zwift-preferences

You want to make use the hidden setting with which YOU get to decide where you will be zwifting today?

You want easy access to set trainer effect (also called resistance level) before you launch Zwift?

You want to toggle fullscreen mode?

Then zwift-preferences for Windows can help you. If you use macOS take a look at ZwiftPref instead.

zwift-preferences is a script/an app which gives you access to safely modify the prefs.xml file from which Zwift reads your prefences when Zwift is launched. Notice that if you change prefs.xml while Zwift is running your changes will be overwritten by Zwift.

By the way, zwift-preferences can be used together with zwift-login.

Prerequisites

Windows PC with

Zwift
( AutoHotkey version 1.1.24.01 or higher )

Choose the compiled version below for the simplest installation. Then you do not have to have AutoHotkey installed on your PC.

If you get a warning from your anti virus program for the compiled version it is with almost certainty a false positive – a compiled AutoHotkey script can lead to that. But don’t just take my word for it – download the script version instead to play it safe.

The script version won’t cause that kind of warning and gives the same functionality. You just have to also install AutoHotkey for it to work.

Downloads – compiled version

zwift-preferences (compiled with installer) (34597 downloads)

Downloads – script version

zwift-preferences script with installer (11938 downloads)

History

Philip Campbell says:

2017-01-15 at 11:04

Zwift may be rolling out the choose a course option in the future, but I think the ability to vary your resistance is very helpful for riders with injuries who just want to spin around their favourite course.
Would you consider taking pity on Mac users and releasing this for the Mac too?

Reply
1. jesper says:
  
  2017-01-15 at 11:21
  
  Hi Philip, I’m not sure I will be able to find the time for it. However, you can change the ‘Trainer Difficulty’ in the settings of Zwift yourself.
  
  Reply
2. Amy Wang says:
  
  2018-02-05 at 15:59
  
  If you want to spin effortlessly just reduce your weight to a low number for that ride or segment?
  
  Yes, technically you will be cheating and ineligble for “prizes” but it will be the workout you want.
  
  Reply
George says:

2017-02-07 at 07:21

My pc antivirus software wiped your file saying it was a virus within the .exe

Reply
1. jesper says:
  
  2017-02-07 at 11:26
  
  It is a false positive from your anti virus software. I have just checked the downloads and they are virus free.
  
  Reply
Johan says:

2017-02-08 at 21:17

Thanks Jesper, I love it. Am able to follow nice routes now w/out having to concentrate on what turns to take where. Is it possible to do reverse routes this way too somehow?

Reply
1. jesper says:
  
  2017-02-08 at 22:06
  
  You can only pick the same routes which you can pick in Zwift, too. To ride a reverse route pick the normal one and start with a u-turn. Unless there are bugs in the routing in Zwift this should take you through the reverse route in its entirety.
  
  Reply
  1. Johan says:
    
    2017-02-09 at 10:57
    
    ah, stupid me for not thinking of that, thanks Jesper
    
    Reply
Alvaro Valencia says:

2017-03-23 at 12:55

On Zwift Preference.exe:
what is intended for Trainer effects?
Window: What’s the effect on Minimal UI ? and Minimal Leaderboards ?

Miscellaneous Workouts 2 choices: Use ERG. What is ERG? Or Edit in watts
Excuse my ignorance please

Reply
James says:

2017-08-10 at 15:58

Avast is complaining that the compiled version contains Malware.

Reply
1. jesper says:
  
  2017-08-11 at 09:42
  
  It is a false positive. Exactly when do you get the warning – during download or during installation?
  
  Reply
De Maerteleire Cesar says:

2017-10-29 at 23:34

Hey Jesper,
1st of all thank you for making our zwift life easier with such a piece of software like zwift preferences so now my feedback, i noticed in the new versions that the given info not matched with the chosen ride in Watopia.
The info for the “Big Loop” must switched with the “Jungle Circuit” info
The Info for the “Jungle Circuit” must switched with the “Road to Ruins” info
The info for the “Road to Ruins” must switched with the “Big Loop” info
Greetings

Reply
1. jesper says:
  
  2017-10-30 at 06:49
  
  Thanks for telling me. I’ll fix it.
  
  Reply
Lex says:

2017-11-19 at 13:24

Where TRAINER_EFFECT number stored? its not in users docments folder file prefs.xml… i need to see what % of reality i have setted now, to be able revert to this setting, cos zwift not allow us to see it in numbers on scale (why?)…

Reply
1. jesper says:
  
  2017-11-19 at 13:58
  
  It is in prefs.xml in ZWIFT > CONFIG > TRAINER_EFFECT as a number e.g. 0.5
  
  The entry is first created when a smart trainer has been paired with Zwift (or added by ZwiftPref / zwift-preferences / manually).
  
