How to share WoW settings across multiple machines...and rebuilds!

Hello,
It's been a while since my last post...I've been on my wow-cation and finally coming back I think.

In case you haven't noticed, Microsoft has released Windows 8. Why do we care...well I care because I'm going to reinstall my computer with it, but need to make sure all my settings are saved, including (especially?) my WoW settings.

I currently use a combo of RealUI and have for quite some time along with a number of other highly useful addons. Because of that, I do not want to re-download and reconfigure all of them which would just be guaranteed to break something. So, a while back, I figured out an alternative solution using cloud storage to save my WoW settings elsewhere. At the time, I did it because I have both a Windows desktop and a Mac laptop that I play WoW on. Now, I need to figure it out again to ease my upgrade to Windows 8 and thought I'd share my process with the world by writing it down!

Requirements:

• World of Warcraft
• A form of cloud storage that uses a local version synced with the cloud. Examples would be Dropbox, Skydrive, etc. both of which are free for a certain size. I currently use Dropbox and will refer to that, but it doesn't matter which service you use.
• Ability to use the command line/terminal on your computer. It's ok, I'll tell you what to type.
• *Understand that <username> is meant as a variable for you to replace with your own info.
• *Understand that over the 6 years of WoW, Blizzard has used multiple different install directories and you should be able to locate yours.  Mine is currently in "C:\Users\Public\Games\World of Warcraft".

Step 1: Determine your Dropbox folder location.

The default install location for Dropbox is in your user directory, which is dependent on which operating system you're running.

• In Windows 7, it would be C:\Users\<username>\Dropbox.
• In Windows XP, it would be C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Dropbox
• On OS X, it would be /Users/<username>/Dropbox

Step 2: Find the WoW user settings folders

For reference, WoW puts your game settings in two different directories and these are both automatically created upon installing and then logging in to WoW.



• C:\Users\Public\Games\World of Warcraft\Interface
• This holds all of the addons installed in WoW.  Most of them go into a sub-directory, Addons, but some other config files can be right in this Interface folder as well.
• C:\Users\Public\Games\World of Warcraft\WTF\Account\<AccountName>
• This holds you're account and toon specific variables and data.  For example, if you use ArkInventory, you're inventory database is held inside here.
• Make note of the actual <AccountName> here as you will need it later.

Step 3: Create the target directory

Inside of that directory, create a WoWConfigFiles folder (or call it whatever you want), like so:

So the file path would be C:\Users\<username>\Dropbox\WoWConfigFiles.

 

Step 4: Make a backup of these 2 directories!

I can't stress this enough!  My preferred and easiest method is to right-click on each of the settings folders and choose "Send to..." then "Compressed (zipped) folder".  That will make a zip file of the whole folder.

 

Step 4: Copy the WoW folders to the Dropbox subfolder

Make sure that WoW is not running nor are any addons like Curse or anything else relating to WoW.  Then using Windows Explorer, copy the Interface folder and you're <Accountname> folders (as listed above) into the newly created WoWConfigFiles directory in Dropbox.

 

Step 5: Delete Folders from WoW directory

Ok, now I know that sounds scary, but it'll be ok as long as you...MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BACKUP FIRST! 

So, as it says, delete the Interface folder.  Then, delete the <AccountName> folder.
...Scary isn't it?

Step 6: Create the symlinks to the folders in Dropbox.

Now you need to use the command line; to do so, click on the start menu and type 'cmd' and press Enter.  It should open a window that looks like the following.

1. Change to the WoW directory by typing this command and pressing Enter.

cd c:\users\public\games\World of Warcraft

2. From here, either copy and paste or type in the this line (on one line):



mklink /d Interface C:\Users\%username%\Dropbox\WoWConfigFiles\Interface

2a. It should respond back start with "symbolic link created for...". 
3. Now we repeat this for the <AccountName> folder inside WTF.

cd c:\users\public\games\World of Warcraft\WTF\Account

4. Then we actually create the link.  Remember to replace <AccountName> below with your actual account name that you copied earlier.

mklink /d <AccountName> C:\Users\%username%\Dropbox\WoWConfigFiles\Account\WTF\<AccountName>
 

Step 7: Test

So now that your symbolic links are setup, you should be able to double-click on those WoW folders in Windows Explorer and you will get automatically redirected to the appropriate folder on Dropbox.  Also, for the very observant, the linked folders inside the WoW directory now have a little shortcut arrow on them!

Step 8: Repeat on other machines.

So for any other machines you have, you can repeat just Step 5 and 6 and now your WoW config files will be available there as well. 

Conclusion

So now, since you really only have a single source of data, if you play on your desktop, then travel somewhere and want play on your laptop, the settings and data are exactly as you left off on your desktop. And when you return home, the desktop will be automatically updated again as well...all utilizing the power of the cloud storage sync app!

Good luck and leave comments for any parts that are confusing, etc.

Chondrius

*Note: Chondrius is not responsible if you break your wow installation...so make sure you make backups!