Portable replaces installed settings [possibly user error]

[1] Dopus 10 is installed a few months now.
[2] I also "installed" a portable version of Dopus 10 ages ago (on the C drive in "Portable" folder) but I never really used it and to be honest cant remember the install process - I was asked for a certificate when it started, I added it)

I thought I'd try to import my Dopus 9 settings into the portable version so I could cherry-pick the buttons I want to add to the installed version.
Unfortunately I did not save/export the settings for the installed version first :frowning:
[ul]~ I exported the settings for the portable version (they were saved in the customised location also used by the installed version)
~ I imported the version 9 settings
~ I closed the portable version
~ opened the installed version - it now has the version 9 settings[/ul]

there's a few things there I'm not 100% sure about - I mean I dont know could I reproduce this, but I dont have time anyways for that right now (afternoon gone on this - it's my own fault really for not saving the installed settings first).

if I ever get the time I can try and reproduce it. I dont know why the installed version got the version 9 settings.
Where are the current settings stored? unfortunately they were not on the C drive so a system restore did not help (export folder is customised to a second drive but again not sure why that should affect it)

But my main query here is if there's anything I can do to restore/recover the lost settings of the installed version.

Dopus 10 64bit
Win 7 pro 64 bit

The portable version would never write to the installed version's settings folder.

I suspect you weren't actually running the portable version when you did the settings import. You probably still had the installed version running in the background, and launching the portable dopus.exe just meant it noticed an instance of Opus was already running (the installed version) and told it to open a window.

Or maybe...

How long ago is ages ago?

It has only been physically possible to write a portable version of Opus to a HDD since Opus 10.0.1.6 beta, released in August (or Opus 10.0.2.0, released in September, if you haven't been installing the beta versions). That was when Opus gained the option to use a USB Flash Drive as a 'dongle', with the program itself stored on another drive. Before then you could only export the program itself to a USB drive.

Are we actually talking about a portable version that Opus itself exported (via Settings -> Backup and Restore -> Export to USB Flash Drive), or have you done something unsupported like manually copy the program files between drives/folders? (That won't work except on exported copies where the USB dongle option was used to create them.)

(I am assuming your C drive is a normal HDD, of course.)

Also, as far as I know, a portable install wouldn't ask you for a certificate unless it had been moved incorrectly and no longer detected itself as being a portable install, or it was set to use a USB dongle which wasn't present on the system when it was launched.

Also, as far as I know, a portable install wouldn't ask you for a certificate unless it had been moved incorrectly and no longer detected itself as being a portable install, or it was set to use a USB dongle which wasn't present on the system when it was launched.[/quote]

Also (I just checked), if you do give it a certificate in that situation then it'll behave like a normal HDD-installed copy, using the normal config directories and not the portable ones. So that's probably what happened.

We should probably block that from happening, at least if the program can detect that it's supposed to be a portable install.

[overlapping with your posts - I think you have pinned it down...]

That's the problem with pinning it down - I dont know about the portable version.
It's a new machine late summer, main dopus install was 15th September 2011. License was for USB "install" as well.

I have a feeling the portable version may have been exported to a usb stick and then copied to the HD when I wanted to compare the clean version to the installed (customised) version.
This would explain why I was asked for a certificate when I started it today.

Would the portable version and the installed version run whats-the-word (?)concurrently ?

I reckon I'll just have to go back to default settings and start again.
Live and learn :slight_smile:

(thanks Leo)

it would cover that situation...

They can't run side-by-side at the same time, but you can swap between one and the other; just make sure you fully exit one copy first before swapping to the other copy.

(BTW, swapping between HDD and USB versions on the same machine will sometimes mess up the Windows 7 taskbar's jumplist entries for Opus, but they're easily repaired by making any change in Preferences which causes the jumplist to be re-generated. Unfortunately, it's a limitation of Windows. There is no way for a program to check its current jumplist entries, all they can do is erase the list and add new items to it (but not confirm that the current items are correct). Creating the jumplist is quite slow, so while Opus could re-create the jumplist each time it started, to ensure it was correct, that would slow down startup for something that is almost never needed.)

so where are the settings stored when they havent actually been saved/exported ?

sorry maybe that's not fully clear - I was wondering for the installed version. And I'm confused that the system restore of C drive didnt help.

There's a FAQ on that exact question. :slight_smile: (Two in fact.)

.... caught me there :blush:

thanks :wink:

I found two about backing up & restoring (simple & advanced) - the "simple" one indicates that the settings are in C drive (they are in default locations for 7). I dont see anything to indicate that a system restore shouldnt work.

Am I looking at the wrong threads? (or did you miss the bit about wondering why system restore didnt work?)

Maybe system restore leaves the (roaming) user profile alone. I'm not sure, to be honest.

that's it!!!
System Restore does say documents will not be modified - looking at the roaming folder - there is the context menu option to "Restore previous versions" (manually)
And it works!!

Thanks for your help & patience Leo :thumbsup:
Tom