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Rainmeter and omnimo

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Dana123
Posts: 4
Joined: April 7th, 2018, 3:03 pm

Rainmeter and omnimo

Post by Dana123 »

I have been using omnimo and rainmeter for a number of years to create basic usefull desktops and am quite pleased with the results. However I would like to create a duplicate layout with a different color scheme. All the same objects, tiles and widgits in the same place but with different colors ie. light text on a dark background or dark text on a light background. Omnimo can change the colors easily but changes the colors of icons and text in all layouts. Is there a way to run two instalations of rainmeter in two diferent folders? Running them seperatly would allow me to accomplish this. Anny assistance would be most appreciated.
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balala
Rainmeter Sage
Posts: 16110
Joined: October 11th, 2010, 6:27 pm
Location: Gheorgheni, Romania

Re: Rainmeter and omnimo

Post by balala »

Dana123 wrote:Is there a way to run two instalations of rainmeter in two diferent folders? Running them seperatly would allow me to accomplish this. Anny assistance would be most appreciated.
No, probably can't run Rainmeter twice, but you can run twice the Omnimo suite. For this, copy the Omnimo config back to the Skins folder, with a different name, eg Omnimo2 and refresh all. Now you can load both instances of Omnimo.
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Brian
Developer
Posts: 2673
Joined: November 24th, 2011, 1:42 am
Location: Utah

Re: Rainmeter and omnimo

Post by Brian »

balala wrote:No, probably can't run Rainmeter twice, but you can run twice the Omnimo suite.
I realize this is a little off-topic since balala's answer is correct for the topic, but I just wanted to remind everyone that there is actually a few ways to run multiple instances of Rainmeter.
  1. Run an installed version of Rainmeter, and a portable version(s) of Rainmeter.
  2. Starting Rainmeter.exe with a settings .ini file as an argument.
    C:\Program Files\Rainmeter\Rainmeter.exe "C:\path\to\another\settings\file.ini"
Obviously there will be some challenges. The most common approach would be option #1 in which you will still need to either copy the SkinPath from your installed version to your portable version - or - you will need to copy the skins folder from your documents to the Skins folder in your portable installation folder. Be careful if copying your SkinPath (see below).

The less obvious method is the more dangerous option #2. You can copy your current setting file (usually in %AppData%) and paste it in a new location (or rename it, or whatever). Then run Rainmeter.exe with the new settings file as the parameter. If you are using the same SkinPath, the danger here is that 1 skin can write things (!WriteKeyValue) or download things through WebParser that can effect the other skin, so care needs to be taken. I don't believe most people know of this method.

-Brian
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balala
Rainmeter Sage
Posts: 16110
Joined: October 11th, 2010, 6:27 pm
Location: Gheorgheni, Romania

Re: Rainmeter and omnimo

Post by balala »

Brian wrote:
  1. Starting Rainmeter.exe with a settings .ini file as an argument.
    C:\Program Files\Rainmeter\Rainmeter.exe "C:\path\to\another\settings\file.ini"
:17what I had no idea about this (very interesting) possibility before, but it definitely work. So I was one of those who didn't know it. :17what
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jsmorley
Developer
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Joined: April 19th, 2009, 11:02 pm
Location: Fort Hunt, Virginia, USA

Re: Rainmeter and omnimo

Post by jsmorley »

Do be aware that if you copy Rainmeter.ini to another path and use:

C:\Program Files\Rainmeter\Rainmeter.exe "C:\path\to\another\settings\file.ini"

Then a whole new environment, an entirely different Rainmeter settings folder, the folder that Rainmeter.ini resides in, will be used / created. The point of this is that any existing 3rd-party Plugins or saved Layouts will not be in this new environment unless you also copy them there.

Not saying this is bad, it means you can have two entirely different versions of Rainmeter that can share one Skins folder, but unless it is two differently named Rainmeter.ini files in the same settings folder, they won't share plugins or layouts.
Dana123
Posts: 4
Joined: April 7th, 2018, 3:03 pm

Re: Rainmeter and omnimo

Post by Dana123 »

Thanks to all for their replies. I will give it a try as soon as I can. But first I will create a restore point just in case. It would be useful to have two environments. One for a brightly lit room and another for a dimly lit room.

Thanks again.
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