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Transferring Vivaldi to a new computer
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I'm probably being very stupid, but I'm starting to think there's no good way to do this.
On the one hand, Sync exists, but it doesn't transfer everything.
On the other hand, per this tutorial...
...the User Data/Default folder does have everything (minus extensions, but including extension settings), and you can manually copy it over, but then it seems you'll have trouble if you ever try to use Sync in the future? Is that right?
I'm getting that from the note at the bottom of the tutorial:
Warning Using a copy of your profile in another Vivaldi installation with enabled Sync may result in broken "remote sessions". More information / solution here.This is what seems to be the solution at the "here" link:
Open the Preferences file in one of your instances.
Look for cache_guid and session_sync_guid and change a letter in this GUID (don't change the two equal signs at the end)
Restart and you'll have two sessions in the cloud.
I don't understand any of that. Where is the Preferences file, what does "change a letter" mean (rename something?), and then you'll end up with two Syncs instead of one, forevermore? Why would I want two? It sounds confusing.
Currently I don't have Sync set up at all, anywhere. I've never used it, but I might want to in the future.
(Also I did see the warning about making sure source and target installations are exactly the same version.)
Thanks for any help.
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@Inclement The
Preferencesfile has some of your settings in it. Amongst those settings are some GUIDs.These are "Globally Unique Identifiers" - I.e. every profile that connects to sync has its own ID.
If you didn't change these, then when you copied the profile over, the sync server would not be able to tell the machines apart. This could result in sync failing to work, or worse, losing your data.
By changing one digit, it gives each machine a separate ID, so the sync server knows how to separate them.
Did that make sense? I know stuff like this isn't always easy to understand/explain
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@LonM said in Transferring Vivaldi to a new computer:
Did that make sense?
I'm not sure.
Where is the Preferences file located?
And can we go through two scenarios?
One
I have old laptop O with Vivaldi and Windows 7 on it. I buy new laptop N with Windows 10, because 7's expiration is looming. I want to install Vivaldi on N, make sure it works the same and has all my stuff, and then permanently disconnect O from the internet.What's the best way to transfer from O to N: Sync, or manually copy over User Data/Default?
(In this case, if I'm thinking straight, I won't need to keep syncing O and N, because O's not on the internet. I think I'd use Vivaldi on O only to open the occasional locally-saved .html or .mhtml page, and it won't be important to keep it updated or anything.)
Two
But then at some point I buy Android tablet T and install Vivaldi on it. N and T are both connected to the internet, and I want Vivaldi to stay the same on both of them.How should I transfer (initially) from N to T?
I assume, ongoing, I'd have to use Sync between N and T to keep them the same - but has the transfer (by whichever method) from O to N months earlier messed up Sync between N and T?
I hope that's somewhat understandable, and thank you...
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@Inclement said in Transferring Vivaldi to a new computer:
Where is the Preferences file located?
I'll take the easy one first
The preferences file is in your profile folder - look under Menu/Help/About for the "profile folder" to locate it.
What's the best way to transfer from O to N: Sync, or manually copy over User Data/Default?
Really it depends on what you mean by "all my stuff".
If you have NOT used sync so far, then copying the profile folder is probably best as you are discarding "O"!
That way you don't have to worry about the GUID from "O" as you haven't used sync!
As you know you will lose passwords, extensions ...
See this thread https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/41352/windows-encrypted-password-and-data-store-dpapiHow should I transfer (initially) from N to T?
This is where you WOULD use sync.
So another reason NOT to use sync for transferring "O to N". -
Sync will get your extensions and passwords, bookmarks, etc. on the new machine. Your sync login will initially rely on your forum login, and will be durable from machine to machine. You can log in with the same sync credentials from a dozen machines. Before you sync O to N, you want to delete N's default bookmarks, unless you want these along with all your others.
