Moving connections and instances between two computers

StackOverflow https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4450880

Question

I´ve got a mysql-server that I´m administrate remotely with MySQL Workbench.

Now I´ve got a new computer and I cant find any solution to move my connections and instances-profiles to my new computer. This can´t be an unsolved question, huh? Not the first time this would happen for someone else.

Correction: It´s not the server-instances that I want to move. I need to export/move/backup my many client-profiles/instances-connections in MySQL Workbench.

Was it helpful?

Solution

I had the same questions. I found a MySQL directory in %APPDATA%. Copy the entire directory to the same location on the new machine. You'll need clear your passwords and re-enter them. Once I did that, I was up and running again.

You can find your %APPDATA% folder in Windows by entering it in the address bar of Windows Explorer.

OTHER TIPS

You don't need to copy any files manually as other answers suggest. On both Windows and Mac you can export all your settings within MySQL Workbench and restore to another system.

Select Tools > Configuration > Backup Connections

This will export as a .zip. Then on your new new install just

Select Tools > Configuration > Restore Connections

Linux MySQL Workbench Backup/Restore Connections

That's it!

Found it on a mac in /Users/Username/Library/Application Support/MySQL/Workbench/

file called connections.xml

In Linux (Ubuntu), the location was changed to $HOME/.mysql/workbench

Tested on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

Backup and restore connections using the menus Tools > Configuration > Backup Connections and Tools > Configuration > Restore Connections is the easiest way, however it does not copy the passwords.

Extracting the passwords is possible in the following case:

  1. Old PC should be a Windows installation.
  2. You should be able to login using the Windows account who originally saved the passwords in Workbench, i.e. without having the Windows account's password reset by an admin.

If the above requirements are met, one can log into the old PC and run the decrypt tool found on http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=41860.msg391762#msg391762

The C++ code to decrypt is shown below (credits: f0dder)

std::vector<unsigned char> decrypt(BYTE *input, size_t length) {
        DATA_BLOB inblob { length, input };
        DATA_BLOB outblob;

        if (!CryptUnprotectData(&inblob, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, CRYPTPROTECT_UI_FORBIDDEN, &outblob)) {
                throw std::runtime_error("Couldn't decrypt");
        }

        std::vector<unsigned char> output(length);
        memcpy(&output[0], outblob.pbData, outblob.cbData);

        return output;
}

just copy them!

in Linux, they're at $HOME/.mysqlgui/

Before replacing the connection.xml, make sure you close the Workbench application first, or the application will overwrite/save on the xml file on exit.

I found the file "WbProfiles.xml" in path C:\Users\.sqlworkbench\WbProfiles.xml

Either copy the file or copy complete ".sqlworkbench" folder under same path in new machine.

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