Revision as of 07:52, 18 June 2019

mIRC Installation

There are multiple type of installations of mIRC that can be done.

There are two main installation types, the 'old', which is how mIRC used to install in the past, and the 'new', which is how mIRC is now installing.

Old type

Before, and because windows itself wasn't really pushing mutli-user installation of program, mIRC used to place all the files in the same folder you selected. So mirc.ini mirc.exe, the help file, the scripts etc, everything was inside one main folder.

New type

Then, multi-users was added in Windows and quickly, it was designed so that programs would be typically installed to 'Program files', which cannot be written to unless you have admin rights, while the different settings files would be placed in a different folder, which doesn't require admin rights. Not only this is more organized, from the OS's point of view, but it ensures program can run correctly without having to take care of write permissions.

Some people still prefer the old install type with all the files in the same folder, it is possible to get mIRC to do such an installation: if you place a mirc.ini file inside the folder you are installing to, the mIRC installer will do an old type installation.

Note: The same applies for mirc.exe once installed, if you run mirc.exe inside a folder with a mirc.ini file, it will use that file as mirc.ini and won't store settings in the appropriate location (appdata)

Portable

A portable installation will make an old type installation and will prevent mIRC from storing information on the machine, to use mIRC from an usb stick for example. mIRC won't use the registry to store your license or information about the 30day trial as well as registering mIRC as the application to use for irc:// url

Virtual Profiles

mIRC does not have a built-in way to handle multiple users with different scripts and settings. This article will guide users toward easily creating multiple Virtual Profiles using a single installation of mIRC. Each of these virtual profiles will have the ability to run their own set of scripts and have their own set of options.

Create a shortcut for each profile

The first thing you must do is create a shortcut for each individual profile. It is recommended that you name each shortcut something appropriate so you will know which shortcut is for which profile. To create a shortcut, navigate to the mIRC executable folder using the command below. Right click on the mIRC.exe, go to Send to and click Desktop. The standard folder of mIRC.exe is "C:\Program Files (x86)\mIRC" or "C:\Program Files\mIRC".

//run $nofile($mircexe)

Create a script folder for each profile

Creating a new folder is necessary for each of the separate profiles. The location of that folder is not very important. For example, a good place would be in the My Documents folder. The folder will be used to keep the individual mIRC settings as well as all the related scripts.

Instruct mIRC to use the new folders

Right click on the new shortcut link and go to Properties. In the Shortcut tab, replace the text next to Target with the following:

"<your\mIRC\exe\path>" -r"<new\folder\path>"

This change in paths must reflect the real paths of the end-user. An example of these paths would resemble the following example:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\mIRC\mirc.exe" -r"C:\Users\David\AppData\Roaming\mIRC\bot"

Clicking OK is the final step, and the new Virtual Profile is ready to go. The next time that mIRC is launched using this link, it will open the settings for the new profile.

Other settings

You may have noticed that we're now calling mirc.exe with a parameter: -r"path".

There are a number of other settings that can be used to manipulate mIRC as well. The following sections outline just a few of them.

Connect to a server on startup:

A connection can be made to a server, immediately upon mIRC starting, using the following syntax:

-s<server:port> [-j#chan1,#chan2,#chan3]

For example:

-sirc.undernet.org:6667 -j#mircscripting

Change mIRC.ini location ($mircini)

Another option is to change the location of the mIRC.ini (the main mIRC configuration file):

-i<path\to\mirc.ini>

Switches can be combined as needed.