I used to copy profile folders from one machine to another, but with sync, this is basically obsolete. What you will NOT be able to copy using sync will be things like themes and colors. If THAT stuff is important to you, then don't sync at first. Instead, copy the whole User Data folder from the old machine to the new, then close the browser on new, delete the bookmarks and login data files from the Default folder inside User Data, re-start the browser, and THEN sync the machines - logging the old machine on to sync first.
As to tablet, unless it's a Windows tablet, you can't copy anything. Rather you install the Vivaldi mobile app on the tablet, delete its bookmarks, and then sign in to sync with your desktop. If your tablet is an iPad, there is no Vivaldi version for that. I have it on a couple of Android tablets now, though.
Volunteer Mod and tester on Windows 11 Home X64, i7-13700 @ 5.4 GHz turbo; Intel UHD 770 graphics; 1TB NV2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD; 32 GB DDR4-3200 RAM. Community Code of Conduct
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Thanks, everyone. I found the Preferences file and opened it in Notepad, but when I ctrl-f'd, neither cache_guid nor session_sync_guid were there. Is that just because I haven't turned on Sync yet?
I think I'm getting a better feel for this now, thank you. Turns out new laptop needs a larger hard drive which is on order, so might not try anything till that's done. Will update thread.
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I recently had to buy a new PC, since the previous one has stopped working. In the new one I installed Vivaldi and entered my account. With Sync I have recovered all my things (extensions, passwords, bookmarks, most of my settings ...), in 5 minutes I had my usual Vivaldi again, without losing anything. Sync rules
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Update: worked perfectly!
I updated Vivaldi and backed up the User Data folder on the old laptop, installed Vivaldi on the new laptop and moved its (original default) User Data folder elsewhere, robocopied the old laptop's User Data onto a flash drive, then robocopied it from the flash drive into C:\Users\ ...\Appdata\Local\Vivaldi\ on the new laptop - and the only little thing I had to do afterwards was install my extensions (the extension settings transferred over just fine). Didn't use Sync.
If there's any settings or anything that didn't transfer, I haven't noticed them yet.
I cleared the cache before copying - didn't see much point in transferring that.
Am delighted. Thanks for the help, folks!
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Hi,
I'm quite computer illiterate so please be patient
I have the same scenario as Catweazle further up - bought a new laptop because old one was broken. I synced Vivaldi (it tells me sync is complete) but I don't see any of my bookmarks. The bar is empty apart from pre-installed stuff like amazon.
Any help? Thanks -
@skythekat Had you sync'ed the earlier laptop?
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I thought I did, but I wouldn't swear to it. But if it says 'download complete' (or similar) I must have done, no? It also asked for the encryption key (which I entered.)
Update: I synced again - first it said something about trouble with another user, but then it worked and now I can see my bookmarks - yay! Not sure if I was just being dumb or if it simply took time, but it's here now. Thank you.
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@skythekat said in Transferring Vivaldi to a new computer:
But if it says 'download complete' (or similar) I must have done, no?
No, not actually. "Download: Done" just means whatever was on the server was successfully transmitted/added to the browser, even if that "whatever" was actually empty or null data settings. There would have to have been a successful prior sync in order for the server to have data on it. If there's no data there, then since there's no data awaiting download, Download: Done will be reported.
And, yes, it does take time. Sync will usually report success some minutes before the results of that success show up in your browser.
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@Ayespy I am doing it now- thank you
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Just to tell you that the method used by Inclement to transfer the "User Data" folder from an Old Win-10 to a New Win-11 computer (ie without using Sync) worked perfectly for me, even 4 years later.
I too have found nothing significant missing.
This tells me something very positive about Vivaldi's overall stability, development team, and user community.Thanks to all!
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Hi,
You can find extra info below--
Avoid
Data loss
Follow the Backup | Reset links below
Vivaldi Backup | Reset + Extra Steps
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Add another successful transfer of preferences and open tabs (across all workspaces) using the "Inclement" steps.
