User settings & their location

[WallyGator]

Is it known what files on the unit affect the user configuration settings? Examples: how the icons are placed/ordered on the Apps List screen and the Home screen's layout, order & configured glances.

Or are these setting stored in some non user-accessible area of the unit?

These units don't use the "Profiles" type setting (easily backed up by backing up the Profiles folder) as past units did and I'm wondering what file(s) (if any) have been found to store the settings to make it easier to restore the unit to a certain user configuration. It's quite a pain to go through all the trouble setting up the unit exactly to your liking, then having to redo the whole tedious process in the event of a unit crash or the need to perform a full unit reset.

Any ideas?

Note that I have posted this in the H1 forum even though I own the eTrex Touch 2. Because the H1 and Touch 2 unit software is so similar and this forum has MUCH more traffic, I thought I'd post this here. Any thoughts on how this should be handled in the future? I don't want to cross-post the same question if it's going to be frowned upon.

[GPSrChive]

The GPSMAP H1 and eTrex Touch 2 are very much closely related!

Both are the first of a new generation of Garmin handhelds, and both share the same DNA. The eTrex Touch 2 is essentially a less featured GPSMAP H1 minus the buttons and Quad Helix antenna.

Both devices use a secure MTP mode that prevents unauthorized users from accessing system files. Instead of 'Profiles', these devices use 'Activities', each of which can be configured as the user desires. The core setup for each Activity is stored in the GPSr/Garmin/Sports/ directory as a *.fit file. I have not yet done any testing to see if these files are edited or if user changes are stored elsewhere on the device.

Cross Posting is definitely frowned on. You are welcome to post in any forum, so long as the post is relevant to that forum!

[JungleJim]

Is it known what files on the unit affect the user configuration settings? Examples: how the icons are placed/ordered on the Apps List screen and the Home screen's layout, order & configured glances.

Or are these setting stored in some non user-accessible area of the unit?

These units don't use the "Profiles" type setting (easily backed up by backing up the Profiles folder) as past units did and I'm wondering what file(s) (if any) have been found to store the settings to make it easier to restore the unit to a certain user configuration. It's quite a pain to go through all the trouble setting up the unit exactly to your liking, then having to redo the whole tedious process in the event of a unit crash or the need to perform a full unit reset.

Any ideas?

Judging from the files on the GPSMAP H1, settings seem to be stored in GARMIN\Settings\settings.fit and the FIT files in the GARMIN\Sports folder. So you might want to try backing up those files and testing if restoring those files also restores your configuration. Haven't tested that myself yet, though.

[WallyGator]

I have a full backup of the Touch 2 (before even powering it on for the first time) fresh out of the box (OOTB).
I have a full backup of the Touch 2 with my current configuration, all Home screens, glances, settings, etc.

I tried the obvious folders (those containing the .fit files) as well as the .fit files on the root of the device:
(I did pay attention to the time stamps on folders and files and when they were altered in trying to figure out what was being changed and when)
Settings (folder)
Sports (folder)
device.fit (root file)
GarminDevice.xml (root file, admittedly not a likely candidate)

I removed these current files from the unit replacing them with what was originally on the unit OOTB.
The unit stayed with my same current configuration and did not revert to an OOTB state.

Next test would be wiping the entire current file system (except for the installed maps) and replacing it with the OOTB file system. I don't know that I'd want to do that at this point as I somehow don't think it will work after having tried the obvious files/folders. I think the only way to revert the unit back to it's OOTB state would be to perform a full reset procedure. Note that I do not want to simply revert to an OOTB state...this is easy enough to do by resetting the unit. I want to go in the opposite direction and return to my pre-configured state after the unit has gone through a full reset for whatever reason. I have no clue if the unit would be returned to my newest/current configuration after copying the current file system back to the unit. If copying/restoring the obvious files/folders mentioned above didn't work, I don't see how doing the same with the full file system would unless I'm missing a file/folder somewhere.

I'm, under the impression that these unit settings are stored somewhere that's not accessible (maybe because of the MTP mode now used) to the user which isn't good for those that want to to be able to easily restore the unit to a known, preset configuration. It took me quite a while to get the unit setup to my liking. Yes, I could set it up again the tedious way but this is a step backwards (as far as backups go) from the previous "profiles" we had which were easily backed up and restored.

[WallyGator]

As a small experiment,I tried the following:

When you do a search on the unit, the file "recent_searches.db" is created in the root of the GARMIN folder. One would assume this file contains what you have recently searched for. I backed up this file (just in case), then deleted the file from the unit. After rebooting the unit, all of my recent searches were still on the unit. So deleting this file had zero effect on what the unit saw.

