C:\windows\system32\config\systemprofile\Desktop refers to a location that is unavailable

davehaig

I am using the latest version 4.0.0.1486 and after running the system cleaner I get this error, and all of my desktop items are missing.

I tried it on three computers all using Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit with the exact same results, which do not get repaired after restoring the backup.

The new version seems to be getting into areas that it should not be, but the entries being cleaned out appear to be benign and non system.

It's temp files, lost registry keys, and a couple things that look like routing stuff you would want to clean out.

For whatever reason the user desktop and the systemprofile are being intruded into very heavily.

I tried some filters to prevent this, but so far I am having to do a full restore to fix my problem.

davehaig

I believe I found the issue which was caused by an entry called Isuser which is an environment variable used by InstallShield.

It was leftover on the machines that had this issue, and if I deleted the variable before running the registry cleaner the problem went away.

I looked around and several of my machines had this variable which I quickly remove, however some of my computers did not have such an entry.

I would recommend removing the variable by going to system, advanced system settings, environment variables, and looking at the top box.

If the cleaner removes that users environment entries while it still exists, the desktop gets whacked as the user is deemed missing.

That causes the loading of the desktop to simply stall, which happens very early in the process and the results are not good!

ngc94227

Same problem here...... Because I wanted a complete new-install anyway, this is the moment to do this.

By the way I was not aware of version 1486, I installed 1485 before and encountered this problem.

Kind regards,

ngc94227

Hope this is solved soon, while it is a severe bug in my opinion.

jv16

Can you go to the program's installation folder (by default: c:\program files\jv16 PowerTools X\), zip the entire Backup directory and send the zip file to me so I can see what exactly was modified by the program?

uwes

Same problem here - Old Desktop with files are gone.

Some error messages pops up too.

When I start Windows in Safe Mode then I see all my files and folders.

Cant repair it :( - so thanks to TrueImage I restore my system

from a backup made 2 hours before :).

Hope you can find the problem its a really dangerous bug!

Good luck

UweS

ngc94227

yes I could, but not now regretly. Much software doesn´t function right anymore in the sense that they don´t (better: can´t) save things anymore. I copied the backups already to an external drive and can send you those after a new install of my laptop. I will do this asp.

Perhaps user Dave Haig can send you his before I´m ready.

Kind regards,

ngc94227

jv16

What I can say from studying the issue so far that it is *not* a generic problem, that is, it doesn't affect all systems. I ran the Clean and Fix My Computer with normal and aggressive settings on numerous Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit test environments (as well as WIndows 8.0) but I have not been able to reproduce the error yet.

A hotfix has already been distributed via the Check For Updates feature of PowerTools to all currently running version of jv16 PowerTools (including old versions) that *should* prevent the issue from happening again. But since I haven't been able to reproduce the issue yet, I cannot say for sure if the hotfix is working.

I will most likely know for sure later today. Thanks everyone for reporting this issue!

jv16

I have now been able to reproduce the problem: the problem can occur in any version of Windows and with any version jv16 PowerTools. However: the problem is very specific, it can only occur under specific circumstances, it does not happen in every computer. That's why we didn't catch the issue in our testing and that's why - luckily - not many users are affected.

The good news is that we have just pushed an update to all versions of PowerTools. It is applied automatically if you let PowerTools to Check For Updates or if you use the Check For Updates manually. There are no updated version released yet, but fix to the problem is applied to your PowerTools automatically if you are using any version of jv16 PowerTools X or 2014.

Anyone who wishes to ensure this issue does not affect them, can add the following line either to the Global Ignore List or the Ignore Words feature of the program:

\environment\

tullik

jv16 wrote
I have now been able to reproduce the problem: the problem can occur in any version of Windows and with any version jv16 PowerTools. However: the problem is very specific, it can only occur under specific circumstances, it does not happen in every computer. That's why we didn't catch the issue in our testing and that's why - luckily - not many users are affected.

The good news is that we have just pushed an update to all versions of PowerTools. It is applied automatically if you let PowerTools to Check For Updates or if you use the Check For Updates manually. There are no updated version released yet, but fix to the problem is applied to your PowerTools automatically if you are using any version of jv16 PowerTools X or 2014.

Anyone who wishes to ensure this issue does not affect them, can add the following line either to the Global Ignore List or the Ignore Words feature of the program:
\environment\

For reasons unrelated to this issue, I was running a few prior versions of Power Tools. They all did the Check for Updates and the encrypted GlobalIgnoreList.dat files did change. For Power Tools 2010, 2011, and X, the change was as you described above.

However, Power Tools 2012 and 2014 only received the word environment. That is, the encompassing back slashes are not there. Potentially, more than intended could be ignored.

jv16

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