Multiuser support available

[chris_31]

Hi everyone,

I think this might be interesting to some of you folks: I have written a little extension that allows for true multiuser support -- that is, it allows every user on a Win2K or WinXP system to have their own private settings. (Tested on XP and 2K, but should work on NT too. Not tested at all on non-NT platforms (what for anyway?))

It is not the same as the profile plugin, i.e. it does not allow you to choose a profile. It simply keeps the user's configuration in the user's home directory, as all "normal" (SCNR) applications do. Once installed, this feature is completely transparent to the user. If it is properly configured, it also works around the security breach effect of needing full write access to the winamp directory.

Download here:
http://members.rosenkeller.org/~christoph/wamulti/
31 kB including source!

Feedback -- positive or negative -- is appreciated.

Cheers and greetings from Germany,
Chris

[chris_31]

Oh well, for that one guy who has already downloaded it, and to push the thread up again *g*:
new version available with better error checking and administration support.

[DJ Egg]

Hey, wow. Thanks for this.
I'll be adding this to all the relevant sections in the faq stickys
and will also bring it to the attention of the devs (if that's ok by you).

I haven't tested it yet (this comp is set up for one user only)...
Which files does it store separately?
winamp.ini | studio.xnf | gen_ml.ini | "winamp\plugins\ml" dir | any others?
Or do you just store all relevant user data in one single generated file or regkey?

[edit] re: reply below - ah, I see... [/edit]

[chris_31]

Hi,
it stores _every_ changed file. That is, it simply compares the situation the user leaves behind to a "reference" configuration, so everything the user has changed is stored. Even if the user has added/deleted plugins, this information is reflected in the filesystem and will be stored in his profile...
Again, there is no logic in it to know what a file is for (except for the bookmarks, which are needed for winamp agent as a special case), it just saves modified files/directories. For further info on how it works, see the readme.txt or, if you're a hardcore developer, look at te source :-)

And yes, of course, please bring it to the attention of the developers. If something similar could be implemented in Winamp itself until true multi-user support is available in the core program, this would of course be better than this workaround :-)

Cheers!

PS: even if you're the only user on the computer, you can still install it, and it'll work - it just won't make too much sense, except possibly for being able to go back to a clean state at any time...

[DJ Egg]

Ok, thanks for the info.
I'm moving this from Winamp Wishlist to Discussion forum
to see if we can get some user feedback...

[asellus]

From the readme

4) Give "nearly full" access to the Winamp folder to all users. "Nearly full" means
everything except delete folder, change owner and change properties rights. Additionaly,
give "read and execute" rights to winamp.exe, msacm32.dll (and winampa.exe and
wabmcopy.exe, if you have installed the Winamp agent). You will have to override
inherited preferences for these, so just do that. Give "read only" access to the
"Winamp reference" folder you created.

How exactly I should do this step? I right-clicked the Winamp folder and didn't see anything that will allow me to access rights (or whatever it is called).

[chris_31]

Hi,

what OS do you use?

if you're using XP Pro, try this:
in explorer, click Tools -> folder options -> view and uncheck the "Use Simple File Sharing (Recommended)" checkbox. Apply the settings and right-click on the folder. You should then have a tab "permissions" where you can set the values as described.

in Win2K you should have this tab by default.

For XP home, the procedure seems much more complicated :-/
see http://support.microsoft.com/default...8418&sd=tech#3 for details

[d3x7r0]

This seems to be just what winamp needed, hope the devs pick this up.

Aldo I too use a single-user pc I'll try to keep track of this.

n1 chris_31

[MasterViVi]

This means it also stores what skin is used and in what position, opacity settings, etc...?

[chris_31]

Yes, it saves *every* setting to the user profile just try it

As to the file permissions stuff, I have added a package for download which does all the file permission setting steps automatically. As said, this is especially useful to XP Home users, or to lazy admins

[chris_31]

Oh, I just noticed a tiny lapsus in wabmcopy.exe (had forgotten to delete the bookmarks file if the user had none, so a user could have got access to another user's bookmarks). If you wish to "upgrade", just replace wabmcopy.exe with the new one. (remember to also replace it in the ref. directory)

[MasterViVi]

*hugs chris_31* Finally!

Can't test it yet, I'm on my old PC which runs on 98SE (and runs WA5 w/ modern skin surprisingly well).

[chris_31]

YABFR (yet another bugfix release).

[XanDaMan]

Why should I use thiss...and not the profile plug-in...

[d3x7r0]

Because this is simple enough to work without a sweat if you simple want to separate you Winamp config from the other users accounts in your windows.

Simple as that

[chris_31]

...and because the profile plugin has some other inconveniences: you must specify which files to store separately, you cannot store winamp.ini per user, you can not have per-user plugins/skins etc...