  Reply
  1. Lex says:
    
    2017-11-19 at 14:13
    
    thanx, i cant find it cos on laptop i have no try with smart) – on big mashine i think it row must be now… thanx again
    
    Reply
Dewey says:

2017-11-23 at 05:47

Hi Jesper,

I can’t get the new settings to save on the preferences page. I hit the save button and nothing happens. If I click the reload button then everything goes blank. This is for a Mac

Reply
1. jesper says:
  
  2017-11-23 at 08:06
  
  Hi Dewey, so we are talking about ZwiftPref here?
  
  First of all, what happens if you press the button ‘Open prefs.xml’ (top right)? Does it open prefs.xml in TextEdit? If it does, please copy the content and send it to me via the contact form at https://zwifthacks.com/contact/
  
  If it does not, can you locate the file prefs.xml using Finder in Documents > Zwift ?
  
  Finally, try to rename the prefs.xml file to something else and launch Zwift. This will create a new prefs.xml file. Does that load properly into ZwiftPref? Please send the content of that new file to me, too.
  
  Reply
Seth Perlman says:

2018-01-16 at 17:42

Can I have a friend or friends join me on the ride if I choose a different route than what is on the calendar? If they do not have this hack, will they still see me and choose to join my ride?

Reply
1. jesper says:
  
  2018-01-16 at 18:12
  
  They will also have to use the world hack to be able to ride with you. Otherwise they will be in the world of the day, and you will be in the world you chose.
  
  Reply
Todd B says:

2018-03-13 at 01:25

FAN.. tastic piece of work! Very cool!

A random thought that may not be possible… Zwift opens on 1st monitor. I drag to 2nd monitor, close, change to full screen with ZwiftPref and re-open. As best as I can tell, any Windows disturbance, (restart, Zwift update, etc.) sends Zwift back to home (1st) monitor. Explored a few apps but none seem to be able to tell this app (Zwift) to always open on this screen (2nd [bigger}).

Since you’re already dictating full screen, any possibilities of dictating monitor choice?

Again, great tool! Thanks Jesper!

Reply
1. jesper says:
  
  2018-03-13 at 15:40
  
  I’ve got an idea about how to handle this. I just have to find some time to implement it…
  
  Reply
2. jesper says:
  
  2018-03-27 at 10:46
  
  Take a look at the new versions of ZwiftPref and zwift-preferences. They both let you remember the preferred monitor (which Zwift stores in prefs.xml) and recall it. Set up Zwift like you prefer to have it, exit the game, and then use ZwiftPref/zwift-preferences to remember the preferred monitor (press the Remember button and do not forget to save/submit). Then you can always later press the Recall button in ZwiftPref/zwift-preferences to write that preference back to prefs.xml.
  
  Reply
Will says:

2018-09-22 at 16:57

Hi there,
for some reason when I have installed the program (on windows 10) I click the app in the start menu and then it says that the the program has been changed or moved and so the shortcut won’t work.

Reply
1. jesper says:
  
  2018-09-22 at 18:24
  
  It could be your antivirus program which has removed the program. You should check if the program file zwift-preferences.exe or zwift-preferences.ahk is in Documents\Zwift\Scripts or perhaps has been quarantined by your antivirus program.
  
  Reply
Kevin says:

2018-09-24 at 16:04

Will I still get Strava credit using this app? Thanks!

Reply
1. jesper says:
  
  2018-09-26 at 14:16
  
  I guess you mean if world hacking affects whether you get credit in certain Strava challenges or not? It shouldn’t mean anything so please share if you experience anything else.
  
  Reply
Patrick says:

2018-10-19 at 18:34

Howdy. Had an old version of the app installed and just tried to install v18 on Windows 10. I get an error after hitting the install button: CreateFile failed; code 2. The system cannot find the file specified. I have already updated Autokeys to 1.130.00.
Any suggestions?
Thank you

Reply
1. jesper says:
  
  2018-10-19 at 19:23
  
  My immediate guess would be that your antivirus program (wrongly) has quarantined one or more files. Please check the antivirus log.
  
  Reply
Jason says:

2018-10-20 at 20:20

I’m just curious when we’ll see the next version that includes the NYC map (no pressure!). We’ve got five more days with it before it switches out, and I know how to edit the prefs.xml file the old fashioned way, but I do enjoy using your program!

Reply
1. jesper says:
  
  2018-10-20 at 20:23
  
  Don’t worry – it is almost ready and should be available for download within a day or two 🙂
  
  Reply
  1. Jason says:
    
    2018-10-21 at 16:48
    
    Great to hear! – one quick note – when you release it, you may want to update the screenshots featured at the top of this page, as it is now they don’t include Innsbruck. (note number two – I just fired up zwift-preferences to see the correct spelling of “Innsbruck,” and there was New York! Excellent speed, my friends!)
    
