Addon sets for Multipule users in Windows 7
 

Okay, guys, I've dug through most of this site looking for information, and as best I can figure, I'm the only one who has 2 people that play WoW sharing a computer.

I'm looking for a way to install addons so that the logged in user gets their set of addons loaded, and a different set of addons for a different user. All of the information that I have found is for a single user setup. My wife and I raid and use similar sets of addons, however my 9 yr old is just content running around, and doing my dailies when I can con him into it! ;) so I don't need all my wife's addons loaded up when he logs in. All info I can find says to install addons either to <WOW>\addons\ for a XP install and \Users\Public\Games for a Vista or 7 install. But neither will yield the results I'm looking for.

Will I have to break down and write a shell script for swapping directories around?


TL;DR
I want to know if addon sets can be changed per windows user login.

User1: raiding UI and several addons
User2: leveling addons

You should be able to use the dropdown box in the Addons window on the character select screen to choose the addons to use for each character.

For example, I have a handful of addons that make it easier to play my hunter, but I don't need those hunter specific addons when playing my warlock (and vice versa). So before I load whatever character I wanna play, (just to be on the safe side) I go into the AddOns window and choose the character's name from the dropdown box before actually entering the game world with said character.

One thing I have noticed, though, is any new addons you install will be added to all characters. So you will need to go in and uncheck the new addon(s) for each character that does not need/want them.

Per windows user No, But if you have enough hd space. Just copy your who9le wow folder to a new location then create 2 shortcuts on your desktop.

Launcher-Leveling
Launcher-Raiding
And just configure addons in each wow folder and your done.

There are addons that allow you to load addons for specific toons and or classes. Also you can do it the hard way which is the way i do it. I have C:\wow/Interface/Addons/Druid
C:\wow/Interface/Addons/shammy
C:\wow/Interface/Addons/hunter

then i created a toc file pointing to the locations of the addons for the specific class.
When i log in and hit the addon button I see 3 choices i load the proper one for the toon im playing and i am off.
Takes a while to get everything setup.

When my hubby and I used to share a computer, we just kept two different copies of the Interface folder and swapped them depending on who was going to play. So... If I was going to play, there would be WoW\Interface and WoW\Interface_his folders. When he wanted to play, he would rename my Interface folder to Interface_hers and rename his to just Interface. For the WTF folder, it does not matter because it stores settings per account anyway.

You have to log out to switch accounts anyway, may as well completely exit to desktop so that you can get the new folder of addons.

This is the easiest, most fool-proof way that most people use. Well, and the having two copies of WoW suggestion, though not everyone has the hard drive space for that.

If I'm reading this right, you don't really want different add ons for different accounts. You want different add ons for two people using the same account. You want one set when you're playing and another when you let your 9-year-old log in to your account to goof around.

I suggest checking out Addon Control Panel. Among other things it allows you to save various add on configurations. So you could save your standard set as one configuration and then save another configuration with just the add ons that your 9-year-old needs. Then you can just load whichever configuration you need when you need it.

I've always been a little curious. Under a normal WoW installation on Windows 7, the Addons/WTF folders are stored in the User folder. Doesn't this allow different Windows users to have their own separate addons and settings? Or does it operate differently than this?

Well then, you would need to swap WTF folders, too.


The default path, though, isn't to Program Files. It's only when WoW is installed to Program Files, and it has to fight with the Virtual Store/permissions, that the WTF settings are stored elsewhere.

Thing is if you got W7 with several accounts you can make startup scripts handle folders for you, hence auto rename interface and wtf between users. Only need to have the game installed anywhere but program files. :)

A .vbs script could do the trick. Let's say you are user1 and your friend is user2. When you login the script checks the \Interface folder for "user1.un", if found the \Interface folder is your folder, if not it checks for what the .un file is named then renames \Interface to \Interface.user2 and the \WTF.user2 respectively. Then it renames \Interface.user1 to \Interface hence now the game will load your own settings.

Each logon it must check for the .un file in order to distinguish who is who. I mean it's an idea, it would work.

I suck at .vbs but I wrote an example autoit3 script: http://pastey.net/149990

You could probably use symbolic links. The way you do this is by storing the Data and Cache directory in a different location, and then having 3 different wow folders with 2 symbolic links(Data and Cache dir). This way, each wow copy can use it's own set of AddOns.

You can use a tutorial to make a sandbox environment. The usage is different but the concept is the same: http://www.nostockui.com/2010/03/mak...rface-sandbox/

There is also a GUI tool to make symbolic links in Vista/Win7: http://humblecoder.co.uk/?p=50

Wow also doesn't need to be installed in "Program Files", or have any register data. I have kept my wow install on a external HD and I always copy it back when I reinstall my computer(s).

A quick & dirty solution would be to drop a batch file in your respective startup directories (C:\Users\you\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup).

An example batch file could start like this (change leveling UI to raiding UI):

This requires you to establish a predetermined naming convention for your folders (Interface.Raid & Interface.Level in this case). You'd do the same thing for WTF dirs.

It would be a good idea to pop a txt file in Interface.Raid named RAIDLOL or some such to help identify should things go terribly wrong one day. :) (I use this method to manage dozens of different Interface dirs.)

Two options that spring to mind:

1) symlinks. Make 2 directories for addons. WoW will look to {root}/Interface/AddOns for your addons. If you were to write a script to change a symlink from {root}/Interface/AddOns which points to {root}/Interface/AddOns_User1 or {root}/Interface/AddOns_User2 or back. This could be done at login or by creating two links to start the game and executing the symlink change before loading the game.

2) AddOns.txt. As with the symlinks you could execute the changes to the needed files at login or with a shortcut. The AddOns.txt file has a list of addons and determines which ones are enabled or disabled. Replacing the file with the list of AddOns you want for user1 or user2 will allow you to start the game with the appropriate AddOns loaded. The AddOns.txt file is located in {root}/WTF/Account/{account_name}/{realm_name}/{character_name}/AddOns.txt.

Another solution
 

Use addon control panel, which wouldn't require you to do anything to your game or windows. ACP allows you to save different sets, so you could have a set for one user, then a set for the other, and then all you would have to do is go into ACP, and switch to your set.

No it isn't exactly what you wanted, but it will accomplish more or less the same effect.

You can get Addon Control Panel from here at Wowi.

Some good information here, thanks for your help!
:banana:

Very smart indeed! Using symbolic link you can have a .bat or startup script do this for you (example):

Let's assume you are in the \WoW folder with the game files, you make a bat with:

Futher more we assume that "Interface_Bob" and "WTF_Bob" are folders for the user Bob. When you log Bob you can run the .bat and the Interface and WTF folders will point to the "_Bob" unique folders.

Logging on another user you would have to of course use new folders and names for the unique addon settings.

You can rmdir the Interface and WTF before doing the mklink to avoid overwrite issues (not sure if there are any tough), all I know is you can remove a symlink folder or file without removing any of the original and actual data. :)