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I want to keep trying out the new features and report any problems with v 1.00 but it's just too unstable. Its a real pain to keep uninstalling a working version and then installing the new version. Can multiple versions be on at the same time?

I'm on XP so the question becomes, does vlc write to the windows registry? If not, I would think I could do some quick folder renaming. And if I knew what registry entries were being setup I might be able to write a tcl script to swap between two versions.

Any thoughts?

By default VLC is using %appdata%\VLC folder for storing its settings. So if you want to use another version you need to specify a different folder where the settings will be stored:
VLC.exe --config="path"

You can use .zip or .7z packages for testing. No need for installing.

Ahh, great, this does work. I unzipped into a folder and run from there and also use --config.

One more question.

Where does it save the information that it just crashed?

I have been having a lot of crashes, and somehow vlc KNOWS that it crashed on the next startup. I can't see that it's storing this info in the config file, and if I provide an alternate file with --config, then where is it storing the fact that it just crashed (on windows xp). Is this in the registry or something in the %appdata%\VLC folder?

At this point, I've already clicked yes to sending in bug reports numerous times and would like to disable this as it affects my startup scripting.

Where does it save the information that it just crashed?

In the config folder you'll find a file called "crashdump" after VLC has crashed.

Where does it save the information that it just crashed?

In the config folder you'll find a file called "crashdump" after VLC has crashed.

I found it, but is it supposed to be a zero length file? Where does it actually store anything to send in? I was hoping to find something useful that might provide a clue as to why it's crashing.

Also, is it supposed to store this in the %appdata%\vlc folder, even if I use --config to point to an alternate spot for the config file? I think it may also be writing something else here, since when I go back to my 0.99 version, things have changed (I now see a toolbar with play etc. showing up on my primary display while the video plays on my secondary display - since the last position was on the secondary, but I never saw this toolbar before - until I ran version 1.0.0).

I only run 1.0.0 using an alternate location for the config file, so I was hoping it would not touch the %appdata%\vlc directory that is still used by my 0.99 version.

By default VLC is using %appdata%\VLC folder for storing its settings. So if you want to use another version you need to specify a different folder where the settings will be stored:
VLC.exe --config="path"

Where is this Config argument being set, on Windows XP ?

Where is this Config argument being set, on Windows XP ?

I've set it in two ways, one is via a shortcut as a command line argument in the target text box. The other way is via a command line execution (not sure how it's actually done), which I invoke from the tcl scripting language using the exec command. It could also be done via a windows batch file or as a one time command entered into the command window, or I guess using the run option in the start menu.

It does appear, however, that this does not keep it from changing things in the %appdata%\vlc directory as well. While it will not write to the vlcrc, it does still overwrite vlc-qt-interface.ini, since when I restored this to a backed up version, the behavior I'd expected returned. The file definitely had been changed. Maybe there's another command line argument for this one as well, I don't know.

It does appear, however, that this does not keep it from changing things in the %appdata%\vlc directory as well. While it will not write to the vlcrc, it does still overwrite vlc-qt-interface.ini

Good point, maybe that's worth a ticket.