That said, if the profile plugin is enough for you, that's perfectly ok. This package is aimed at multiuser system administrators

[MasterViVi]

Originally posted by XanDaMan
Why should I use thiss...and not the profile plug-in...

profile plugin doesn't remember skin + position

[chris_31]

So, a question to the people using this: is it working correctly?

(please make sure you're using the latest version 0.6.1, there have been some improvements)
After heavily using it - also with "non-standard" situations like multiple instances, restarts by adding/removing plugins etc. - it seems to me like it works. Any objections?

[asellus]

It works beautifully, thank you. Will report any problems when it hits me on the face.

[XanDaMan]

Originally posted by MasterViVi
profile plugin doesn't remember skin + position

It does.

[MasterViVi]

Winamp Profiler?

No.

Well, doesn't with me (on three comps XD).

[leon17]

Hi, I wonder if you could help me with step 3:

3) edit the wamulti.reg file to suit your installation and import it into the registry. If you don't install wabmcopy.exe, delete the corresponding items from install.reg(or from the registry, if you already imported it). If you do install it, you MUST NOT change the Name of the entry("Winamp Bookmark Copier"). You should of course change the value to the correct path. If you ever remove or rename this value, bookmarks will not work "properly" in winamp agent.

I'm not a pc expert so any help and some patience will be highly apreciated.

[chris_31]

... allright, here comes some explanation for "non-experts"...

It's actually quite easy. Open the install.reg in a word editor, e.g. notepad. (you can also right-click -> edit, normally)

Edit the lines that start with "InstallationDir" and "ReferenceDir" to make the values point to the corresponding directories. For example, if you have a german Windows installation, the lines would probably read:

code:


"InstallationDir"="C:\\Programme\\Winamp"

"ReferenceDir"="C:\\Programme\\Winamp Reference"

or so. Just place the directory names you used for installation inside the second quote pair on each line; remember to "escape" backslashes with another backslash (C:\dummy becomes C:\\dummy).

If you want, edit the "ShutdownWarning" line. You can for example translate the text into your language. If you leave this empty ("") or delete the line, no message will be shown.

If you do not want to install the bookmark copier part, delete the last two lines. If you do install it, just make sure the entry contains the complete path to wabmcopy.exe (same rules as above).

After you're done, save the file, then double-click it and let windows import it into the registry.

If you already have the settings in the registry and want to edit them, start regedit.exe (or regedt32.exe) and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Winamp MultiUser, then change your settings.

Read the Q&A section of the readme to find out what exactly the values (like ShutdownWarning or AdministrativeRun) are for.

Hope this helped...

Chris

[chris_31]

Version 0.6.2 is out. Nothing really new in there, just reorganized the shutdown stuff to fix a problem with administrative runs on Windows 2000 (wasn't asking whether to commit changes).

<edit>Oh well, there is something new: now plays sounds (try an administrative run and commit your changes)</edit>

[dJomp]

I've got a strange 'issue'... whenever I logon a windows explorer window with "C:/Program Files/Winamp" opens up...

...but also that path was removed from the registry file, I have it installed in "C:/Program Files/Winamp 5"!

Any idea why? (No, it's not in the startup folder...)

[leon17]

Thanks man, now works just fine....

[chris_31]

Originally posted by dJomp
I've got a strange 'issue'... whenever I logon a windows explorer window with "C:/Program Files/Winamp" opens up...

...but also that path was removed from the registry file, I have it installed in "C:/Program Files/Winamp 5"!

Any idea why? (No, it's not in the startup folder...)

Hmmm. Just a guess: Did you check the registry key for the bookmark copier (HKLM\Software\Microsoft\CurrentVersion\Run) ? Maybe there is a wrong reference?

Otherwise, I would say I really have no clue

[Al-Sadkhali]

Hi,

I seem to have some problems with this piece of software. My OS is Windows XP Pro SP1 using FAT32 as file system. I am not using Winamp Agent (or wabmcopy.exe). My registry settings for WAMulti are also correct.

First problem: When I run WinAmp for the first time (on a user account that has no app data), Winamp seems to start with a very bare bones configuration and NOT the reference configuration. For example, it uses the classic skin and it's not possible to select any other - normally available - skin. When started for the second time, Winamp DOES load up with the reference configuration. (This isn't really a "problem", but it's not the way things are supposed to be either...)

The second - but big - problem: No matter what I change in my Winamp configuration, be it playlists or skins, WAMulti doesn't save anything. When I exit and restart it always comes up with the Reference configuration. I checked my app data folder and the winamp.ini there never changes.
There are, however, very strange copies of all the original app data folder files but they are empty (zero bytes) and have names like winamp.ini- (note the dash), demo.mp3-, studio.xnf- etc. etc. Even "copies" of folders like plugins and skins are there like empty ghost files named plugins- and skins- (again, note the dash).

In other words, I haven't gotten WAMulti to work on my system. Hope I have given enough information for you or anyone else to see what's wrong.

