How to transfer pidgin settings from one computer to another

Question

I just got a new machine, and I'd like to copy my pidgin settings from the old machine to the new. What files need to be copied and where?

Old machine Windows XP. New machine: Windows 7

Solution 1

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\.purple\

The entire directory can be brought over, or if you just want specific pieces look at the individual files, they're pretty self explanatory (accounts.xml, prefs.xml, etc). Put them on the Windows 7 machine in

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\.purple

Solution 2

You can set a PURPLEHOME environment variable to tell Pidgin where it should store (or look for) its .purple folder. I'm not sure if it's created by default, but it certainly helps in managing the directory afterward. Basically you just need to copy that .purple folder over, which will probably be in %appdata%.

More info here: http://www.lib.unc.edu/reference/eref/pidgin/env_var.html

Comments

[slolife]

Okay, I think this is the correct answer. However, currently I am remote desktop'd into the new laptop, and when I run pidgin, it put the settings in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\.purple Will that be copied/moved to C:\Users\<username>\AppData\.purple once I am not RDP'd in?

[Andrew Coleson]

@slolife: No, %appdata% in Win7 IS `C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming`. heavyd was likely just recalling it from memory.

[PsychoData]

Very true! You could do this to keep it on the network somewhere and just point to it from whichever computer you use at the time!