Restoring default user settings

Learning Resources > Tutorials > Getting Started with Maya > Overview >

If you have already used Maya or have a prior version of Maya installed, you should restore the default settings for Maya before you begin the lessons. This ensures that Maya appears and operates exactly as the lessons describe.

If you are an existing user of Maya we recommend that you save your existing preferences for later use prior to restoring the default user settings.

To save your existing custom user preferences

Ensure Maya is not running.
Each time you exit Maya it saves the configuration of most components of your user interface so it appears the same when you start it the next time. It writes the preferences to a directory called prefs. If you rename the prefs directory, your original preferences will be maintained and Maya will create a new prefs directory the next time it is run.
Rename your existing user preferences file to a different name; for example, myprefs. The prefs directory path is:
Windows

(Windows XP)
```
\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\maya\ 2009\en_US\prefs
```
(Windows XP 64bit)
```
\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\maya\ 2009-x64\en_US\prefs
```
(Windows Vista)
```
\Users\<username>\Documents\maya\2009\en_US\prefs
```
(Windows Vista 64-bit)
```
\Users\<username>\Documents\maya\2009-x64\en_US\prefs
```
Mac OS X
```
/Users/<username>/Library/Preferences/Autodesk/maya/en_US/2009/prefs
```
Linux (64-bit)
```
~<username>/maya/2009-x64/en_US/prefs
```
NoteIf you are running the Japanese version of Maya, change en_US in the above directory paths to ja_JP.

If you have a previous version of Maya installed, also rename that prefs directory to a new name such as myprefs. Maya will load older preferences if they exist from a previous version.
Start Maya and begin the Getting Started with Maya lessons.

To restore your custom user preferences after doing the lessons

Ensure Maya is not running.
Rename the previously changed preferences back to prefs.