WA 5.2 setup deleted my ML and all settings

[aijoovai]

Hi,

I've been using Winamp mostly quite happily since about fall 2000 or so. Even though I consider myself an advanced user and the fact that I'm an engineer, I'm no WA geek, don't do any coding and can't remember all names of different components or paths, etc from the top of my mind.

MY PROBLEM:

As stated in the Subject, WA 5.2 installer destroyed my ML content and all WA settings. ML is all blank and all settings like Equalizer presets are gone. The install had nothing out of ordinary that I could think of. The only difference comparing to the numerous upgrades I've done previously was the Profile specific option for the ML (which I enabled). If this did it there should be a big disclaimer.

I'm no pro in writing bug reports but I'll try to formulate this more clearly

* SYSTEM: Winxp Home in a normal HP pavilion ze5500 Intel Pentium 4 w/ about 700 MB of RAM
* WINAMP: 5.2 installed over 5.12 (w/ a load of good plugins such as Sexy plugins, AudioScrobbler, EAR 2005)
* Totally normal install (profile specific MLs enabled)
* PROBLEM: ML content and settings _totally_ gone. All tracks, playlists, edited smart views, and naturally also playcounts and ratings (BUMMER!!! ^ 5 ... I had a library of about 30,000 tracks)

The file main.dat in
C:\Program Files\Winamp\Plugins\ml\ is 17MB . It's awfully large for an "empty" library, which is what I'm seeing now.
Is there maybe a way to restore the ML from this?

I have a few weeks old backup at home but I've been travelling for the last weeks and won't be back home in a while. It would be very if I could listen to my _favorite_ music while way from home.

I hope that the 5.2 is compatible with the old MLs. It has to be, right?!

Any ideas why this happened? I had no other programs running while I did the install.

Thanks!

and of course slightly

[aijoovai]

Adding to the previous:

(Before posting) I couldn't find anything related to 5.2 (or any other version) installer deleting above mentioned data.

The bug, in my opinion, is that this happened. Installed shouldn't of course delete any personal data but just upgrade the software.

And to where each of the data is: I found the post "Place where settings are saved... WA5"

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=158332

which tells me the files that I should try to recover when I get back to my back ups.

Has anyone else had similiar problems?

Thanks!

[Benski]

You could re-install, but turn off the multi-user profile option, or copy (not move) your C:\Program Files\Winamp folder to C:\Documents and Settings\<Your User Name>\Application Data

[DJ Egg]

FAQ

General settings plus Media Library database & playlists lost when upgrading to 5.2 and selecting the new multi-user option in the installer:

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=239449

[aijoovai]

Thanks very much for the prompt reply. This was exactly the problem and now it's solved. This issue could me mentioned in some "Special considerations when installing WA 5.2" note even though it's trivial after you think about it. It's quite a shocker before one understands what the heck is going on.

[DJ Egg]

Yes, I can imagine. It'll all hopefully be fixed for 5.21
eg. an option to install clean or to import existing settings,
when upgrading from a shared setup to a multiuser setup.

[Napolean Solo]

Re: WA 5.2 setup deleted my ML and all settings

Originally posted by aijoovai
Hi,

I've been using Winamp mostly quite happily since about fall 2000 or so. Even though I consider myself an advanced user and the fact that I'm an engineer, I'm no WA geek, don't do any coding and can't remember all names of different components or paths, etc from the top of my mind.

MY PROBLEM:

As stated in the Subject, WA 5.2 installer destroyed my ML content and all WA settings. ML is all blank and all settings like Equalizer presets are gone. The install had nothing out of ordinary that I could think of. The only difference comparing to the numerous upgrades I've done previously was the Profile specific option for the ML (which I enabled). If this did it there should be a big disclaimer.

I'm no pro in writing bug reports but I'll try to formulate this more clearly

* SYSTEM: Winxp Home in a normal HP pavilion ze5500 Intel Pentium 4 w/ about 700 MB of RAM
* WINAMP: 5.2 installed over 5.12 (w/ a load of good plugins such as Sexy plugins, AudioScrobbler, EAR 2005)
* Totally normal install (profile specific MLs enabled)
* PROBLEM: ML content and settings _totally_ gone. All tracks, playlists, edited smart views, and naturally also playcounts and ratings (BUMMER!!! ^ 5 ... I had a library of about 30,000 tracks)

The file main.dat in
C:\Program Files\Winamp\Plugins\ml\ is 17MB . It's awfully large for an "empty" library, which is what I'm seeing now.
Is there maybe a way to restore the ML from this?

