Hold on buddy, I got you. First off, when you restore Kodi, it will always default the guisettings.xml. Always. If you drop your previous settings into kodi via a network folder, it will still reload it to default upon restart. Do the following:
1) Download some stuff and install these suckers:
--
PUTTY
--
WINSCP
2) Turn on your sharing/ ssh and whatever else...settings. Just make it so your Kodi machine can communicate with your network on all channels. Don't set any additional passwords. Leave it all default to make life easy.
3) Make a tester. Pick a skin, change a few settings.
4) Find and copy your guisettings.xml file (usually storage/.kodi/userdata/guisettings.xml). Put it on your desktop or something so you can grab it easily.
******Reset/wipe/whatever you need to do to wipe your settings. Make sure the stuff you just did is now back to default or different than what you do. We're testing your backup now.
***Ok. All the easy stuff is done. Here comes the technical biz***
5) Open up PUTTY.
A. SSH using PUTTY to the IP Address (Find it in your Kodi settings or your PC settings of the network folder) of your media center
[
username: root Password: openelec (if you use openelec)(otherwise, it's blank or whatever shows in your ssh settings in Kodi)] Sometimes, after you put in the username and hit enter, your won't see your key presses for the password. Just put it in and enter it.
B. Type "
systemctl stop xbmc.service" - Your screen will go black! This is normal. If it doesn't, something didn't connect.
6) Open WinSCP. Same IP, same username, same password. Host name is whatever you want it to be. **Note: IF you get a popup about caching a host key, just say no for now.
A. Once logged in, navigate to the appropriate folder (usually storage/.kodi/userdata/) and drop your EDITED BACKUP guisettings.xml. You will get . a popup asking if you want to overwrite the file. You'll know they're different, because the file sizes will be different. If they're the same, you probably copied the same or default file :\
B. Hit the refresh button OR file/refresh to stick the file.
**NOTE: Your screen is still black at this time.
7) Hop on back to PUTTY and type in the following command "
systemctl start xbmc.service"
**Your box will now reset. At this time, you'll either be back on your current skin or Confluence. If it's Confluence, change it back to your skin, and see if your old settings are there.
That, my friend, is it. It's a pain at first. I've had to do it enough times that I can do this whole process in about 2 minutes now. It's super easy.
Bonus round: Make sure you use the Kodi Add-on, XBMC Backup (or
BACKUP as it's called now) and autosave 3 instances to a network folder or dropbox or somewhere that you can access. The settings in the Add-on will guide you. That way, you can drag the guisettings.xml file at any time based on the date. Plus, if your whole system gets killed, you can restore a backup from the addon (except the skin settings), INCLUDING addons, favorites, watchlist, etc. It's great stuff.
If you have issues, hit me up. I've tried dozens of other ways, this is the easiest.