[belomeclone]

But now that I think about it, I would like all of the changes and settings I make on this copy to apply to any future copies, including the planned HTPC I am building.

So... what do I do?

[jmarshall]

Just copy over the userdata folder from your portable install to wherever your other installs are, assuming that all paths to network shares etc. remain the same.

[jhsrennie]

The only difference between the portable and default installation is that a portable installation puts -p on the end of the "Target" field in the XBMC start menu shortcut. If you open the start menu and right click the XBMC shortcut and choose Properties, then in the Target you'll see:

"C:\Program Files\XBMC\XBMC.exe"

Just change this to be:

"C:\Program Files\XBMC\XBMC.exe" -p

and remember to change any other XBMC icons you have e.g. on the desktop. Now any changes you make are stored in C:\Program Files\XBMC\userdata\ and apply to all users. As jmarshall says you can copy over your current userdata folder, or just start from scratch if you haven't done much customisation.

To check you're running in portable mode just run XBMC then look in C:\Program Files\XBMC\userdata\ and you should see a file called xbmc.log. This file is created every time XBMC is run, and in portable mode it's created in the C:\Program Files\XBMC\userdata\ folder.

JR

[djdafreund]

Ah, that's not true about that's ALL it does. It makes the biggest difference of where it will store the userdata info, whether in the windows normal directory, or inside the XBMC\userdata directory.

For me, since i've been using xbmc since it was XBMP, i just prefer everything to be all in the same directory, versus having some stuff in the normal windows user area. But mostly since for me it's just easier to have everything in one directory, so i personally use the "Portable" install.

[AnalogKid]

Ah, that's not true about that's ALL it does. It makes the biggest difference of where it will store the userdata info, whether in the windows normal directory, or inside the XBMC\userdata directory.

For me, since i've been using xbmc since it was XBMP, i just prefer everything to be all in the same directory, versus having some stuff in the normal windows user area. But mostly since for me it's just easier to have everything in one directory, so i personally use the "Portable" install.

Portable mode is just perfect for me, however, the only minor drawback for SOME users is that it's easy for them to read an instruction that says "delete your XBMC installation folder and install a fresh version".... which is a disaster in portable mode...

I'd actually advice users to install using portable mode, then create a symbolic link to their user data folder (which could be stored side by side with XBMC)

e.g.

\Somepath\XBMC
\Somepath\XBMC\UserData* (Symbolic Link)
\Somepath\UserData (Real User Data)

Works wonderfully, and if the user deletes XBMC, their userdata is never lost!

[jmarshall]

Where are the instructions "delete your XBMC installation folder and install a fresh version"?