Setting Options via Configuration Files

Note: Because Maxwell can interact with other Ansys products, the following sections on setting options via configuration files include examples and information applicable to various other Ansys products.

In addition to setting options from the Desktop interface, you can also set options in several configuration files.

Option settings in configuration files can apply to all users or only to a specific user, and can apply to all hosts or only to specific hosts. There are four levels, listed below from most specific (highest precedence) to most general (lowest precedence):

Host-dependent user options (apply to the specified user on the specified host only)
Host-independent user options (apply to the specified user on all hosts)
Host-dependent default options (apply to all users on the specified host)
Installation default (default for all users on all hosts)

A setting at any level will override settings at lower levels in the list above. If there is no setting in any file, the application default value will be used. See UpdateRegistry for instructions on selecting these levels.

Important: Options set from the Desktop interface will override settings in configuration files.

Behavior Examples

Consider running an application as user jsmith on host host123. Also, assume the following conditions apply:

There is no host-dependent user setting for the Expand Project Tree on Insert option in the host-dependent user options config file for user jsmith on host host123.
But the option exists in the host-independent user options config file for user jsmith.

In this situation, the latter setting is used (if it is not overridden using the Desktop interface). Any settings in the host-dependent default options config file or the installation default config file are ignored.

As another example, consider running an application as user jdoe on host host123. Also, assume that the following conditions apply:

There is no setting for the Expand Project Tree on Insert option in the host-dependent user options config file for jdoe on host123.
There is no setting in the host-independent user options config file for user jdoe.
And, there is no setting in the host-dependent default options config file for host host123.

In this situation, the value from the installation default config file is used, if present.

Rules for Modifying Option Settings

Option settings displayed in the Desktop interface follow the above rules. That is, if there is a setting in any of the option config files, then the setting from the highest priority config file is displayed in the Desktop interface. If there is no setting in any of the option config files, then the global default value is used.

You can modify settings using the various Options windows accessed via the Tools > Options menu. If a window is closed with the Cancel button, then changes made to any settings are discarded. If the window is closed with the OK button, then any settings that have been changed become immediately effective. These changes are written to the host-dependent user options config file when you exit the Electronics Desktop application. The changed values written to this file are then used the next time that the application is launched by the same user on the same host. The Desktop interface option settings are not written to any of the other option config files.

Configuration File Locations

The configuration files for host-dependent and installation default options reside at: <installation_directory>\<version>\<platform>\config. The configuration files for host-dependent and host-independent user options reside in a subfolder of the user's Documents folder (for Windows) or the user's HOME folder (for Linux). See the tables below for specific Windows and Linux file names and paths.

Products with Multiple Desktop Versions

For products that have multiple Desktop versions, each version has a separate user-specific config folder with a different value for <ApplicationName&Version> (the parent folder name). Similarly, each version has a separate config folder for the host-dependent default and installation default config files. This folder is under the path, <InstallationDirectory>\<version>\<platform>. See the tables that follow for specific Windows and Linux file names and paths.

Table of Directories and Files

The following table shows the directories and files, where the Level Name is the name used to describe an options config file when using the UpdateRegistry tool.

Config File	Level Name	File Name	Windows Directory Path	Linux Directory Path
host-dependent user options	user_machine	<hostname>_user.XML	%UserProfile%\Documents\Ansoft \<ApplicationName&Version>\config	$HOME/Ansoft /<ApplicationName&Version>/config
host-independent user options	user	user.XML		$HOME/Ansoft /<ApplicationName&Version>/config
host-dependent default options	install_machine	<hostname>.XML	<InstallationDirectory>\v<version> \Win64\config	<InstallationDirectory>/v<version> /Linux64/config
installation default	install	default.XML	<InstallationDirectory>\v<version> \Win64\config	<InstallationDirectory>/v<version> /Linux64/config

Note:

<hostname> is the name of the computer on which the Electronics Desktop software is installed
%UserProfile% is a Windows variable that represents the currently active user's profile (for example, C:\Users\JohnDoe)
<ApplicationName&Version> is the product name (without spaces) followed by the four-digit year of the version, a decimal point, and the minor release number (such as ElectronicsDesktop2024.2)
$HOME is the user's home directory on Linux
<InstallationDirectory> is the root folder where the Electronics Desktop software is installed (typically, C:\Program Files\AnsysEM, on Windows, or /opt/AnsysEM, on Linux)
<Version> is the last two digits of the product version's year followed by the minor release number, without a decimal point (such as 242)

The following table shows an example of specific file names and directory names for a typical Ansys Electronics Desktop installation on Microsoft Windows and on Linux. These are the files that apply to software version 2024 R2, user "jsmith," and hostname "host123":

Config File	Level Name	File Name	Windows Directory Path	Linux Directory Path
host-dependent user options	user_machine	host123_user.XML	C:\Users\jsmith\Documents\Ansoft \ElectronicsDesktop2024.2\config	/home/jsmith/Ansoft /ElectronicsDesktop2024.2/config
host-independent user options	user	user.XML		/home/jsmith/Ansoft /ElectronicsDesktop2024.2/config
host-dependent default options	install_machine	host123.XML	C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\v242 \Win64\config	/opt/AnsysEM/v242/Linux64/config
installation default	install	default.XML	C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\v242 \Win64\config	/opt/AnsysEM/v242/Linux64/config

Note: As with the temporary file location configuration files, the settings in these options files have precedence in the following sequence: user_machine (highest precedence), user, install_machine, install (lowest precedence). The first time you start and then exit the application, the file at the "user_machine" level is created (<hostname>_user.XML). The other files are only created if you use the UpdateRegistry tool to specify an option at the "user," "install_machine," or "install" level. If the temporary directory is set to an empty string in a configuration file, then that setting is ignored.