So, as I’ve been using the SVNs for a while, having the ability to share the watched status (playstate folder) between my HTPCs was a paramount addition.  I have nearly 70 different TV series with hundreds of seasons and thousands of episodes, so keeping track of what I have watched is actually pretty important…especially if you like to mix up what you watch on a daily basis.

The Media Browser team answered the call by creating a new feature that has not yet been added by default in the XML configuration file, but can be added and will be obeyed.  It’s called <UserSettingsPath> and will create a new cache location wherever you set it to look with a sharable playstate and display folder.  Yes, display settings are also now capable of being uniform across multiple HTPCs by enabling this.

I just finished setting this up live (I had been testing it prior) and even after clearing my cache, I found that it worked flawlessly.  My bedroom HTPC is the most heavily used and contained the most accurate watched status directory, so that is what I copied to my UserSettingsPath location.  Display settings were already set by the test systems and were also correctly ‘changed’ when accessing Media Browser the first time since enabling this.

After playing around for a while, I started to wonder how long it would take users of Media Browser to start complaining that they want the shared watched status, but not display preferences?  I know it’s going to happen, so I thought up a pretty simple solution.   It involves one quick and easy step that does not even include the new UserSettingsPath setting.

1. Go to C:\ProgramData\MediaBrowser\Cache and copy your playstate folder to a network location that all HTPCs can access (read and write permissions are necessary).
2. Once copied, delete the local playstate directory (entire directory, contents only will not do it).  Make sure Media Browser is closed so there is no directory lock.
3. Open a command line prompt (administrator priviledges will probably be required).
4. Run the following command: mklink /D C:\ProgramData\MediaBrowser\Cache\playstate \\network\location\playstate
5. Take note of the italicized portion of the above command.  That is the exact location of your playstate folder (if using UNC, use UNC for all system.  If using drive mappings, make sure they are the same drive letter for all systems).
6. Repeat for each HTPC that you want shared watched status and unique display settings for.

That’s it.  What this does is make use of the shared playstate folder capabilities without using the UserSettingsPath option.  Your HTPC will be able to store its display settings locally, as usual, but will be using a universally shared playstate folder for updating watch status via directory junction.

I’ve done this in the past when sharing the playstate folder was not really supported, so now that it is, I can’t foresee any issues.  I have not tried it though and probably won’t.  I don’t mind shared display settings.

Anyway, give it a shot if it interests you and let me know how you made out!