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[snowblossom]

At Lowlander's suggestion, I tried to backup my MM files with trixmoto's backup program. Came up with an error. Therefore, in an effort to back up all my MM files, including playlists, .ini files, registry files, etc., I'm doing it the old-fashioned way of Copy & Paste.

1) From C:\Program Files (x86)\Media Monkey, I made a copy of the folder's entire contents.
2) From C:\Users\<User Name>\AppData\Local\MediaMonkey\, I made a copy. (This contains my playlists, correct???)

Where do I look for the .ini files?
Registry files?

What else do I backup and where do I look for those files?

[Lowlander]

Where do I look for the .ini files?

or backup ini and DB: http://www.mediamonkey.com/support/inde ... ticleid=17

I'm not sure about registry backups as it's in the Windows registry, you may want to Google that. There is an Export option in RegEdit that may do that, although I still recommend only keeping the DB (it has the Playlists as well).

[rovingcowboy]

2 is unknown by me? i only know of the data folder in the program files folder of mediamonkey's.

1. i think is over kill but atleast you got everything and if needed can put back the stuff that might end up being needed.
still its win 7 though maybe everything is needed to be backed up??

ini files use to be in the my documents folder in the mediamonkey folder in there, on Xp. wait till some one with win7 says before you do something to it.

[snowblossom]

2 is unknown by me? i only know of the data folder in the program files folder of mediamonkey's

I didn't find a data folder in my program files folder. (Windows 7 change, perhaps?)

Before I do anything drastic, like uninstalling then reinstalling MediaMonkey, I want to make sure I've backed up the correct database (and .ini files, just in case). Glad I did more investigation before I proceeded. I am posting this so either:
a) someone more experienced might correct me, or
b) it might be of assistance to someone else

Re: Backing up the Library:
http://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/index.p ... he_Library, suggested (for Windows 7) to copy the database from C:\Users\<User Name>\AppData\Local\MediaMonkey\

When I went there in my files, I noticed the date my database (MM.DB) was modified as 12/14/2011. That was around the time my new computer was being completed. It is now 2013. Surely, with all the changes I've made to my playlists, the date modified should be more current. I also didn't find .ini files at this location.

The link Lowlander provided above, http://www.mediamonkey.com/support/inde ... ticleid=17, specifies (for Windows 7) the default location of both the .db and .ini files for MM 4.x to be found as follows:
--C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Roaming\MediaMonkey\MM.DB
--C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Roaming\MediaMonkey\MediaMonkey.ini

I believe the latter of the two, to be more correct, as the date modified for my files is more current.

Can anyone confirm this for me?

ini files use to be in the my documents folder in the mediamonkey folder in there, on Xp

I couldn't find one in my files.

Who knew finding critical MM files to backup would be so difficult to find? (Not finding fault with MM. Just stating the files are scattered and in hard to locate places. Without the link Lowlander posted, I may have lost all my playlists. Whew!)

[rovingcowboy]

Yep glad you got to looking first. I thought you was sleeping in the forum. I'm heading out now lowlander is good guy even if we argue at times. Nohitter151 is too.

[chrisjj]

I've added insrtuctions on saving the MM registry keys to http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... 43#p357043.

[nohitter151]

Re: Backing up the Library:
http://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/index.p ... he_Library, suggested (for Windows 7) to copy the database from C:\Users\<User Name>\AppData\Local\MediaMonkey\

When I went there in my files, I noticed the date my database (MM.DB) was modified as 12/14/2011. That was around the time my new computer was being completed. It is now 2013. Surely, with all the changes I've made to my playlists, the date modified should be more current. I also didn't find .ini files at this location.

The link Lowlander provided above, http://www.mediamonkey.com/support/inde ... ticleid=17, specifies (for Windows 7) the default location of both the .db and .ini files for MM 4.x to be found as follows:
--C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Roaming\MediaMonkey\MM.DB
--C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Roaming\MediaMonkey\MediaMonkey.ini

I believe the latter of the two, to be more correct, as the date modified for my files is more current.

Can anyone confirm this for me?

The wiki link is referencing MediaMonkey version 3 locations for the DB and ini files. You are using MediaMonkey 4, so you should go with the information that Lowlander pointed you to.

[snowblossom]

The wiki link is referencing MediaMonkey version 3 locations for the DB and ini files. You are using MediaMonkey 4, so you should go with the information that Lowlander pointed you to.

Thanks for that clarification, nohitter. Since it didn't show it was for MM v3 (that I could see), it tripped me up at first. Could have been a real problem.

