Have problem locating plug-ins

[Ofnuts]

Maybe...

The directories that Gimp scans for plug-ins (the ones you normally define in Folders > Plugins) are saved in the gimprc file in your Gimp profile. For instance, mine looks like;

(plug-in-path "${gimp_dir}/plug-ins:${gimp_plug_in_dir}/plug-ins:/home/me/Code/Gimp/PathTools/Activated:/home/me/Code/Gimp/Tools/Activated")

where :

• ${gimp_dir} is replaced by the user profile
  
• ${gimp_plug_in_dir} is the parent of the factory plugins directories (*/lib/gimp/2.0/), which on my self-build Gimp is currently Gimp-dev/2.10.34/run/lib/gimp/2.0/)
  
• the /home/me/Code/Gimp/* directories are my own plugins
  
• and a ${gimp_installation_dir} variable that doesn'st appear here and is to Gimp installation directory (Gimp-dev/2.10.34/run on my Gimp instance)
  

Now this is where the miracle begins. I can create a directory /Gimp-dev/2.10.34/extra/ which is outside of any directory that Gimp uses, but still in the same vicinity, and add it as a folder in Folders > Plugin using a **relative** path (obviously entered directlyy, without using the file selection dialog):

   

And lo and behold, Gimp obviously recognizes the beginning of the path, and in the plugin-path variable this is converted to a directory **relative** to the gimp installation directory: {gimp_installation_dir}/../extra.

And if I restart Gimp, a plugin I put there is recognized:

(plug-in-def "/Gimp-dev/2.10.34/extra/stringReg.py" 1692820811

In this form that very plugin is at a fixed position in the file system (fixed drive for you), but what it costs you is a re-scan of these plugins if they appear at another location/drive. And during my tests I have also seen that same plugin registered with something like 

(plug-in-def "${gimp_installation_dir}/../extra/stringReg.py" 1692820811

So you could be even luckier, or possibly edit the pluginrc file to add these variables.