Plugins are loaded from two locations on the program startup.

Installation directory

Plugins are loaded from the program installation directory (a global plugin directory) <modeling tool installation directory>\plugins.

This directory can be changed using a md.plugins.dir java system property and specifying paths separated with a semicolon (;) symbol.


To change the location of the plugins directory

  1. Open the <modeling tool name>.properties file, which is located in <modeling tool installation directory>\bin.

  2. In the JAVA_ARGS line, add the following property:

    -Dmd.plugins.dir="absolute path to plugins directory1;absolute path to plugins directory2"

    Sample property value

    -Dmd.plugins.dir="C:\Program Files\MagicDraw\plugins;D:\MyPlugins"

    • If you are loading plugins from a custom location, make sure the location contains extracted plugin files. Compressed plugin files (.zip) cannot be loaded.
    • Besides the plugin itself, any other files (profiles, modelLibraries, samples, etc.) contained in the plugin .zip file are not added to the installation directory like they are when installing a resource.

Configuration files location

Additionally, plugins are loaded from a configuration files location (<Configuration files location>\plugins). This allows to have global and user plugins.

 See “MagicDraw Configuration Files Location” in the MagicDraw UserManual.pdf.

Another issue on Unix systems is related to user permissions to write. If a modeling tool is installed in a root, user is not allowed to write in a global plugin directory if a user has not such permissions.