    Reply
Daryl says:

2018-11-28 at 04:15

For the login AHK script, I would like to be able to use the script to select among three different users who use the same set up. This could maybe be accomplished by adding a button for the different users into the GUI. I tried putting three different instances of the app with different INI file is in different folders, but I can’t get it to clear the previous user when I launch from a different instance.

Reply
1. jesper says:
  
  2018-11-28 at 07:57
  
  Do you mean that you cannot get the Zwift Launcher to clear the previous user?
  
  Reply
2. jesper says:
  
  2018-11-28 at 17:17
  
  To make Zwift forget the user you can do the following:
  
  Launch Zwift from the start menu
  In the ‘Welcome!’ screen with the ‘Let’s go’ button press ‘Change user’
  Enter your password, remove the check mark from ‘Remember me’, and press ‘Log in’
  When the ‘Welcome!’ screen appears again, close it by clicking on the X in the top right corner.
  
  Reply
Leonard says:

2019-01-10 at 15:29

What a cool app! i’m new in Zwift and was wondering, is it posible to ride Alp du Zwift with this tool whitout getting to lever 12?

Reply
1. jesper says:
  
  2019-01-10 at 16:17
  
  No, it doesn’t change level based restrictions in Zwift.
  
  Reply
Patrick says:

2019-07-31 at 15:03

Any ideas why zwiftpreferences doesn’t load anymore?

Error message https://i.imgur.com/MjionAE.jpg

I turned off firewall and AV software to make sure they weren’t blocking something…still won’t “connect” or whatever it is trying to do.

Reply
1. Jesper says:
  
  2019-07-31 at 15:19
  
  I need a bit of information from you: Which version of Windows are you using? Has it just updated (Windows Update)? Have you restarted the PC?
  
  Reply
2. Jesper says:
  
  2019-08-08 at 18:05
  
  I’ll have a test version ready for you to try later tonight. I don’t know exactly what has changed in Windows 7 but I think I can work around the problem anyway.
  
  Reply
  1. Jesper says:
    
    2019-08-08 at 18:44
    
    Please try this test version (download, extract, and run the .exe file): https://www.dropbox.com/s/htitlzc8q9rthj6/zwift-preferences-test-2019-08-08%201941.zip?dl=0
    
    If it works for you I will put the changes into the regular version of zwift-preferences.
    
    Reply
    1. Patrick says:
      
      2019-10-08 at 03:21
      
      Sorry for the late reply, was riding oustide and not using zwift as much. Happy to report the test version works for me. Using windows 7 btw. Thank you!
      
      Reply
Barry Marshall says:

2019-08-07 at 22:30

Windows 7 Home Premium

I get this screen when I try to launch the programme after downloading and installing.
Error: 0x80072F7D –
Sourse: WinHttp.WinHttpRequest
Description: An error occurred in the secure channel support
Help File: (Null)
Help Context 0
Speficically: Wait For Response
Line#
139: whr.WaitForResponse()
Continue running the script

Yes No

Reply
Barry Marshall says:

2019-08-08 at 17:49

Looking at the jpg Patrick has I have exact same issue ..I did try restarting the PC and clicking on YES to continue running the script but I saw nothing happening. I deleted Zwift Preferences and reinstalled three times but always ends the same way with the error msg I have posted – same as Patrick

Reply
1. Jesper says:
  
  2019-08-08 at 18:04
  
  I’ll have a test version ready for you to try later tonight. I don’t know exactly what has changed in Windows 7 but I think I can work around the problem anyway.
  
  Reply
  1. Jesper says:
    
    2019-08-08 at 18:44
    
    Please try this test version (download, extract, and run the .exe file): https://www.dropbox.com/s/htitlzc8q9rthj6/zwift-preferences-test-2019-08-08%201941.zip?dl=0
    
    If it works for you I will put the changes into the regular version of zwift-preferences.
    
    Reply
Barry Marshall says:

2019-08-08 at 18:21

Thank you I am looking forward to going on the Great London Flat that is 7.2 miles, exactly the same distance and same as the TT I have coming up September 7th 🙂

Reply
Thoddy says:

2019-08-16 at 09:22

Thank you for this Software.

I have a question, in the software is the Trainer Effect is 50%. Is he in Zwift orginal 100%? I would like to have the basics about my training. Greeting Thorsten

Reply
1. Jesper says:
  
  2019-08-16 at 09:30
  
  The default value in the game is 50%.
  
  There is no difference between the values you see in the game and in zwift-preferences because zwift-preferences read from and write to the prefs.xml file of the game.
  
