Automatically Sync Wow Addons between 2 computers using dropbox & symbolic links.

[Dastin]

A while back I posted a guide on how to automatically sync your addon and config files/directories between multiple machines using live mesh. Since then I've found an alternate way to get the same results using dropbox and symbolic links. By the way, it's a wall of text and this takes a bit of time to setup but if you play at multiple computers you will find the effort well worth it.

Orriginal MMOwned post. See this if using XP or prefer live mesh to dropbox.


Updated method using dropbox and symbolic links:
(Note, this only works in Vista. It will probably work on windows 7 but haven't tried that yet. BTW, If you are using windows 7 and have tried it please reply to this thread and i will rep you.)

Dropbox (https://www.getdropbox.com/) is a service similar to live mesh that many people seem to prefer. Since it will only sync files in the dropbox folder and not the WoW directory we need to create an association between the two locations. This is achieved by placing the files in dropbox and making a symbolic link (pointer - sorta like a shortcut) from the old location to the new.

1. Move your WOW Addons & WTF folders to the "My Dropbox" folder.
For example
move "C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\Interface\Addons" to "C:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\My Dropbox\Addons"
move "C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\WTF" to "C:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\My Dropbox\WTF"


2. Create the symbolic link at the old location.
Open a command prompt and type:
junction "C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\Interface\Addons" "C:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\My Dropbox\Addons"
junction "C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\WTF" "C:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\My Dropbox\WTF"


On the second computer install dropbox, delete your addons and WTF folders, sync your dropbox, follow step 2 above and you are done. Rinse and repeat if you use more than 2 machines to play wow.

If you have trouble with the symbolic links or are using a non windows OS you can find more info here: TipsAndTricks/SyncOtherFolders - Dropbox Wiki


Enjoy only updating addons on one machine and not spending 20-30 min syncing each day.
-Dastin

[Martin240]

Or you could just use the new curse client.

[Dastin]

Or you could just use the new curse client.

This will save you having to manually update each computer with the curse client. Plus, it also copies over any settings you have for mods or UI so each machine looks the same.

[dondavis]

Is it safe to share WTF folder in DropBox?

[Doctah Doom]

Works in Windows 7.

[dragonaut]

This can also be done using a free simple tool called SyncToy. No need to make any shortcuts or move folders. This however only works if the two computers are on the same network. (if you run Hamachi on both computers you can do it without them being in the same network.)
Additionally you can move the WTF and interface folders to a memory stick, and create shortcuts in the wow folder pointing to these folders.

[Zigian]

Thanks for this. +Rep Works in Win7 but you need to download junction from sysinternals. Junction v1.05 You can also use junction in WinXP by downloading it from sysinternals as well. Requires NTFS volume tho.

As far as synctoy, I moved from synctoy to dropbox because dropbox is instantaneous and automatic. With synctoy, you have to tell it to sync, either by manually launching synctoy, or making a scheduled task to do it on a time interval. Regardless, it's not instantaneous.

[Swordcaller]

I dont see why this is rly needed but since ppl seem to like it, gj i guess xD

[bitaheaven]

nice work.. +rep

[Black Gull]

When working with Windows 7, you don't have to download anything. Just use

mklink /D "C:\Users\Public\Games\World of Wacraft\Interface" "C:\Users\Documents\My Dropbox\"

That's what I did. Worked perfect without downloading anything.
Thanks Dastin for this

[Zigian]

When working with Windows 7, you don't have to download anything. Just use

mklink /D "C:\Users\Public\Games\World of Wacraft\Interface" "C:\Users\Documents\My Dropbox\"

That's what I did. Worked perfect without downloading anything.
Thanks Dastin for this

Damn Microsoft. Why can't they keep something as simple as this the same between versions. It was junction in Vista, why not keep it as junction. Thanks for this.