To save preferences in VisIt_, select Save settings from the Main window's Options menu. When VisIt_ saves the current settings to the users preferences file they are used to set the initial state the next time the user runs VisIt_. VisIt_ does not automatically save settings when changes are made to the default attributes for plots, operators, or various control windows. For windows that only have current attributes (windows without a Make default button), the current attributes are saved. For windows that have current and default attributes (windows with a Make default button), the default attributes are saved.
To save the entire state of VisIt_, which includes things such as the plots in the window and the operators applied to the plots for each visualization window, select either Save session or Save session as from the Main window's File menu. When using Save session, if a session has already been restored or saved, VisIt_ will overwrite the existing session file. If a session has not already been restored or saved, VisIt_ will bring up a dialog window that will allow the user to specify the location and name of the session file. When using Save session as VisIt_ will always bring up a dialog window that will allow the user to specify the location and name of the session file and prompt the user to confirm before overwriting an existing session file.
VisIt_ saves two preference files, the first of which stores preferences
for VisIt_'s GUI while the second file stores preferences for VisIt_'s
state. When running VisIt_ on UNIX and MacOS X systems, the preference files
are called: guiconfig and config and they are saved in the .visit
directory in the users home directory. The Windows version of the .visit
directory is %USERPROFILE%\Documents\VisIt, which may be something like:
C:\Users\<your-user-name>\Documents\VisIt.
To run VisIt_ without reading the saved settings, add -noconfig to the
command line when running VisIt_. The -noconfig argument is often
useful when running an updated version of VisIt_ that is incompatible with
the saved settings. VisIt_ settings are usually compatible between different
versions but this is not always the case and some users have had trouble
on occasion when transitioning to a newer version. If VisIt_ has stability
problems when it starts up after upgrading to a newer version, add the
-noconfig option to the command line and save the settings to write over
any older preference files.