So in this case, to get rid of your recent searches (for example), the device would need to be reset to factory default.

This is indication that what you see on the unit (as far as the file system goes but NOT including maps (*.img files)) does not necessarily reflect what the unit itself can see/access. It's also a good indication that some settings/etc are mirrored/hidden elsewhere on the device.
This is most likely done to "protect" the device from accidental file deletion(s) by the user (in case no backup was ever made) but also makes it impossible to easily restore a device to a pre-configured state.

I can understand the assumption by Garmin that no backup would be made by the user under most situations, thus the need to protect certain files. However, this will be a HUGE PITA for those that use multiple devices in say, an organization that may use them in a pre-configured way. All of the individual devices will need to be setup manually get them into a certain configuration "profile". Just as well, it's a pain to those that want to easily restore a device's settings in case of the need of a unit reset or the wish to simply have a set of pre-configured "profiles" to quickly revert to.

[WallyGator]

Another thought: (apologies for the multiple posts regarding this but since I can't edit a previous post...)

After a full reset of the unit and after a user-configuration file backup is immediately restored to the unit before rebooting, could the unit possibly use the values in the in the user-made file backup? Not something I feel like doing at this point in time since if it doesn't work (I'm expecting that it won't), I'm back to tediously setting up the unit from scratch.

[JungleJim]

It may be worth a try to copy the backup files to the GARMIN\NewFiles folder, instead of directly to the destination folder (like GARMIN\Settings or GARMIN\Sports). Maybe the device will detect the files if they are present in the NewFiles folder, and process them so that the settings of the device are updated. Pure speculation as I didn't try it myself, but it might work.

[WallyGator]

It may be worth a try to copy the backup files to the GARMIN\NewFiles folder, instead of directly to the destination folder (like GARMIN\Settings or GARMIN\Sports). Maybe the device will detect the files if they are present in the NewFiles folder, and process them so that the settings of the device are updated.

That's an excellent suggestion. I'm going to back up the unit at it's current configuration state (all least all the .fit files), make a few changes to Home screens and other settings that will be easy to revert back to if the test fails. Then put the backed up .fit files into the NewFiles folder, reboot and see what happens.

I'll report back with my findings. Thanks for the idea.

[WallyGator]

Success! At least for the most part...

Here's what I did (on the eTrex Touch 2. This will likely apply to the H1 series as well but I cannot personally test this as I don't have one)

Using my current configuration settings, I backed all *.fit files on the device:
1. Connected device to my Windows 10 PC (I also use an M2 MacBook Air but doing so, you need to use the "Android File Transfer" app)
2. Used Windows search of the GARMIN folder on the device for all *.fit files (this will find ALL files present as long as the aren't hidden in some way. Note that I DO have "show hidden fies" enabled on the PC)
3. Copied those files over to a backup folder (copy and paste or drag and drop)

Made changes to my current configuration settings on the unit:
4. Unplugged the device from the PC (which in turn, reboots the device)
5. Made some simple changes on the device to two of the Home Screens (I replaced some glances with other different glances) then made changes to both of the two App Menu screens (swapped two icon positions on both screens). I made note of all changes I made.

At this stage, the device is altered from my current configuration settings

The next steps are meant to restore the altered configuration settings of the unit back to my current configuration settings
6. Connected device to my Windows 10 PC
7. Copied all *.fit files backed up (steps 1-3 above) from my backup folder (copy and paste or drag and drop) to the Garmin\NewFiles\ folder
8. Unplugged the device from the PC (which in turn, reboots the device)

At this point with the rebooting of the unit, the *.fit files will be placed by the unit where they belong which also reparses/refreshes the configuration settings of the unit using the *.fit files in the NewFiles folder. The unit will then delete those files in the NewFiles folder so be sure you copy the files to the unit and do NOT move them (from your backup location).

Here are the results:
The unit was indeed reverted back to my current configuration settings...success! What was NOT reverted back from being modified were the changes I made to the App Menu screen (swapped two icon positions on both screens). These settings seem to stick to where they are despite the other changes that DO revert back. Maybe it's settings are elsewhere, unknown. Not a big deal though as the App Menu app positions are quite easy to change back.

This is great because it's a pain to have to redo all of your settings after a unit reset (if one needs to be performed). It's also great to have a backup in case you, yoursel mess something up (or the unit does it for you, which I've seen for myself)

Hoping this helps you H1 guys out as well

[WallyGator]

I forgot to include my thanks to JungleJim for his suggestion and nudge in the right direction.