  Reply
  1. Thoddy says:
    
    2019-08-18 at 19:37
    
    Thank you for the fast response
    
    Reply
patrick says:

2019-10-07 at 10:18

I tried to download the https://zwifthacks.com/download/zwift-preferences-script/ de .zip file but I get the message there is something wrong with the .zip

The compressed zip file is corrupt

Reply
1. Jesper says:
  
  2019-10-07 at 10:22
  
  Sorry about that. It has been fixed now.
  
  Reply
Lex says:

2019-11-05 at 14:29

Cant disable startup music at all – by settings in game, by flag in prefs, by deleting 777200017.wem – nothing helps 🙁 Any suggestions?

Reply
1. Jesper says:
  
  2019-11-05 at 15:13
  
  And I cannot get it to play at all on the computer I am currently at. Something has changed – the element in prefs.xml used to be TITLE_MUSIC but now the game writes its setting to TITLEMUSIC (without underscore).
  I’ll have to investigate a bit more later.
  
  Reply
  1. Lex says:
    
    2019-11-05 at 22:48
    
    Thanx anyway!) TITLEMUSIC is help 😉
    
    Reply
Peter says:

2019-12-01 at 16:40

Any idea why when launching Zwift using this script it also launches Internet Explorer pointing to https://forums.zwift.com/ ?

Reply
1. Peter says:
  
  2019-12-01 at 16:41
  
  Oops, wrong page, this was supposed to go on the zwift-login page.
  
  Reply
2. Jesper says:
  
  2019-12-01 at 16:45
  
  That should not be zwift-preferences but could be a pop-up from the Zwift Launcher itself. I recommend that you disable pop-ups for all zwift.com sites in Internet Explorer (which the Zwift Launcher uses internally). Let me know if this helps.
  
  Reply
  1. Peter says:
    
    2019-12-02 at 08:13
    
    Yes, I made the post in the wrong section, this was relating to zwift-login script. Anyway, thanks for the hint. It turned out that cdn.zwift.com for some reason was excluded from the popup blocker in Internet Explorer on my computer (probably due to some old configuration I did). Removing this entry fixed the problem. 🙂
    
    Reply
    1. Jesper says:
      
      2019-12-02 at 12:12
      
      Great that you could fix it
      
      Reply
Brad says:

2019-12-15 at 05:54

Zwift-preferences under courses only shows Group Riders Nearby and Surprise Me. I don’t see any other routes listed under any of the worlds. Also, my Zwift status at the bottom always shows a black dot. I don’t have any problems changing the base world. Any ideas? I’m running Windows 7.

Thanks for this software and any help you can provide.

Reply
1. Jesper says:
  
  2019-12-15 at 07:40
  
  I have a test program I would like you to run. Hopefully it can tell me what the problem is – it is something Windows 7 specific which doesn’t affect everybody.
  I’ll send you a link when I’m at a computer.
  
  Reply
  1. Jesper says:
    
    2019-12-15 at 08:56
    
    I have just sent you an e-mail with the link.
    
    Reply
2. Jesper says:
  
  2019-12-15 at 07:43
  
  Please also check the logs of your anti-virus/anti-malware program to see if it has blocked the download of the content files that zwift-preferences get from the server.
  
  Reply
Brad says:

2019-12-18 at 03:32

Thanks for the test version. I will install it and let you know what’s going on. I will also check my anti virus logs to see if anything is being blocked.

Reply
Brad says:

2019-12-18 at 05:04

I checked and it doesn’t seem that anti virus or Malwarebytes is blocking anything. I ran the program that you uploaded and it only opened a window named test-download with an A, B, C, D and E sections. No changes seemed to be made to zwift-preferences. I still don’t see any routes and the status dot is still black.

Reply
Cody D Jones says:

2020-04-29 at 22:24

When downloading the installer package and installing, do I then need to update to the newest version?

Reply
1. Jesper says:
  
  2020-04-29 at 23:01
  
  You just have to download the installer. That is the latest version.
  
  Reply
charlie horse says:

2020-05-15 at 18:26

Menu button? First time using this and I love the clean view but the menu button is gone with the rest of the UI… I only have a wireless mouse so I guess I have to use a keyboard if I want to be able to get into my garage while in a ride? I must be missing something…

Reply
Joao Silva says:

2020-06-29 at 09:10

Hi, thank you so much for this tool. It’s really helpful.
Can someone just confirm if I can still get route achievements if I don’t use a world that’s on the calendar?
Thinking of doing the PRL Full but it’s hard to get a day that’s suitable with the calendar.

Thanks

Reply
1. Jesper says:
  
  2020-06-29 at 09:11
  
  You definitely can do that. Enjoy your ride 😉
  
  Reply

zwift-preferences

Prerequisites

Downloads – compiled version

Downloads – script version

History

World hack into France and Paris

See both guest worlds in zwift-preferences

A minor fix – zwift-preferences v30

Better support for many worlds – zwift-preferences v29

Yorkshire – New world and routes