Apache Friends Support Forum

I'm running XAMPP off a USB stick between 2 laptops - for wordpress development. Its working great EXCEPT that databases created on one laptop are not visible on the other and vice versa. The only ones that show up in PHPMyAdmin and are available are those created on that particular box (which are both windows). In the mysql/data folder all the databases are there and there are .pid and .err files that coresspond to each machine (ie 4 files instead of 2). How can I set it up so that all databases are available across each laptop? (since I need to use both for development and just want to swap the USB stick between them rather than having the hassle of backing up / restoring databases)

What version of XAMPP?

Are both PCs the same Windows OS?

Did you assign a drive letter to your USB when you installed XAMPP on it?
(ALL paths on a USB stick should be relative to make it truly portable ie. no drive letters in the paths especially in the Wordpress configurations.)

Make sure that in the XAMPP Control Panel (XCP) there are no ticks in any of the Svc boxes as these start the NT Services which require a registry entry and makes the USB totally unportable.

Do you have any other XAMPP installations on either of the laptops?

Hai
try to check this document
http://www.dotcomunderground.com/blogs/ ... ash-drive/
Might be it would be helpful..
I think u didnt mentioned any drive letter in the code,
if u have done so try using the same drive letter in both the machines..

ym_chaitu wrote:if u have done so try using the same drive letter in both the machines...

It is not recommended to use absolute paths on a USB stick rather relative paths so the USB remains portable no matter where you go.

If the server and the scripts are installed correctly on a USB, it should be completely portable or there is no real reason to use a USB as they are normally too slow to run a web server.

BTW a Google search similar to the one you used to find your link above has many such results of sites that give advise about installing a web server on a USB stick.

Your link is using a very old 1.5.4 version of XAMPP which is an indication of how old most of these tutorial are and no where in most of the tuts does it mention to use absolute paths over relative paths on a USB stick.

More importantly and on topic in this post, there are many sites that have tutorials on installing WordPress and it's database to a USB stick, here is just one of many:
http://www.getusb.info/wordpress-on-a-usb-stick/

Thanks for your replies. There is no drive letter assigned and the issue is not running wordpress / Apache & MySQL. I can sucessfully run the webserver on each machine. Rather the issue is if I create a database on one laptop it is not available on the other, although if i inspect the mySQL/data directory ALL databases are there. There must be a config setting somewhere that id's the machine and databases associated with it?

Make sure the only my.ini file is on your USB drive in the \xampp\mysql\bin folder.

Open this my.ini file in your text editor and see if you can locate a configuration that may be responsible for your issue - I have not heard of one.

Possible location for other my.ini files is in the Windows folder - you will have to check both PCs.

You can also search the Windows registry for any MySQL entries which should not be there.
I asked if the Svc boxes in the XCP were checked but you did not respond.

Check your Wordpress configuration for any clues.

Open phpMyAdmin and check there is only one Wordpress database and only one user for that database - you can open phpMyAdmin with the Wordpress database username and password to see the database only.

Check the Privileges tab for the user and confirm by using the little edit button at the end of the WP user line.

I will restate that if the server and the WP scripts are installed correctly on a USB stick then you should have no problem with portability.

what is the version of xampp your using up??