[rycapps]

I have setup my laptop to access the MySQL database that I setup on my main HTPC. This works great when I'm at home and connected to my home network. The problem is when I'm away and cannot access the MySQL server, XBMC is unusable.

I'm looking for an easy way to start xbmc to access local media that I may have on the laptop. I tried setting up a new profile and changing the media locations, but is still wants to access the database. I even tried to put a blank advancesettings.xml file in the new profile directory but that isn't working. Do i have to setup a new instance of xbmc with a completely separate appdata directory?

[rocketpants]

I think you'd need to install a new instance of XBMC as the mySQL db settings is read in advancedsettings.xml which is a global settings file.

To make it easy you could set up a portable install of XBMC for when you are on the road. Just install XBMC as usual but before you start XBMC add the -p argument (e.g. if on windows change the shortcut to "c:\program files\XBMC\xbmc.exe -p"). This will create the user data folder in the app directory rather than in the user appdata directory

EDIT: Actually I'm not so sure about the advancedsettings.xml being global when you have multiple profiles. If its not working with a different advancedsettings.xml in the separate profile userdata you would need to check the log to see if it is reading the separate advancedsettings.xml. In any event setting up a portable mode install would sort out the problem.