Dual-boot folding....

**WereBo** · 07-03-2009, 05:27 PM

Allo Folks

I got a ninteresting question for anyone - I'm dual booting Win XP Pro and Win 7 RC on my rig, with XP on an 80Gb drive and Win 7 on a separate 250Gb drive - Both working fine.

I've got F@H on the XP drive and working well, so my question is - Can I run F@H on the Win 7 drive, but have it working with the data on the XP drive? I've checked through the 'Options' and the F@H folders, but can't find any way to re-point to somewhere else.

I don't use Win 7 as much as I'd like, because of this

**koala** · 07-03-2009, 05:55 PM

I'm not sure, but here's an idea. You might want to try this after completing a work unit, so if anything goes wrong, you don't lose the data and points from that WU.

Boot into Win7 and install F@H using the same details (ID number, team number, etc) as you entered in XP. Then copy (not move) the 'work' folder from the XP F@H folder into the Win7 F@H folder. When you run F@H now, it should continue from where you left off in XP.

If this doesn't work, there must be other files that need to be copied over, like FAHlog.txt, or some incompatibility problem.

Another idea, and probably easier. You could try copying the whole F@H folder, including the work folder, from XP to Win7. Of course, if you're regularly swapping between operating systems, you'll have to copy the folder each time before running F@H.

No guarantees this will work, as there might be other files or registry entries I don't know about. Hang on for some better replies.

**WereBo** · 07-03-2009, 06:06 PM

That was the only 'workaround' I could think of, but it's a bit extreme and messy

I just thunked a thought though, back in a min or 5......

**WereBo** · 07-03-2009, 06:25 PM

Back again - I just rebooted into Win 7, then created a shortcut pointing to the 'XP version' of F@H but it still loaded the data from the Win 7 install

I guess the relevant adjustment must be made in the registry somewhere

Oh well, back to the drawing board......

**mattlock** · 07-03-2009, 09:29 PM

That's a very good question/idea Bo. I'm looking for solution now as well. ;)

**WereBo** · 07-04-2009, 05:07 AM

Oh dear - What have I started?

**Aus_Karlos** · 07-04-2009, 06:48 AM

When you properly install F@H on your system it installs it in two places.

1. C:\Program Files\Folding@Home\Folding@home-x86
2. C:\Users\[Your User]\AppData\Roaming\Folding@home-x86

1 is where the main program and viewer is run from and 2 is where the work is stored.

However if you copy 1 to a different location (C:\Folding) and run the exe (folding@home.exe) from there then thats the location of the work folder aswell.

So in theory if you create a shortcut to your XP and Win7 desktop to that new location (C:\Folding) it should work from the same working folder.

**WereBo** · 07-04-2009, 01:44 PM

Righto, I'll give that a go later, when Mrs WereBo's gone to bed and I have some peace 'n' quiet

07-03-2009, 05:27 PM	#1 (permalink)
WereBo Resident Village Idiot Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: SE London, UK Posts: 14,380 OS: Win-7, XP-Pro SP3 My System	Dual-boot folding.... Allo Folks I got a ninteresting question for anyone - I'm dual booting Win XP Pro and Win 7 RC on my rig, with XP on an 80Gb drive and Win 7 on a separate 250Gb drive - Both working fine. I've got F@H on the XP drive and working well, so my question is - Can I run F@H on the Win 7 drive, but have it working with the data on the XP drive? I've checked through the 'Options' and the F@H folders, but can't find any way to re-point to somewhere else. I don't use Win 7 as much as I'd like, because of this __________________ I shall meet all of my deadlines directly in proportion to the amount of bodily injury I could expect to receive from missing them.

