How to change PT8 data storage location AFTER installing

Question

We have a situation where a new PT8 user has somehow managed to point the new PT8 to use (the old) “My Paratext Projects” location instead of a (new) “My Paratext 8 Projects” folder.

I have suggested that they completely uninstall PT8 and try again, but the installer remembers the previous location and the setting is grayed out so that it can’t be changed.

Can someone tell us (quickly) how to completely clear the faulty PT8 setting so that the user can clear any trace of PT8 being on the machine, and then try installing again. Presumably this is being held somewhere in the Registry, or in some deep/hidden Paratext 8 settings folder in AppData. But where…?

Answer 1

It looks to me like the PT7 data storage folder is set in this registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ScrChecks\1.0\Settings_Directory

And the PT8 folder is saved in this registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Paratext\8

LivingField

Comments

That’s what I thought, but I can’t see either of these on my own machine…

Does anyone else see these registry entries?

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About a week ago I was trying to help someone for whom Paratext 7.5 updates were failing. His computer was missing several of these registry keys (and he’d also moved his Projects folder to inside Documents, which was redirected to the macOS host, which caused more problems)

Here’s an export of the Paratext 7 settings. Edit as appropriate and save the portion between the lines as a .REG file and double-click to load it into the registry. (You probably want to remove the version numbers if you have a different version installed.)

————————————————————————————
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ScrChecks]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ScrChecks\1.0]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ScrChecks\1.0\ParatextVersion]
@=“7.5.100.82”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ScrChecks\1.0\Program_Files_Directory_Ptw7]
@=“C:\Program Files (x86)\Paratext 7\”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ScrChecks\1.0\Settings_Directory]
@=“C:\My Paratext Projects\”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ScrChecks\1.0\Test_ParatextVersion]
@=“7.6.54.120”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ScrChecks\1.0\Test_ParatextVersion_Base]
@=“7.6.54.2”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ScrChecks\1.0\Test_Program_Files_Directory_Ptw7]
@="C:\Program Files\Paratext 7 Test\”
————————————————————————————

Here’s my registry for Paratext 8:
————————————————————————————
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Paratext]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Paratext\8]
“Program_Files_Directory_Ptw8”=“C:\Program Files\Paratext 8\”
“Settings_Directory”=“C:\My Paratext 8 Projects\”
“ParatextVersion”=“8.0.75.1”
————————————————————————————

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How about: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Paratext\8?

anon397352

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I’m on 32-bit Windows (running in a VM).
Maybe anon397352 is giving the location for 64-bit Windows.

Answer 2

Aha - there it is! Thanks LivingField and anon397352. I had forgotten all about WOW6432Node! M$ should be given an award for making things in the registry so hard to find!