[TUT] Rank backup/transfer/restore in CoD4

[headline]Introduction[/headline]
I wrote this tutorial because former times there were alot of "give-rank-back" requests for our CoD4 servers.
Now they have the chance to avoid losing their profile ranks for Deathrun, Kill The King or Vanillia CoD4 by migrating to a new computer etc.
Feel free to share this below threads that contain this topic.

[headline]Important information[/headline]

• For this tutorial I used Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (v1.7) running on Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64bit).
  The tutorial may work different on other versions of CoD4 and Windows.
• This tutorial works only if you use the same CoD4 key all the time.
• Some designations may be different from the original English ones since I used the German CoD4/Windows 7 version.
  I did my best to translate them into English properly.
• I cannot guarantee that this tutorial will always work because computers can be different (yes, really! ) so things happen different on my PC as they happen on yours.

[headline]Backup[/headline]

• Open "Windows-Explorer".
• Surf to your CoD4 installation folder.
  In my case it's "D:\Programme\Call of Duty 4" (-> Screenshot_1), in general it's "C:\Program Files\Activison\Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare" (32bit) or "C:\Program Files (x86)\Activison\Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare" (64bit).
• Copy the folder "players" to a destination you want (e.g. your Desktop or a USB drive).
  This folder contains all the stuff CoD4 saves on your computer, like your "config.cfg" (for singleplayer) and "config_mp.cfg" (for multiplayer) or your "mpdata" file (this contains your Vanillia CoD4 rank).
  In the subfolder "mods" there are all the "mpdata"s of the mods you've played , stored in specific folders (-> Screenshot_2).
  

  
  

  !!!ATTENTION!!!

  
  

  On some computers (e.g. my old Windows 7 installation with only one storage media) the "players" folder described above is quite empty.
  This is caused by the so-called "compatibility files" where the "players" folder is saved instead.

  
  

  I heard that this folder may be in a different location on any computer so I can only give the path to those files I know from my old Windows 7:
  "C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore"

  
  

  If you can find some folders there that indicate to CoD4, copy them, too. The scruture in the "players" folder should be the same as above.
  

• Congratulations, you've sucessfully saved your ranks!

Screenshots attachment (click to see the full pic):

Screenshot_1

Screenshot_2

[headline]Transfer/restore[/headline]
For transfer:

• Install CoD4 on your fresh Windows installation.
  Make sure that you use the product key you used before!
• Patch the game to the latest version (1.7).
• Paste the "players" folder to the same place you copied it as you made the backup (see "Backup" step 2).
  If you had the "players" folder also in the compatibility files, do it there, too.
• Start CoD4.
  You should now have the rank(s) when you did the backup.

For restore:

• Paste the "players" folder to the same place you copied it as you made the backup (see "Backup" step 2).
  If you had the "players" folder also in the compatibility files, do it there, too.
• Start CoD4.
  You should now have the rank(s) when you did the backup.