07-03-2009, 05:55 PM	#2 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 12,307 OS: XP/7/Ubuntu My System	Re: Dual-boot folding.... I'm not sure, but here's an idea. You might want to try this after completing a work unit, so if anything goes wrong, you don't lose the data and points from that WU. Boot into Win7 and install F@H using the same details (ID number, team number, etc) as you entered in XP. Then copy (not move) the 'work' folder from the XP F@H folder into the Win7 F@H folder. When you run F@H now, it should continue from where you left off in XP. If this doesn't work, there must be other files that need to be copied over, like FAHlog.txt, or some incompatibility problem. Another idea, and probably easier. You could try copying the whole F@H folder, including the work folder, from XP to Win7. Of course, if you're regularly swapping between operating systems, you'll have to copy the folder each time before running F@H. No guarantees this will work, as there might be other files or registry entries I don't know about. Hang on for some better replies. __________________ New members: Subscribe to your thread (Thread Tools) to receive an instant email notification when you get a reply. TSF Folding@Home Team 85015 - details here

07-03-2009, 06:06 PM	#3 (permalink)
WereBo Resident Village Idiot Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: SE London, UK Posts: 14,380 OS: Win-7, XP-Pro SP3 My System	Re: Dual-boot folding.... That was the only 'workaround' I could think of, but it's a bit extreme and messy I just thunked a thought though, back in a min or 5...... __________________ I shall meet all of my deadlines directly in proportion to the amount of bodily injury I could expect to receive from missing them.

07-03-2009, 06:25 PM	#4 (permalink)
WereBo Resident Village Idiot Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: SE London, UK Posts: 14,380 OS: Win-7, XP-Pro SP3 My System	Re: Dual-boot folding.... Back again - I just rebooted into Win 7, then created a shortcut pointing to the 'XP version' of F@H but it still loaded the data from the Win 7 install I guess the relevant adjustment must be made in the registry somewhere Oh well, back to the drawing board...... __________________ I shall meet all of my deadlines directly in proportion to the amount of bodily injury I could expect to receive from missing them.

07-03-2009, 09:29 PM	#5 (permalink)
mattlock Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 4,183 OS: XP SP2, Win 7 Beta, Win 7 RC My System	Re: Dual-boot folding.... That's a very good question/idea Bo. I'm looking for solution now as well. ;) __________________ Matt Everest-Thermal Paste Instruction-Power Supply Info-Sensorview PSU Calculator-Speedfan-Bench Test Help TSF Fight Disease. It's Free!

07-04-2009, 05:07 AM	#6 (permalink)
WereBo Resident Village Idiot Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: SE London, UK Posts: 14,380 OS: Win-7, XP-Pro SP3 My System	Re: Dual-boot folding.... Oh dear - What have I started? __________________ I shall meet all of my deadlines directly in proportion to the amount of bodily injury I could expect to receive from missing them.

07-04-2009, 06:48 AM	#7 (permalink)
Aus_Karlos Moderator, Games Team Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Western Australia Posts: 3,426 OS: Vista Ultimate x64, Windows XP 32-bit/64-bit, Ubuntu x64, Windows 7 x64 Beta My System Blog Entries: 2	Re: Dual-boot folding.... When you properly install F@H on your system it installs it in two places. 1. C:\Program Files\Folding@Home\Folding@home-x86 2. C:\Users\[Your User]\AppData\Roaming\Folding@home-x86 1 is where the main program and viewer is run from and 2 is where the work is stored. However if you copy 1 to a different location (C:\Folding) and run the exe (folding@home.exe) from there then thats the location of the work folder aswell. So in theory if you create a shortcut to your XP and Win7 desktop to that new location (C:\Folding) it should work from the same working folder. __________________ MemTest86 / Nvidia Drivers / ATI Drivers / DirectX 9.0c / Sys Requirements / Everest Folding@Home

07-04-2009, 01:44 PM	#8 (permalink)
WereBo Resident Village Idiot Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: SE London, UK Posts: 14,380 OS: Win-7, XP-Pro SP3 My System	Re: Dual-boot folding.... Righto, I'll give that a go later, when Mrs WereBo's gone to bed and I have some peace 'n' quiet __________________ I shall meet all of my deadlines directly in proportion to the amount of bodily injury I could expect to receive from missing them.