I have a few weeks old backup at home but I've been travelling for the last weeks and won't be back home in a while. It would be very if I could listen to my _favorite_ music while way from home.

I hope that the 5.2 is compatible with the old MLs. It has to be, right?!

Any ideas why this happened? I had no other programs running while I did the install.

Thanks!

and of course slightly

SAME precise problem here , too.

[Napolean Solo]

Originally posted by DJ Egg
FAQ

General settings plus Media Library database & playlists lost when upgrading to 5.2 and selecting the new multi-user option in the installer:
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=239449

That's nice but I dont have a Winamp Folder in C:\Documents and Settings\(username)\Application Data\

Now what?

[DJ Egg]

Alas, you've not provided us with any/enough relevant information to help diagnose the problem, not even your Windows OS.

If you kept the default setting in Screen 4 of the installer options:
Multi-user settings: shared settings for all users
and you installed Winamp straight on top of the previous version (ie. in the same folder, which by default is C:\Program Files\Winamp)
then your settings, bookmarks, media library, everything WILL be exactly the same.
If they aren't, then we can't reproduce the problem.

If you selected "Separate settings per user" instead of the default setting,
then the 5.2 installer will create a paths.ini file in your Program Files\Winamp folder.
The paths.ini file contains a single instruction to tell Winamp to save settings to:
C:\Documents and Settings\(username)\Application Data\Winamp

and that is where it will create & save all new settings

As explained in the link via my first post above...

The "Application Data" folder is hidden by default, so you need to make sure you can view "hidden files & folders" in Windows Folder Options.

Naturally, replace "(username)" with the actual folder name of your user profile.

If your Windows OS isn't NT based (Win2k/XP) but is Win9x based (Win95/98/98se/ME),
then the User Profile folder is in C:\Windows\Users\... (or was it Windows\Profiles\...? sorry, I can't remember offhand).

And as also explained via the link, you can just delete paths.ini to restore the old behaviour (same settings for all users).

As you can see, aijoovai's problem was solved, so if yours isn't solved by using the same instructions, then it would seem that you've got an entirely different problem to the one outlined in this thread (regardless of how similar it may seem to you).

[hillywood]

HI PEEPS

I've lost all my bookmarks because off the WA 5.2
I easily did system restore and got all of my bookmarks (songs)back, so i can start downloading those songs with limewire When i'v downloaded all the songs i've got 2 restall winamp because it dont work anymore LOL


CYA

[DJ Egg]

How did you lose your bookmarks? We can't reproduce it.
winamp.bm in the Winamp folder is not overwritten.

[hillywood]

HI DJ EGG

THIS is from another member read this:

5.2 Lost my Bookmarks
am i the only one this happened to?

i installed 5.2 over my old 5.13, it went fine. i went to open my bookmarks, they were empty! my Winamp.bm file was there in the main directory and was perfectly fine.

i couldn't find how to import my 'old' bookmarks, so i did it by hand (copy url, play url, add current to bookmarks, edit name). now i have my bookmark list back (thank goodness it's short), but where the heck is 5.2 storing them?
if you guys are going to change how winamp stores them, you might at least give users an option of importing the old ones. if it hasn't changed, then why isn't 5.2 reading my old file?

[DJ Egg]

Well, as explained further up in this thread...

Did you checkmark "separate settings per user" on Screen 4 of the Installer Options?
(as opposed to the default option of "shared settings for all users")

If you did, then your settings are now saved in %appdata%\winamp

You can type that in the Windows address bar, and it will take you to the folder at:
C:\Documents and Settings\(your-username-here)\Application Data \Winamp

So you can just copy winamp.bm from the Program Files\Winamp folder to there,
and problem solved.

I'm not going to repeat everything else said above, so I suggest that you just read it again, heh.

[hillywood]

Hey MR. EGGY

Thanks, the problem is solved.....i did not read the explanation further in the thread.. me with my stoned head

Good JOB, i love WINAMP and U

[DJ Egg]