System and method for storing configuration settings for transfer from a first system to a second system

• US 6,161,176 A
• Filed: 11/20/1998
• Issued: 12/12/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hunter, William Clifford, Church, Gordon B., Larsson, Jeffrey Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Elmore, Reba I.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mai, Rijue
• Application Number:
  US09/196,868
• Time in Patent Office: 753 Days
• Field of Search: 713/1, 713/2, 713/100, 712/13, 712/14, 712/15-17, 709/108, 709/220, 709/222, 709/221, 709/302, 710/8
• US Class Current: 713/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4451 User profiles; Roaming

Abstract

Storing settings related to an application in a settings file for transport to a second computer. A software module reads an initialization file identifying the possible settings related to the application, and identifying the locations of those settings. The software module reads the settings from those locations, including a system registry as well as individual files associated with the application. The software module stores the settings in a settings file. The settings file is transported to the second computer, or the second computer reads the settings file over a network. The software module may execute at the second computer and write the settings from the settings file to the appropriate locations on the second computer.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for transferring configuration settings from a first computer to a second computer, the configuration settings including a first setting in a registry maintained by an operating system on the first computer and a second setting in an individual file associated with an application on the first computer, which when executed perform steps comprising:

(a) reading an initialization file containing a list of the configuration settings, the list including the first setting and the second setting, the initialization file further containing a location for the first setting and a location for the second setting, the location for the first setting being in the registry, and the location of the second setting being in the individual file associated with the application on the first computer;

(b) retrieving the first setting from the location for the first setting;

(c) retrieving the second setting from the location for the second setting; and

(d) writing the first setting and the second setting to a settings file, the settings file being capable of transport to the second computer.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the initialization file further identifies an environment variable name related to environment variable data, the environment variable data being associated with a particular login session on the first computer.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the environment variable data defines a directory tree related to the particular login session on the first computer.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the step of retrieving the first setting from the location for the first setting includes opening the registry and reading an entry in the registry related to the application.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the step of retrieving the second setting from the location for the second setting includes accessing the individual file at the location of the individual file identified in the initialization file.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the location of the individual file includes information related to a particular login session on the first computer.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the information related to the particular login session includes data defined as an environment variable maintained by the first computer.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the step of writing the first setting and the second setting to the settings file further includes substituting an environment variable name for a portion of one setting, the one setting being either the first setting or the second setting.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first setting represents a characteristic of the application and is different from a default setting for the characteristic.

10. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for transferring configuration settings from a first computer to a second computer, which when executed performs steps comprising:

(a) at the second computer, accessing a settings file to retrieve a first setting, a second setting, a location for the first setting, and a location for the second setting, the first setting and the second setting being related to an application installed on the first computer, the location for the first setting being a registry file on the second computer and the location for the second setting being an individual file on the second computer;

(b) at the second computer, writing the first setting from the settings file to the location for the first setting; and

(c) at the second computer, writing the second setting from the settings file to the location for the second setting.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the step of accessing the settings file further includes providing an option of writing the configuration settings to the second computer or reading new configuration settings from the second computer.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the step of accessing the settings file at the second computer is initiated by a start-up script on the second computer.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the step of accessing the settings file includes accessing the settings file over a network connected to the second computer.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the location for the second setting includes an environment variable name related to a login session on the second computer.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the environment variable name corresponds to information defining a portion of a directory tree related to the login session on the second computer.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the step of writing the second setting to the location for the second setting includes substituting the information defining the portion of the directory tree for the environment variable name.

17. In a computer system, a method for transporting configuration settings related to a program module from a first computer to a second computer, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) retrieving a first setting from a location of the first setting, the first setting being related to the program module, the location of the first setting being in a first system registry on the first computer;

(b) retrieving a second setting from a location of the second setting, the second setting being related to the program module, the location of the second setting not being in the first system registry on the first computer;

(c) storing the first setting and the second setting in a settings file;

(d) reading the settings file at the second computer to retrieve the first setting and the second setting;

(d) writing the first setting to a second system registry on the second computer; and

(e) writing the second setting to a location on the second computer not being in the second system registry on the second computer.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of storing the first setting and the second setting in the settings file further includes substituting an environment variable name for information in the first setting or the second setting matching information related to the environment variable name.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the information related to the environment variable name includes a portion of a directory tree related to a particular login session on the first computer.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of reading the settings file at the second computer includes reading the settings file over a network connected to the second computer.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of writing the first setting to the second computer includes substituting information related to a particular login session on the second computer for a portion of the first setting.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of writing the second setting to the second computer includes substituting information related to a particular login session on the second computer for a portion of the second setting.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the information related to the particular login session includes a portion of a directory tree defined in relation to the particular login session.

24. A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for storing configuration settings for transfer from a first computer to a second computer, which when executed perform steps comprising:

reading an initialization file, the initialization file including a first setting, a location of the first setting, a second setting, and a location of the second setting, the first setting and the second setting defining features and characteristics of an application, the application being installed on the first computer and the second computer;

reading the first setting from the location of the first setting, the location of the first setting being in a registry file maintained by an operating system;

reading the second setting from the location of the second setting, the location of the second setting being in an individual file associated with the application;

writing the first setting and the second setting to a settings file at the first computer;

writing the location of the first setting and the location of the second setting to the settings file at the first computer;

transporting the settings file from the first computer to the second computer;

at the second computer, reading the settings file to obtain the first setting, the second setting, the location of the first setting, and the location of the second setting;

writing the first setting to the location of the first setting on the second computer; and

writing the second setting to the location of the second setting on the second computer.