Changing "Final Fantasy XI Destination Folder"

[Vhaan]

I bought an external hard drive and switched final fantasy XI onto it from my laptop because my laptop is having problems and can't connect to the internet. I know that i got every file on the hardrive, but when i moved it to another computer that can support FFXI, i get an error message "Cannot open registry key for instal path of Playonline-compatible software. ID=1000.

I click the ok button and it pops up again 5 or 6 times, and the first POL screen pops up. Then it says "Playonline Viewer installation cannot write to specified destination folder. Please check your access privileges." I dont have the instal discs or i would just use those. Is there anything i can do to fix this problem?

[Mhurron]

Ya, install it on other computers. You can't just take involved windows programs and move them from one machine to another and expect them to work.

[Ameroth]

Just copying files isn't good enough. If Windows has no idea the program is supposed to be in the place you've copied it to, the game isn't going to work. The installation process makes all system edits so Windows knows exactly where the program is and how to run it. You'll need the CDs/DVD to make the game work in the new location.

[Kafeen]

Open you're Start Menu. Select Run. Type "Regedit" without quotes.

Find:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PlayOnlineUS if you have a US version,
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PlayOnlineEU if you have a EU version,
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PlayOnline if you have a JP version.

Open it and select the "InstallFolder" key just below it.

You'll see 3 entries on the right hand panel. One for FF, for for Tetra Master, one for Playonline. Double click on the number at the side of them and change the directory path to where you moved FF to.

It should work again after that.

[Vhaan]

Thank you! I got to the registry editor and found PlayonlineUS, but where is the InstallFolder?

[Aksannyi]

Pardon this necro bump, but I just got this same error a little bit ago. I haven't changed anything regarding this machine since I last played, which was last night around 11PM. The only thing I can think of is that my computer is doing a virus scan, and I'm wondering if it just doesn't want to start until the scan is complete?

So far the scan shows no infections.

Any advice?

[KingOfZeal]

I would find the registry keys mentioned above and see what they say. It's highly unlikely, but possible, they were changed to something else.

But, I do know that just copying the files is indeed very possible -- I had actually run the initial install on my new laptop, which was right after a version update that my main desktop computer had already gotten, I didn't want to wait for the files to update through POL, so I copied most of the folders (the data and sound folders) to my laptop. Took about an hour, and everything was up-to-date and everything. I think you just need to install the base packs to get the registry entries and you'll be fine.

[Aksannyi]

I was just about to Ninja edit my post to say that now that the virus scan is done, it works. I guess my virus scanner doesn't like to let me play with stuff while it's going on.