As you all probably know, "Documents & Data" checkbox appears to be missing from Windows version of iCloud control panel, which kind of makes sense, because iCloud document syncing is exclusive to iOS and Mac App Store apps.
However, all necessary components for this feature are there, including ubd.exe (Ubiquity daemon), so turning this feature on is a matter of tweaking a couple of plist files:
%AppData%\Apple Computer\Preferences\com.apple.ubd.plist
• kUBSyncEnabledKey = true
%AppData%\Apple Computer\Preferences\MobileMeAccounts.plist
• Accounts[0]:Services[where ServiceID="com.apple.Dataclass.Ubiquity"]:Enabled = true
Here's how to do this:
So now you can access all your files stored in iCloud from Windows. To make access to the Mobile Documents folder easier, you can create a shortcut on the desktop or drag it to the sidebar. Everything seems to work exactly the same way as on the Mac side, even the well-known undocumented feature: any files dropped into Mobile Documents folder are synced to all your devices, just like Dropbox does, so you can use this feature to sync files between a Mac and a PC, or between OS X and Boot Camp on the same machine. It even recognizes your other devices on the same network and transfers files between them locally to save bandwidth.
Warning: this feature is probably not user-accessible for a reason, and most likely it hasn't received the same amount of testing as the Mac version, so don't blame me for any bugs or crashes, or if all your documents stored in iCloud suddenly vaporize. Also note that if you log out of iCloud control panel or change any settings you'll have to repeat the above steps to enable Mobile Documents again.
However, all necessary components for this feature are there, including ubd.exe (Ubiquity daemon), so turning this feature on is a matter of tweaking a couple of plist files:
%AppData%\Apple Computer\Preferences\com.apple.ubd.plist
• kUBSyncEnabledKey = true
%AppData%\Apple Computer\Preferences\MobileMeAccounts.plist
• Accounts[0]:Services[where ServiceID="com.apple.Dataclass.Ubiquity"]:Enabled = true
Here's how to do this:
- Open Command Prompt and execute the following commands (right-click to paste into Command Prompt window):
Code:path %PATH%;%CommonProgramFiles%\Apple\Apple Application Support defaults write com.apple.ubd kUBSyncEnabledKey -bool true plutil -convert xml1 "%AppData%\Apple Computer\Preferences\MobileMeAccounts.plist" write "%AppData%\Apple Computer\Preferences\MobileMeAccounts.plist" - In WordPad window that opens, scroll to the end of the file, find the section that looks like the following and add the bolded lines (note that the url might be different — there's no need to change it):
Code:... <dict> [COLOR="Blue"][B]<key>Enabled</key> <true/>[/B][/COLOR] <key>Name</key> <string>Mobille Documents</string> <key>ServiceID</key> <string>com.apple.Dataclass.Ubiquity</string> <key>apsEnv</key> <string>production</string> <key>authMechanism</key> <string>token</string> <key>url</key> <string>https://p02-ubiquity.icloud.com:443</string> </dict> ... - Save the file and close WordPad
- This step isn't strictly necessary, but it will return the plist to its original format: return to the Command Prompt window and execute:
Code:plutil -convert binary1 "%AppData%\Apple Computer\Preferences\MobileMeAccounts.plist" - Log out (from Windows, not iCloud) and log back in
- If you did everything correctly, there should be a new folder "Mobile Documents" under %AppData%\Apple Computer (for example, C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\Mobile Documents)
So now you can access all your files stored in iCloud from Windows. To make access to the Mobile Documents folder easier, you can create a shortcut on the desktop or drag it to the sidebar. Everything seems to work exactly the same way as on the Mac side, even the well-known undocumented feature: any files dropped into Mobile Documents folder are synced to all your devices, just like Dropbox does, so you can use this feature to sync files between a Mac and a PC, or between OS X and Boot Camp on the same machine. It even recognizes your other devices on the same network and transfers files between them locally to save bandwidth.
Warning: this feature is probably not user-accessible for a reason, and most likely it hasn't received the same amount of testing as the Mac version, so don't blame me for any bugs or crashes, or if all your documents stored in iCloud suddenly vaporize. Also note that if you log out of iCloud control panel or change any settings you'll have to repeat the above steps to enable Mobile Documents again.
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