Portable Mediamonkey

This is an overview of how to setup MediaMonkey for USB stick, external drive, or shared network install.

First, read the FAQs for Shared Settings and Changing the location of the library database.

These 2 articles provide the background necessary to understand what needs to be done.

Once you understand the FAQs, then you will also understand that the process outlined below requires your device to always have the same drive letter (or UNC network path if you are using a NAS or server). You can manually assign a letter in the Windows Control Panel > Computer Management > Disk Manager.

Another important point is that MediaMonkey also stores some settings in the registry. These settings are generally the UI settings/positions and 'Gold' key if you have one, among other things. These settings will not be portable between computers, but normally you won't need them to be once you're all set up.

Finally, you should understand that both articles can be done independently. You can have shared settings while still having independent databases, or you can have independent settings while having a shared database.

What we are going to do, is combine both functions so that both settings and library are stored in one location (your USB stick/external drive/network folder).

• Move your existing MediaMonkey program folder or install a fresh copy to your destination device (USB stick, external drive, network share).

• Move your Mediamonkey.ini from the default user location to the program location you moved or installed MM to on your destination device. Your user Mediamonkey.ini should reside in the same location as the Mediamonkey.exe (rename or overwrite any existing Mediamonkey.ini in the program folder).

• To have a shared database, you must now edit the Mediamonkey.ini and follow the directions in the FAQ by adding the appropriate entry and path. You can let MM create a new database there or move your existing database to the new location on the destination device.

Now, you should have a MM install on your device, your MediaMonkey folder should contain your existing Mediamonkey.ini, and your Mediamonkey.ini should point to your database also located somewhere on the device.

If your music is also on the device, then you should be able to access everything as one package. If your music is located elsewhere, then you must also have access to that location in order to play the music from that location.

For example, I have all of my music, my MediaMonkey program folder, Mediamonkey.ini and MM3.db all located on my external drive J: and I can run MM and access my music from there as long as I make sure that the drive always gets J: when connected to any computer.

Hopefully this information is helpful in getting your portable monkey working.