How do I move bliss to a new or different computer?

The steps to move bliss to a new computer are:

• Install bliss on the target computer.
• Copy settings from the old computer to the new computer.
• Re-install any licences.

Here, computer can mean desktop, laptop, NAS or whatever.

What isn't covered is the bliss database; it's best to allow the fresh install of bliss to rescan your library. Given the same settings and the same music library, compliance assessment should be the same, although suggested responses may on occasion diverge depending on the responses from online information sources.

Install bliss on the target computer

This one's pretty simple - follow the instructions linked from here.

Copy settings from the old computer to the new computer

bliss settings are stored in three files inside your %USER_HOME%\.bliss folder. Copying settings is as simple as copying these files to the correct location on your new installation on the target computer.

%USER_HOME% is the path to your home folder on your particular computer, so the .bliss folder location depends on your operating system. By default, and in most cases, these are:

Windows XP	C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\.bliss
Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 10	C:\Users\[username]\.bliss
Mac OS X (see below)	/Users/[username]/Library/Preferences/bliss
Linux	/home/[username]/.bliss
Docker	/config (within the container); find where this is mounted from in the run command
Synology	/var/packages/bliss/target/var/.bliss
QNAP	`getcfg SHARE_DEF defVolMP -f /etc/config/def_share.info`/.qpkg/bliss/.bliss
VortexBox	/root/.bliss

In that folder, make a copy of the following files:

• settings
• activePolicies
• ui

Copy these to the equivalent %USER_HOME%\.bliss folder on your target computer.

You may see other folders, such as jetty-ui and jetty-debug. Don't copy them; they are files used as to cache the user interface when running, and are regenerated. In some cases you may find the resulting file paths are too long to copy anyway.

A warning about music libraries

There's a particular setting in settings that sets the music folder(s) being managed by bliss:

musicLibrary=/Volumes/My Music

The actual value (the right hand side) of musicLibrary will depend on your music library, of course! The important bit to be aware of is that this might not make sense on the target computer. If the location is on an internal hard drive, for instance, that location may not exist on the target.

If that's the case, don't expect bliss to start scanning straight away; you'll have to edit the music library location on the Settings page and then Apply rules.

You're now at the point that you can restart bliss, and re-install your licence.

Re-install any licences

Unfortunately your fixes licence cannot be moved technically such that it just appears on the new install.

To install your licence, find the code from your purchase email, click the n fixes left link, and copy/paste the code on that page.