Creating a Configuration File

Follow the steps below to ensure that you are creating a configuration file that is correctly defined.

In this process, you will add an account to Drive, and create a configuration file based on that account. But next, so that you can verify that the configuration file is working, you will delete the account you had created. Then, when you load the configuration file, you will see the account information correctly represented in Drive.

Select Preferences > Accounts to add the account to Drive.
For instructions, see Adding a Drive Account for Shares for a Shares server, or Adding a Drive Account for Faspex for a Faspex server.
When you add the account, also configure any other aspects of it that you want to control, such as:
- the sync directory or download destination directory
- the time interval for checking for transfers
- a passphrase for encrypted packages
Once you have added the account, close Drive: Click its icon in the menu bar, and select Quit.
Create a configuration file by typing the following in a terminal window:
```
/Applications/Aspera\ Drive.app/Contents/MacOS/AsperaDrive -w configurationFile
```
For example, the following command creates a configuration file named asperadrive.conf in the user's home directory:
```
/Applications/Aspera\ Drive.app/Contents/MacOS/AsperaDrive -w ~/asperadrive.conf
```
Open the configuration file and edit it as necessary.
For an example, see Sample Configuration File.
Start Drive and go to Preferences > Accounts.
Delete the account that you created in Step 1.

Note: You are deleting the account so that, in the next steps, you can verify that the configuration file is working.
Quit Drive.
Note: You must quit Drive before using the configuration file.

Load the account from the configuration file by running the following in a terminal window:

/Applications/Aspera\ Drive.app/Contents/MacOS/AsperaDrive -f configurationFile

For example:

/Applications/Aspera\ Drive.app/Contents/MacOS/AsperaDrive -f ~/asperadrive.conf

Restart Drive, and verify that the account has been loaded correctly by going to Preferences > Accounts.

You can now use the configuration file to load the account into any Drive installation.

Note: The account settings that you specify in the configuration file are loaded only for accounts that do not already exist in Drive. If an account already exists in Drive, or if the configuration file contains settings for an account that already exists, that account's settings are not changed when the configuration file is loaded.

This disparity is not usually an issue because in most cases, the configuration file is only loaded when Drive is first installed. However, if you use a configuration file with an existing Drive installation, note the distinction.

Note: Mac OS X does not use the "preserve_creation_time" setting found in the Drive configuration file. Downloaded packages do not retain creation time stamps, but will still retain accessed and modified time stamps.