Migrate settings machine to machine

[Bill.Jensen]

Please help; I am getting a new machine but not upgraded software and I would like to transfer my settings from one machine to the next. Is there a way to save my personal settings/ preferences to a file on a separate drive, then transfer to the new machine? I will still be using ACA2009. I would rather not go through the tedious process of having to re-path each and every setting and preference.

[dkoch]

No promises that this will get everything, but look at doing the following:

1. Export your current user profile to an ARG file that you can then import when you have the new machine. (Options dialog, Profile tab) If you have more than one profile that you use, export each one.

2. Save a copy of your current main CUIX file, and use that to replace the one on the new machine. (Check the file name and location on the Options dialog, Files tab, Customization Files node, Main Customization File sub-node.)

3. If you have custom tool palettes and tools that only exist in your local workspace, use Content Browser to create a new Tool Catalog, and then copy all of your tool palettes to it. (Open the catalog in Content Browser. Drag each tab from the program and drop onto the open catalog.) Save a copy of the catalog file and all subfolders/files.

4. If you have custom tool palettes and tools already in a Tool Catalog, save a copy of the catalog file and all subfolders/files, unless the catalog is already on a network location that will not be affected by the changing of your computer.

5. Save copies of any content files on your computer you have modified, including, but not necessarily limited to template files, plot style files, linetype files, hatch pattern files, PGP file, ACA content files (if you have made customizations - you should get the out-of-the-box ones when the program is installed on your new computer), drawing files, wblock files. You can make this task easier if you always create custom content in files other than the out-of-the-box content files and/or always maintain backup copies of all customizations.

6. If you have set up many Profiles, have a lot of tool palette groups and/or have created multiple local Tool Palettes File Locations, and would prefer not to have to rebuild all of that from palettes saved to Tool Catalogs, then you may want to back up your current setup for restoration on the new machine. After recreating the Profile(s) by importing the ARG files that you exported in Item 1 above, if you save a copy of your Profiles folder, along with the FixedProfile.aws file and all of the subfolders and files therein (including a folder containing a Profile.aws file for each Profile), I have been able to copy over those files to quickly recreate my old setup on a new machine. In addition, I copy the local folders listed in my Tool Palettes File Locations (Options dialog, Files tab), since I have quite a few. For the 2014 release, on a Windows 7 machine, these folders can all be found under the C:\Users\dkoch\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\ACA 2014\enu\Support\ folder. Depending upon where you are located in the world and how your "local" files were installed, the location may vary. NOTE: If you tend to use the out-of-the-box offerings, or have minimal personal tool palettes and few if any Tool Palette Groups, then this step may not be necessary. Just make sure you copy any personal palettes to a Tool Catalog that you then back up, and you can use Content Browser to bring them back onto the new machine and manually recreate any Tool Palette Groups you have. Either way, it is a good idea to take some screen captures or make notes on your current Tool Palette Groups so that you can manually recreate them on the new machine (either by choice, or if copying the files noted above fails).

If anyone else sees anything obvious that I missed, jump in and add to the conversation.

[Bill.Jensen]

David,
Thank you very much, this was a great help.

Bill