Preset Manager shows wrong path that does not exist

narayan · 2011-10-20 07:12

Hi!

The following report is for ReNamer 5.50+ Beta 27 running on Windows 7.

I have created a preset that works well for several months now.
I can load it with a hotkey or by pressing the "Load" (or "Append") button in the Preset Manager.

But if I use the Preset Manager to edit it, the following error pops up:
---------------------------
Notepad
---------------------------
The system cannot find the path specified.

---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

And the notepad window remains empty.

****
Experiment-1

The Preset Manager shows this path:
C:\Program Files\Util\ReNamerBeta\Presets

However, if I browse to this path using Windows explorer, I cannot find the "Presets" folder physically
(I have turned on the "show hidden files and folders" option; so even if this is a hidden folder, it should be seen.)

****
Experiment-2
If I use Presets>Browse menu option from ReNamer, it opens Windows Explorer with this path:
C:\Program Files\Util\ZScreen

(ZScreen is a separate utility)

****
Experiment-3
I tried to use the Presets>Rescan command, but it does not change anything reported above.

Last edited by narayan (2011-10-20 07:16)

Stefan · 2011-10-20 07:51

narayan wrote:

Hi!
The following report is for ReNamer 5.50+ Beta 27 running on Windows 7.

Do you use 64-bit Win7?

So do you have "C:\Program Files(x86)\Util\ReNamerBeta\Presets" ?

and so
"C:\Users\<yourName>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\ReNamer\Presets\*.rnp" ?

narayan · 2011-10-20 09:47

Ah! found the problem:

My Win 7 is 32-bit. I could find the preset folder by tweaking your tip for 32-bit system.

It is at-
C:\Users\<userName>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Util\ReNamerBeta

But the moot point is, the Preset Manager looks in the installation folder of ReNamer instead of looking under the VirtualStore.
Definitely a bug.

What I could not figure out was, why does the Presets>Browse command takes the user to a completely unrelated folder?

Last edited by narayan (2011-10-20 09:49)

narayan · 2011-10-20 10:27

I checked 5.60 beta 6. It has the same problems, except that its Presets>Browse menu behaves slightly differently: It jumps to installation folder of ReNamer. The earlier beta jumped to a unrelated folder (but consistently jumped to the same folder every time). So the new beta is better, but still not on target (it still does not go to the correct folder in the VirtualStore path.)

Stefan · 2011-10-20 15:26

I thinks thats because Denis may have "hard coded" to find the "Presets" folder as an sub-folder of the application install folder, what works under XP.
But W7 lies to us (and to the apps) if UAC is enabled and let us believe to store where we (or the app) wants, but redirects to "VirtualStore".

>to a completely unrelated folder?
I guess "ZScreen" is the very last sub-folder in that folder? So that ReNamer didn't find his folder and just take the last one?

To have an work around try to give the group USERS modify right on "C:\Program Files\Util\ReNamerBeta\" via context menu > security tab.

narayan · 2011-10-20 17:33

Luckily I don't use the "browse" command at all.

I reported the problem so that Denis takes care of these issues.

Andrew · 2011-10-21 08:52

Stefan wrote:

To have an work around try to give the group USERS modify right on "C:\Program Files\Util\ReNamerBeta\" via context menu > security tab.

The folder security for non admins and auto redirection has been implemented for a reason, so it's not a good idea to override the rights. AFAIK there are Win32 APIs available that will return the correct actual paths for all shell folders, so I'm sure Denis can stop hard-coding the paths and use those instead.

Stefan · 2011-10-21 11:39

>The folder security for non admins and auto redirection has been implemented for a reason,

Which reason could that be?

den4b · 2011-10-21 14:11

ReNamer is not yet "certified" for Vista/7, mainly because it uses the old "portable" approach to storing all of its data, i.e. self contained in one folder. UAC has changed the whole game for applications in Windows.

More to the point now. At the moment, ReNamer stores all of its stuff in the installation folder. When you are saving a preset, Vista/7 will trick application (as Stefan pointed it out) into thinking that files got saved in the "<Program Files>\ReNamer\Presets\" folder, while it will actually save it in the VirtualStore. File reading and writing API will support this approach, but browsing and opening such files with notepad will not work. Windows explorer and notepad will try to open "<Program Files>\ReNamer\Presets\" folder when they are instructed to do so and will not look for the VirtualStore folder. That is why browsing or editing presets via presets manager will not work as expected.

I do have that in the plan to start using user's app data folder for storage, but didn't get to it yet.

For the moment, I will suggest installing ReNamer into an unprotected folder, for example: "C:\Tools\ReNamer\". This should solve all of the problems.

Andrew · 2011-10-22 18:07

Stefan wrote:

Which reason could that be?

Ideally to stop programs (and users) from storing user data or junk in system/program folders. UAC will even prevent a "normal" admin user from writing to these folders, since they are not "true" admins.

Maybe this will help: http://delphi.about.com/od/kbwinshell/a … erPath.htm

P.S. I don't use the installer and run the portable version from a folder on a non-system partition, so this issue doesn't affect me even though I use 64-bit Windows 7.

Last edited by Andrew (2011-10-22 18:10)

den4b Forum

#1 2011-10-20 07:12

Preset Manager shows wrong path that does not exist

#2 2011-10-20 07:51

Re: Preset Manager shows wrong path that does not exist

#3 2011-10-20 09:47

Re: Preset Manager shows wrong path that does not exist

#4 2011-10-20 10:27

Re: Preset Manager shows wrong path that does not exist

#5 2011-10-20 15:26

Re: Preset Manager shows wrong path that does not exist

#6 2011-10-20 17:33

Re: Preset Manager shows wrong path that does not exist

#7 2011-10-21 08:52

Re: Preset Manager shows wrong path that does not exist

#8 2011-10-21 11:39

Re: Preset Manager shows wrong path that does not exist

#9 2011-10-21 14:11

Re: Preset Manager shows wrong path that does not exist

#10 2011-10-22 18:07

Re: Preset Manager shows wrong path that does not exist

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