2012-01-05, 21:22
Requirements:
This is how it works:
Your library is stored on a network storage/device, all your XBMC systems can access. Your library is stored there too. The things we do now make your PCs synch the data on their local drives with the network storage in real-time. That way you can use all the advantages of XBMC sharing a library, like watching a movie in one room, setting a bookmark and go into another room and start the movie at this exact point. And your databases are up to date on all the mashines all the time.
Works perfect for me. I use XBMC on Win7 and XP and tried it with all versions from 9.04 upwards to Eden beta1.
So let´s get started:
Perform all steps on all machines!!
If you downloaded the dsynchronize tool copy it to your program files folder and create a second folder called dsynchronizestart and paste the files into here as well (so you got the program twice!)
Go to your xbmc appdata folder (in portable mode in the program folder, in regular mode here):
Now we want to make sure, all PCs access the libraries on the same drive (e.g. X:\).
Here we create a bat file that´s started with Windows.
Start the editor and paste the text between <<>> into the file:
<<
:anfang
ping -n 4 IP-address of the Network device > nul
if errorlevel 1 goto anfang
net use * /delete /yes
ping -n 1 IP-address of the Network device > nul
if errorlevel 1 goto anfang
NET USE R: \\ IP-address of the Network device\folder /user:NAME PASSWORD /PERSISTENT:NO
cd C:\Location of Dsynchronize folder
start DSynchronize.exe /MINIMIZED /START
cd..
cd..
cd..
cd..
start autostart.vbs
start xbmc.lnk –d10
exit
>>
Save as it start.bat and copy it to C:\. Create a file shortcut and paste it to your autostart folder. Go to file properties and choose as option “minimized”.
This file makes sure that first the network access is there and that the network storage is always the same drive. Fill in the right IP address, or alternatively the networkname of the device and the password and user, if necessary. You can create more than one drive this way by just copying the command.
The rest of the file you have to adjust with your specific infos e.g. the location of Dsynchronize, XBMC is started with a delay of 10 seconds, so that dsynchronize was performed beforehand. You can adjust this by changing the numer behind the –d parameter.
The autostart.vbs we will create in the next:
Start the editor and paste the text between <<>> into the file:
<<
Dim T1, T2, X0, X1, X2, P1, P2
X2=0
Do While 1 > 0
if X2 < 7855 then
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
P1="c:\0815.lnk"
P2=1
WScript.Sleep 30000
WshShell.Run P1, P2
end if
T1 = time
WScript.Sleep 10000
T2 = time
X0 = T2-T1
X1 = CDate(X0)
X2 = CLng(1/X0)
if X2 < 1 then
X2 = 8640
end if
Loop
>>
Save it as autostart.vbs on your C:\ drive.
Create a file shortcut of the Dsynchronize.exe in the Dsynchronizestart folder we have created previously and copy it into your C:\ drive. Rename it to 0815. Go to file properties and add this parameters to the location: /MINIMIZED /START
Create a file shortcut of the XBMC.exe and paste it to your C:\folder. Go to file properties and add this parameters to the location: -fs
Now we have to make the right settings in the Dsynchronize Sofwares.
We created two versions because one starts, whenever you start your PC and synchronizes changes in realtime. The otherone is started at least ten seconds after you start your PC or wake it up from hibernate or suspend/standby mode. This way we make sure that if you just hibernate your PC the synching is done.
Go to Program files and start the Dsynchronize.exe in the dsynchronize folder.
This window is really easy to understand. First pick the folder to synchronize (you can select other folders ontop if you want them to ba synched in real time).
The folder to choose on left side is the in the XBMC userdata folder you can find in the app data folder.It´s called databases. On the right side, choose the same folder you just copied onto your network device. Checkmark the folders.
Checkmark on:
On the Dsynchronizestart version you can do the same but the checkmark on realtime sync and put a checkmark on “Exit at the end”. This program will automatically be started from autostart.vbs and closes afterwards.
Because the XBMC folder might be very big (resulting in a long syching time) and usually only changes in the database folder occur, I pick just the XBMC\userdata\database folder for synching and when necessary (like addons I newly installed or thumbnails that are new) I perform a synch on the XBMC folder. So I would recommend to just pick the mentioned database folder in this program. You can now close the program (so data will be saved,
Once in a while, if your system crashes the data in Dsynchronize can get lost. This might be annoying. So I save a copy of the Dsynchronize.ini file as dsynchronize.ini.old to rename it if that happens.
So this is it. I hope you can get through this guide. It was a little difficult to create cause I had to translate the things to English.
If you got any fixes or ways to make this work better, let me know.
