POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.windows : Install for multiple users : Install for multiple users Server Time
23 Apr 2024 09:47:54 EDT (-0400)
  Install for multiple users  
From: Erich
Date: 6 May 2011 13:10:01
Message: <web.4dc4274092d8768d9b17e07a0@news.povray.org>
Preface:  I do desktop setups (among other things) and am not a POV-Ray user.

When I install POV-Ray v3.7rc3 as an administrator and select the option to
install it into c:\Program Files, it creates files in my install-user's "My
Documents".  If I move/delete that "POV-Ray" folder inside of "My Documents" and
then start POV-Ray, it gives me an error about not finding "Colors.inc".

The problem is that I need to install this so that users other than myself (who
may or may not be admins or have logged in yet) can use POV-Ray.  Ideally, when
POV-Ray is run for the first time, it would check if these files exist in
the default location inside the current user's profile (wherever that might be)
and creat them there if needed.  Everybody could be happy then.

It also doesn't appear that I can simply copy this folder to the default user's
profile (so that it is picked up for new users at least) because some of the
files have the install-user's profile path coded in (particularly povray.ini and
pvengine.ini).  Can I use system variables (like %userprofile%) in these files?
I don't really want to do it this way though because copying the nearly 2000(!)
files and folders really slows down first logins for everyone (when only a small
percentage will be using POV-Ray).

[An aside: Do users really need to edit 1800+ files?  Couldn't there be default
settings in a folder under "Program Files\POV-Ray" that are overridden if the
user chooses to create any specific file/setting in their "POV-Ray profile"?
That would keep the number of user-side files small, allow administrators to
define the defaults they want, and still allow customization by knowledgeable
users.]

I'm willing to use another option (though also not ideal) and put the folder
into the "Public Documents" folder so that all users could function, but I don't
know how to get POV-Ray to recognize that location.  The error for "Colors.inc"
not being found indicates that I can point to alternate locations, but I can't
find any (working) information on how to do that.

I will appreciate any insight you can offer.

Thanks,
Erich


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