Ninjatrader on two computers with win11 and OneDrive

[eiketre]

Hi
I have Ninjatrader installed on a dedicated high-end desktop at my office. When travel I would also use my laptop with Ninjatrader. When testing I get a problem due OneDrive.
During trading I pause OneDrive, but when using two computers I get a machine-id error. It says it has changed and my license are changed to demo.
I am using windows 11. I have not been able to exclude Ninjatrader to be synced with onedrive.
Are there any good solutions to have Ninjatrader installed on two computers while using onedrive? If not this could perhaps be something to look at for the next update?

Regards

[shirokuma]

... hi, maybe try any kind of remote access tool (standard Windows thing, TeamViewer or AnyDesk). I personally use the on board remote access provided by Microsoft.
I personally think it's best to have only one machine that is "hot". Also, when you have some serious security behind your office machine a firmly secured access with a VPN tunnel is a very good option for possibly insecure environments where you carry and use your laptop.
Best regards, Hendrik

[bltdavid]

Good reading here.

[NinjaTrader_Clayton]

Hello eiketre,

Thank you for the message.

Short answer and How to create a Backup File:

In short, it is not recommended to not have One Drive backing up the Documents Folder when using NinjaTrader.

• It would be best to export a backup file from one computer and then import that backup file into the other and then do this any time you need to share information between the two computers.
  • Please use the steps below to export a Backup file of your NinjaTrader platform:
    • Go to the Control Center > Connections > disconnect from all active connections
    • Go to the Control Center > Tools > Export > Backup File
    • Check the following boxes to ensure you have a copy of all of your unique files:
      • Configuration files
        • DO NOTimport these between computers or it clears out the License Key and connection info, you really only need to check this for a backup for the same PC. Since you are sending it between computers, you could just exclude this
      • Database file
      • NinjaScript files
      • Workspaces
      • Templates
    • Click Export
    • Save the file somewhere you can find
    • After exporting, copy the file to a USB Flash Drive or send it to yourself in an email and then bring it over to the other PC and Import it.
      • Please follow along with the publicly available video below for a demonstration of this process:
        • https://youtu.be/JdhWJYZYvLA
        • Help Guide - https://ninjatrader.com/support/help...up_archive.htm

More details on One Drive and NinjaTrader:

Please remember that One Drive is provided by another company so if you want more detailed help and information on how to set up One Drive so it doesn't affect NinjaTrader at all, you would want to reach out to One Drive's support team directly for further help and information.

• Since One Drive isn't required to run NinjaTrader, it is often easier to stop it from backing up the Documents folder so that it doesn't affect NinjaTrader as it is normally recommended to not install NinjaTrader on a Cloud or Network based drive.
• If One Drive is looking at or backing up a NinjaTrader file when NinjaTrader needs it, it can cause the platform to not see the file and result in unwanted behaviors

When it comes to using One Drive with NinjaTrader, sometimes it doesn't affect it at all, other times it causes a variety of unwanted behaviors:

• NinjaTrader Stores many of its Unique files within the Documents folder.
• By default, One Drive will Backup the Documents, Desktop, and Pictures folder.
• If you have One Drive Signed in on two different computers, it will often cause "Duplicate" files to be created that have "-ComputerNameHere" added to the end of the file name
  • Depending on which NinjaTrader files get duplicated, it can cause a variety of errors to appear
• It sounds like you might be successfully syncing the "Config" file between the computers which is what holds the Login Credentials and License Key.
  • If the Config file is sent to a different computer, it sees the different Machine ID and clears out that information which is what is happening to you
  • So, since that one config file is being opened between two different computers, it sees the Machine ID change every time and clears out the information and you have to re-enter it
• If the NinjaTrader files have been saved in the Cloud versus locally on your computer, this can cause things to take longer to load as it has to redownload everything from the files on the server instead of the local files on your PC
• If One Drive is disconnected on the computer, it can cause NinjaTrader to not have access to its core/necessary files and result in a variety of errors

Please follow along with the publicly available link below for the steps to Stop one drive from backing up the Documents folder. You will then need to uninstall and reinstall NinjaTrader.

• https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...a-6552e77c3057
• After Stopping One Drive from backing up the Documents folder, you will need to Uninstall and Reinstall NinjaTrader and you will have a completely fresh installation of NinjaTrader
• From there, you will need to import a backup file of your settings into the platform and then set up your License Key and connection information.

I you would like to use One Drive to backup the NinjaTrader Files, we are unable to guarantee that it will not randomly affect NinjaTrader in a negative way.

Please let us know if we may provide any further assistance.

[eiketre]

Thanks. This seems to have fixed the issue for me :-)

[ilikerolls]

After reading the posts on here I understand the issues with using OneDrive for the entire NT8 Documents folder. I do not care about sync'ing any other data besides the indicators and strategies folders as I develop them. Is there a recommended solution for this? I do not need to use both NT instances at the same time. My setup is as follows:
1. Main Deskstop that I use mostly to write code: Uses local local storage.
2. Laptop that I use when having back issues: Uses OneDrive, which is available to my Desktop

Ideal solution would be that both computers shared just the Documents\NinjaTrader 8\bin\Custom\Strategies and Indicators folders. I've tried manually copying some custom indicators/strategies from my Desktop to my Laptop's OneDrive NT8 Indicators and this seemed to work fine. I could keep doing this process, but as you could imagine it could get to be confusing if I updated something say on my laptop. Then forgot to update it on my PC etc...

[backtester831]

Does the syncing program have a filter to exclude certain folders, or only sync the strategies and indicators folders?

[ilikerolls]

Does the syncing program have a filter to exclude certain folders, or only sync the strategies and indicators folders?

Well I didn't have a sync'ing program other than OneDrive. Here is what I did to resolve the issue. So far everything works great I can run backtests, compiles, update code on both my Desktop & laptop while both remain in sync, etc...So far no major issues. Can you foresee any issues I will run into Only Sharing just the Indicators & Strategies folders on OneDrive, so I can use it both on both my Desktop and Laptop? Basically I created a hard symlink(it's like a shortcut for those unfamiliar with what it is) on my Windows 10 Desktop. I suppose if I want to create new OptimizationFitnesses, Optimizers, etc...I'll have to repeat the same process, but this solves my issue for now.

1. Backed up NT8 Using Tools -> Export -> Backup File
2. Opened a command prompt with administrator privileges and ran the folling commands
// Backup the Strategy and Indicator directories just incase my idea didn't work

move "C:\Users\green\Documents\NinjaTrader 8\bin\Custom\Strategies" "C:\Users\green\Downloads\Strategies.bak"
move "C:\Users\green\Documents\NinjaTrader 8\bin\Custom\Indicators" "C:\Users\green\Downloads\Indicators.bak"

// Create a Symlink/shortcut pointing to my OneDrive where my laptop's NT8 Documents directory is installed. This way NT8 on both machines share the same Indicators and Strategies directories without the other configuration issues

mklink /J "C:\Users\green\Documents\NinjaTrader 8\bin\Custom\Strategies" "C:\Users\green\OneDrive\Documents\NinjaTrader 8\bin\Custom\Strategies"
mklink /J "C:\Users\green\Documents\NinjaTrader 8\bin\Custom\Indicators" "C:\Users\green\OneDrive\Documents\NinjaTrader 8\bin\Custom\Indicators"