Can't Save XML file to My Documents

[Mike Johnson]

Should I be able to save my Homeseer configuration file (.XML) to my My Documents folder under Windows XP?

I purchased a new computer and copied my config file from my old machine (Win 98) to the new machine. I've always kept it in my My Documents folder to simplify backing up. I've been running Homeseer successfully on the new XP machine for some months now, utilizing the file in my My Documents folder, with no apparent problems. However, I added some new devices and events the other day and noticed after a computer restart that the new devices and events were gone. The config file was never updated. I tried to Save As... over the existing file and to new test files, but as long as I'm in the My Documents folder or a sub folder thereof, it will not save. The program doesn't complain, i.e., there are no error messages, but the file is not updated (nor created if I try a new one).

Is this by design for some reason or is something not working correctly?

Thanks,
Mike

[Rick Tinker]

You should be able to save it there just fine. Not sure why it is not letting you - perhaps security settings?

If you cannot get it to save with Save As... Let us know and we'll make sure we fix it in HS 2.0. In the meantime, you can manually change the location, but after doing so, make a config change and restart to make sure that it is indeed able to write to the configuration file successfully.

To move it manually, use windows explorer and move the file to the location you want it in, and make a note of the full path to the file. Now, back in HomeSeer's config folder and with HomeSeer shut down of course, edit SETTINGS.INI and in there you will find the path and name of the configuration file for it to load. Change it to your new location and save the file. Then start HS and do a test to make sure it can write to the file. You will want to make sure since the Save As did not appear to work and it should be able to.

[tman1]

Heres a thought.
If you restored these files from a cd-rom backup they could now be marked read-only. Check their attributes and change to what is required.

[smoothtlk]

Are you logging into the same account that the file in the My Documents directory is associated to?

Maybe it's just me, but I never use the "My Documents" directory as one runs into these types of issues as it is user specific.

[Mike Johnson]

Thanks for the responses.

Rick, I am able to Save As... in other directories on my hard drive, just not anything within the My Documents folder. My work around was simply to open the config file in Homeseer (as I've been doing successfully for some time) and then use Save As... to save it in a new location, outside of My Documents. It works fine that way, and updates the Settings.ini file just fine. It also saves any changes I make to devices etc., all as it is supposed to, as long as the file is not in the My Docuemnts folder or a sub-folder thereof.

tman1, I thought about permissions or ownership issues and checked the Read-Only status. The folders all say Read-Only, and if I change them, Windows changes them back. A little research reveals that this behavior is by design, but it does not preclude me from saving files in the folders, as long as the files are not read-only, which they are not. I am able to write to any files and/or directories under My Documents with any program, except Homeseer. I can even manually copy the config file to the My Documents folder, and Homeseer will read it, but not write to it. I even tried using Save As... to create an entirely new file with a new name (test.xml) and Homeseer will not create the file.

Hmmmm.

Mike

[Mike Johnson]

DavidL,

Yes, as I only have one account, but I did change the name of my computer at one point (for my home network) and Windows created a new set of user folders. The old ones are still in use and still contain the My Documents folder (Windows did not move any of the folders and did not create a new My Documents folder). I did not change my user account name, just the name of my computer for the network. No other program has had a problem saving to the My Documents folder.

I don't totally understand the user account/ownership issues under XP. I installed Homeseer (as well as some other programs) while the computer had its first name. Would this somehow associate Homeseer with the old computer name? Again, I didn't change the User Account name, just the name of the computer as it shows up on the network.

Mike

[Rick Tinker]

Well, other than directory or file permissions, I am totally out of ideas.

Did you try the manual method I described? If so, then I am keen to know if changes to your config are saved properly despite Save As not working.

[Mike Johnson]

Rick,

Yes. I actually deleted the xml file as well as the backup xml file from the My Documents folder and then copied the xml file that I had saved in another folder into the My Documents folder. Then I changed the settings.ini file to correspond to the new file location. Homeseer opened it without a problem and, interestingly, created a new backup xml file in the My Documents folder. However, when I added a new device, shut down Homeseer and restarted it, the new device was gone. I also verified that the time stamp on the files (xml and xml.bak) had not changed.

Mike