Copying 'File Locations' data to another PC

We don’t use the default locations for our reports and universes with Full Client. Can anyone tell me where the configuration for these locations is stored and if it’s possible to just copy the configuration from one machine to another?


norty303 :uk: (BOB member since 2003-03-19)

It’s stored in the Windows registry. In Windows 2000 it is under:

\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Business Objects\ 5.0\ JohnDoe User Prefs\ Directories

Andreas :de: (BOB member since 2002-06-20)

Sorry, should change my signature, we’re just onto 6.1b now. Is it the same key just version 6 in the path?


norty303 :uk: (BOB member since 2003-03-19)

I do not know. Well, how about you look in the Windows Registry and see for yourself :wink: and then post your findings here - of course :mrgreen:


Andreas :de: (BOB member since 2002-06-20)

OK, here ya go…

\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Business Objects\ Suite 6.0\Default\BusinessObjects\ JohnDoe User Prefs\ Directories

My reason for asking the question before looking is i’m not confident poking around in the registry too much.

Ok, we’ve managed to import the key into the registry and renamed it for the current user there. Is this really the easiest way of standardising the file locations across all users? We only have around 10 FC users so it’s not a huge issue but it does seem a little clunky to have to copy and rename registry keys to share a common configuration.


norty303 :uk: (BOB member since 2003-03-19)

Honestly, this seems like an odd requirement. Using Tools, Options, the user can change it themselves, so you really have no way of guaranteeing standardization. That being the case, a simple email with the “suggested” locations would be just as effective. Just my thoughts…


Dwayne Hoffpauir :us: (BOB member since 2002-09-19)

No, Dwayne, not odd at all in our case :lol: We will shortly need to upgrade from 5.1.8 to 6.1b on all of our client machines and leave each install ready to go as ‘invisibly’ as possible. Most of our users simply use BO for ad-hoc querying before dumping the results into excel. The majority of them haven’t even seen the Options panel in the time they’ve been working with the product and certainly to ask them to change the file locations of all of those would be more troublesome than having to go round and do it myself. So any easy resolution to be able to set these locations as a default would make our life infinitely simpler.


norty303 :uk: (BOB member since 2003-03-19)

Fair enough! With only 10 users, I think you are correct that just walking around would be the best way to do it. Since it’s full client, you’ll have to go to each machine to do the upgrade. I’d probably just incorporate the directory standardization into that process.

If you were talking about a significantly larger number of users, you could use the SDK. There are GetInstallDirectory and SetInstallDirectory methods that could make the change. You could also include code to copy / move the directory contents as well. If you put the code in an Open event of a report, you could distribute that report and the user simply has to open it to make the updates. It would take longer to write and test the code than doing it manually, but it is an option.


Dwayne Hoffpauir :us: (BOB member since 2002-09-19)

Thats funny my 6.1b keys are in

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Business Objects\Suite 6.0\default\Shared\General\Directories

The actual values of some of the keys end up in the user profile but the at least this is in an HKLM location which is probably easier to roll out.
I don’t even have the key you mention :confused:


ken.gaul :uk: (BOB member since 2002-06-18)

Ken, have you changed the locations from the default ones? I don’t think that it writes these keys unless you actually change them thru the tool–>options.


norty303 :uk: (BOB member since 2003-03-19)

I think I changed the userdocs and universe locations from the default but nothing else. Either way I would have thought it would have changed my prefs if there were any to override any HKLM settings or just store the whole thing in myprefs. It seems odd that if you change the defaults then it moves the whole set of keys from HKCU to HKLM, this seems a bit backwards :confused:


ken.gaul :uk: (BOB member since 2002-06-18)