Daz Install Manager does not remember what I previously installed after drive reformat
Joe827
Posts: 229
Hi, I had a hard drive failure several months ago. I was forced to reinstall all of my software on a new drive. However, I noticed that Daz Install Manager no longer remembers which products I have already installed. As a result, everyting I ever purchased from Daz shows up in my download list (650 items).
I'd rather not bulk reinstall everything just to clean up the list because I will likely end up with duplicates and/or lost files in my library. Any suggestions?
Also, is there a folder I should add to my backup plan so that if I have a failure in the future, I can restore Daz Install Manager's memory of which products have already been installed?
Thanks,
Joe
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2025 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
The folder where DIM stores information on what it installed is called "ManifestFiles" -- the default location is something like Users\Public\Documents\DAZ 3D\DazInstallManager\ManifestFiles.
I assume you copied over your existing content folders rather than reinstalling everything with DIM. If you saved the zips, you can copy them to DIM's Downloads folder. Then when you refresh DIM they won't show up in your Ready to Download tab (unless they've been updated).
Now you have a couple of choices:
1) Reinstall everything on top of your existing content folder. Then go to Settings > Installation in DIM, right-click on the content folder, and choose "Fix Installed File Registry". That will fix DIM's record of duplicate files, so that if you uninstall or update a product DIM knows what is safe to delete.
2) Install to a dummy location. Once installed you can delete what's in the dummy location and move the zips out of the Downloads folder (delete them or back them up elsewhere). You won't be able to use DIM to update or uninstall them, but DIM can still tell you what's been updated.
3) Leave the zips in the Downloads folder. Again, you won't be able to use DIM to update or uninstall them, but it can tell you when there are updates.
Thank you Fixmypcike. Excellent ideas.
Your assumption is correct. I did not save the zips, but this is good to know for the future.
I did some experimenting this this a while back, and encountered something very puzzling. Installing content on top of content that is already there results in two entries for each installed file in your content library. Both copies point to the exact same file. Categorizing one, categorizes both. I created a support ticket for this a several months back with detailed instructions for how to reproduce. They confirmed that it is a problem, but I don't know anything beyond that.
This might be the golden ticket. Just curious, why delete the zips in the downloads folder? I do like that DIM will still tell me when updates are available. I noticed that the manifest files contain the installation path: <UserInstallPath VALUE="F:/DAZ 3D/Poser"/>. If I want to use DIM for updates/uninstalls, I speculate that all I'd need to do is find the product's manifest file and edit this to point to where it is really installed instead of the dummy path. Does that sound right?
Yes, if you edit that path to point to the real location then DIM will believe that's where it installed it. One caveat: DIM saves a .json file in the content library to keep track of files that belong to more than one product, so unless you edit the install path on all of the ManifestFiles and run the "Fix Installed File Registry", you might end up removing a file that's still needed by another product (or leaving a file which is no longer needed).
Much appreciated.