- Windows XBMC Setup
- Networkshares, where you share your media like a NAS or a network storage device
- DSynchronize (Sync Tool, Download here)
This is how it works:
Your library is stored on a network storage/device, all your XBMC systems can access. Your library is stored there too. The things we do now make your PCs synch the data on their local drives with the network storage in real-time. That way you can use all the advantages of XBMC sharing a library, like watching a movie in one room, setting a bookmark and go into another room and start the movie at this exact point. And your databases are up to date on all the mashines all the time.
Works perfect for me. I use XBMC on Win7 and XP and tried it with all versions from 9.04 upwards to Eden beta1.
So let´s get started:
Perform all steps on all machines!!
If you downloaded the dsynchronize tool copy it to your program files folder and create a second folder called dsynchronizestart and paste the files into here as well (so you got the program twice!)
Go to your xbmc appdata folder (in portable mode in the program folder, in regular mode here):
- Windows XP: Documents and Settings\<your_user_name>\Application Data\XBMC\
- Vista/Windows 7: Users\<your_user_name>\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\
Now we want to make sure, all PCs access the libraries on the same drive (e.g. X:\).
Here we create a bat file that´s started with Windows.
Start the editor and paste the text between <<>> into the file:
<<
:anfang
ping -n 4 IP-address of the Network device > nul
if errorlevel 1 goto anfang
net use * /delete /yes
ping -n 1 IP-address of the Network device > nul
if errorlevel 1 goto anfang
NET USE R: \\ IP-address of the Network device\folder /user:NAME PASSWORD /PERSISTENT:NO
cd C:\Location of Dsynchronize folder
start DSynchronize.exe /MINIMIZED /START
cd..
cd..
cd..
cd..
start autostart.vbs
start xbmc.lnk –d10
exit
>>
Save as it start.bat and copy it to C:\. Create a file shortcut and paste it to your autostart folder. Go to file properties and choose as option “minimized”.
This file makes sure that first the network access is there and that the network storage is always the same drive. Fill in the right IP address, or alternatively the networkname of the device and the password and user, if necessary. You can create more than one drive this way by just copying the command.
The rest of the file you have to adjust with your specific infos e.g. the location of Dsynchronize, XBMC is started with a delay of 10 seconds, so that dsynchronize was performed beforehand. You can adjust this by changing the numer behind the –d parameter.
The autostart.vbs we will create in the next:
Start the editor and paste the text between <<>> into the file:
<<
Dim T1, T2, X0, X1, X2, P1, P2
X2=0
Do While 1 > 0
if X2 < 7855 then
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
P1="c:\0815.lnk"
P2=1
WScript.Sleep 30000
WshShell.Run P1, P2
end if
T1 = time
WScript.Sleep 10000
T2 = time
X0 = T2-T1
X1 = CDate(X0)
X2 = CLng(1/X0)
if X2 < 1 then
X2 = 8640
end if
Loop
>>
Save it as autostart.vbs on your C:\ drive.
Create a file shortcut of the Dsynchronize.exe in the Dsynchronizestart folder we have created previously and copy it into your C:\ drive. Rename it to 0815. Go to file properties and add this parameters to the location: /MINIMIZED /START
Create a file shortcut of the XBMC.exe and paste it to your C:\folder. Go to file properties and add this parameters to the location: -fs
Now we have to make the right settings in the Dsynchronize Sofwares.
We created two versions because one starts, whenever you start your PC and synchronizes changes in realtime. The otherone is started at least ten seconds after you start your PC or wake it up from hibernate or suspend/standby mode. This way we make sure that if you just hibernate your PC the synching is done.
Go to Program files and start the Dsynchronize.exe in the dsynchronize folder.
This window is really easy to understand. First pick the folder to synchronize (you can select other folders ontop if you want them to ba synched in real time).
The folder to choose on left side is the in the XBMC userdata folder you can find in the app data folder.It´s called databases. On the right side, choose the same folder you just copied onto your network device. Checkmark the folders.
Checkmark on:
- Copy only new files
- Bidirectional synchronization
- Create folder if not exists
- Save on exit
On the Dsynchronizestart version you can do the same but the checkmark on realtime sync and put a checkmark on “Exit at the end”. This program will automatically be started from autostart.vbs and closes afterwards.
Because the XBMC folder might be very big (resulting in a long syching time) and usually only changes in the database folder occur, I pick just the XBMC\userdata\database folder for synching and when necessary (like addons I newly installed or thumbnails that are new) I perform a synch on the XBMC folder. So I would recommend to just pick the mentioned database folder in this program. You can now close the program (so data will be saved,
Once in a while, if your system crashes the data in Dsynchronize can get lost. This might be annoying. So I save a copy of the Dsynchronize.ini file as dsynchronize.ini.old to rename it if that happens.
So this is it. I hope you can get through this guide. It was a little difficult to create cause I had to translate the things to English.
If you got any fixes or ways to make this work better, let me know.