwise the thumbnails will not be synced when a different user account loads the library.

I'd recommend e.g. the following folder structure:

C:\_MC\
- the base folder for the relocated items. Replace C:\_MC\ with your preferred location. I prefer to use short and simple folder names when possible to avoid bloating the Windows registry with unnecessary data.
C:\_MC\Lib\
- the library files location on both accounts
C:\_MC\TN\
- the thumbnail files location on both accounts
C:\_MC\Art\
- the cover art location on both counts. It is good to define this even if your cover art files are usually in the media files' folders or embedded. MC may use it in special cases. For example, the Artist images will then be stored in C:\_MC\Art\Artists\. Once this location is defined and saved you can switch the location setting back to e.g. "next to file". MC will still remember this location and use it when needed.
C:\_MC\BU_A\
- the backup location for the user "A"
C:\_MC\BU_B\
- the backup location for the user "B"
C:\_MC\TMP\
- the location for MC's temporary files on both accounts

Only some of the above locations are necessary for the correct functionality, but by consolidating all these locations under the same base folder makes easier to backup everything and may reduce the amount of unnecessary duplicate files.

I am a bit busy with other things at the moment, but I'll post some more detailed instructions later (regarding e.g. the settings locations and the needed registry tweaks).

[CountryBumkin]

Alex, does the Media Network idea not work?