[snowblossom]

I've added insrtuctions on saving the MM registry keys to http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... 43#p357043.

Thanks for the detail on how to copy the registry. Four more questions:

1) By exporting, am I COPYING or MOVING the file.

2) Your image showed to export: Current User\Software\MediaMonkey BUT your previous instructions said: Current User\Software\MediaMonkey\Interface. Which is correct?

3) If it is Interface, do I copy just the Interface folder or each of the sub-folder contents within it? (Sorry, this is not acting like a regular Windows folders I'm familiar with.)

4) In that whole MediaMonkey Registry file, I don't see any INI files to copy. (But then, even with my Folder View settings selected to NOT hide extensions for known types, there's no extensions showing on these Registry files.)

[chrisjj]

> 1) By exporting, am I COPYING or MOVING the file.

You are copying keys from the file to another file.

> 2) Your image showed to export: Current User\Software\MediaMonkey BUT your previous instructions said: Current User\Software\MediaMonkey\Interface. Which is correct?

Both. The image version is safer.

> 4) In that whole MediaMonkey Registry file, I don't see any INI files to copy.

The INI file is not in the registry. It is separate.

[snowblossom]

RE: Backing up the Registry Settings:
1) Am I exporting solely the MediaMonkey and Interface registry FOLDERS? OR
2) Do I export the sub-folders under each also?
3) If the latter, must they be exported individually or is there a way to export all sub-folders at the same time?
4) Does an export of a folder (or sub-folder) export all individual content in that folder? (When I export, say the Interface folder, all I get is one .reg file exported, not the folder's sub-folders and their contents. It's not a like-for-like copy as I'm used to.)

[snowblossom]

OK, then you'll want to avoid wiping the entire UI settings. I think you're certainly going to have to use diffing to fix this. I suggest

1) make a portable install
2) save MediaMonkey's registry keys (e.g. on Windows 7, click Start, type regedt32, press ENTER, perform this: http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/4792 ... betare.png), copy MediaMonkey.INI
3) launch MM and configure the UI to the broken state, end exit.
4) repeat the save and copy to new files
5) diff the two sets with Beyond Compare (free trial), and find the likely culprit setting(s)
6) change the culprit setting in your main installation and test
7) repeat from 1) varying 5) until solved.

I've copied my database and ini files, and "attempted" to copy the registry keys (see query above). I've dl'd Beyond Compare. Now, I'm stuck on Steps 3 and 4. Could you please clarify in detail how I do the following: "configure the UI to the broken state and save it", as well as, "repeat the save and copy to new files"?

[rovingcowboy]

Just some info to help understand the registry.

The registry is not folders you copy, folders are shown to allow seperation of the hotkeys, the hotkeys in the registry are address's and data of what is at the address.
The exporting is only making a text file of the hotkeys and data and calles it a reg file.
To replace a reg file you right click on iit and click merge.

Easiest way to think of a registry is the same way a hotel uses a registry,
You sign in and it has info of who is in that room for the length of time.
The computer just does the same for everything that happens on the computer, sometimes it doesnt remove the hotkey for the files when you delete the file, some times programs stick things in the registry just in case you reinstall them even though you never want that program again.
So your registry gets messed up over time from all that and slows down the computer. Because the computer reads all the registry and confirms each hotkey, if it cant confirm one it gets slowed up as it will keep trying to confirm it. The more it cant confirm the more it gets slowed up. So you need a cleaning program and a defragmenter that are made to work with the registry so the ducks are kept all in a row and all washed for supper.

[rovingcowboy]

I believe Chrisjj is telling you to set up mediamonkey then close it then go back and re do all the exporting of the registry files again to a different folder so as not to destroy the old saved exported one. Then open the other program and view both old and new exported registry saved back up files and check each one to see which lines are in the old one you dont have in the new one, but you want in the new one. So you know which ones you want to re type back in to the new mm registry hotkeys.

I said re type to registry not merge because you only backed up old registry to check against new one, you will need to do re adding of wanted hotkeys and data by giong inn registry and typing them.

[nohitter151]

I've copied my database and ini files, and "attempted" to copy the registry keys (see query above). I've dl'd Beyond Compare. Now, I'm stuck on Steps 3 and 4. Could you please clarify in detail how I do the following: "configure the UI to the broken state and save it", as well as, "repeat the save and copy to new files"?

I don't know what exactly you're trying to accomplish. It takes 5 minutes at worst to restore MediaMonkey from a default layout to your preferred layout. Have you considered whether all this backup of registry keys is worth your time?