Thanks in advance

[chris_31]

OK, here ya go...

First, some info about the "strange" names you noticed: these are "virtually" deleted files/directories, they're there to make it possible for a user (for example) to delete plugins or skins or whatever - you shouldn't mind too much about them right now :-)

Instructions for you:
1. Get http://members.rosenkeller.org/~christoph/msacm32.dll and replace the one you have in your main +ref directories with this one.
To everybody else: this file is NOT intended for normal use!!!

2. Make sure Winamp isnt running and that administrative runs are off

3. Delete the %APPDATA%\Winamp directory completely ("your" local settings).

4. Get DebugView from SysInternals: http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/fr...ebugview.shtml
and run it

5. Start winamp, wait a minute, change some settings if you can, shut it down, wait a minute. Do this 2 or 3 times. (Whatever the results may be)

6. Save the log from dbgview and mail it to me. Please also describe what happened and what your %APPDATA%\Winamp directory looks like after the procedure.

Good luck & thanks for the cooperation.

Again for all others: the file mentioned here is not for normal use. Just be patient and wait for the next release and you'll have all the debugging code in there anyway *gg*

[MasterViVi]

Okay, I gave it a try, but switched back. It does what it does, but it can't seem to remember the plugins. Also upgrading is a problem. Sorry.

[rondrer]

cool thing... but doesn't work for me did everything as described in the readme but changes affect only the original winamp-dir and not in my user home-dir

[chris_31]

Hmmm...
@MasterVivi: I know upgrading is a little tricky; but if you understand the working of the program, then upgrading is not a big deal. I'll post the upgrade procedure here.

1. set AdministrativeRun to 1 in the registry
2. start Winamp, copy the reference settings to the main dir.
3. stop Winamp, DO NOT commit changes. (Well, there's simply no point in committing them).
4. rename msacm32.dll to msacm32.dll.dead (or something similar) in the main dir
5. Upgrade winamp.
6. rename msacm32.dll.dead back to msacm32.dll
7. start winamp, *DO NOT* copy the reference dir back.
8. stop winamp, commit changes.
9. set AdministrativeRun to 0.

There still *might* be some issues after upgrading, simply because the files in the user's home directory are now from an older version (however I have not experienced any problems so far). This problem is inherent and can not be overcome easily. Maybe version 1.0 will try and deal with these more elaborate problems ;-) (I'm about to collect ideas for enhancements).

That being said, please explain a bit more the problems you have...

@MasterVivi: what exactly doesn't work with the plugins?
@rondrer: Are you sure the dll actually gets loaded (set AdministrativeRun to 1 and check if the messagebox appears as stated in the readme)?

Waiting for comments,
cheers,
Chris

[rondrer]

Yeah! It's working

Don't know why, but after I startet it with adminitrativerun the msg-box appeared and then, after changing adminrun back to normal, it worked =)

thx for help

[MasterViVi]

New plugins get deleted =p

Going through all that is a wee bit much, since I test alot of stuff

[chris_31]

Originally posted by MasterViVi
New plugins get deleted =p

Going through all that is a wee bit much, since I test alot of stuff

Well, no, they don't get deleted (not for me at least). But they do get installed only for the user who installed them (except with adminruns...).

The whole point is, you'll have to actually "install" the plugin _while_ Winamp is running, so the change in the file system gets noticed by wamulti. Otherwise, it just assumes the new file is left over from some previous user and deletes it.

So you're half right, and I'm half right

[NiGHTS]

Hey i really love this! Except twice this has happened: my one has gone back to the very default! I don't know why.... never happened to the other user - but then again he doesn;t use it as much.

ALl my playlists, media library,layout, skin, etc all reverts

Any ideas why?

[MasterViVi]

Nope, got it too. The plug-ins DO get deleted, anyway or another, and it reverst to default every three days so I have to add all my media again. >_<

[chris_31]

OK then, new version is out. Lots of changes & improvements, hopefully not lots of new bugs

The problems you've mentioned should be gone. Let me guess: You had the user log off without shutting winamp down? There was a race condition in wamulti <= 0.6.2 that could lose data in this case. This is gone now.

Also, improvements that should ease the installation of plugins much more. The new logic now checks file ownership* and doesn't delete/overwrite files owned by the currently executing user. (that means that files that are changed even while winamp is not running are not lost...)

* this needs an NTFS file system. On FAT partitions, the program will behave just as before.

Last major change: wabmcopy has gone, its functionality is now included in msacm32.dll.

Upgrading is recommended,
see upgrade.txt for howto.

Well, looking forward to comments...

Cheers, Chris

[shakey_snake]

I could kiss you.
Wait a sec...
Chris as is Christina or Chris as in Christopher?

[WanderingKnight]

Question. If I install this with say... 2 users on a XP Home system, and it all works and stuff, what happens if I add a third user? Do I need re-install?