WARNING: 02-Reset File Permissions repair can mess up pointers big time [SOLVED]

[TiredOfWindows]

Let me preface this by saying that I've used Windows Repair several times, and overall I think that both its author and the program walk on water, so to speak!   

But I've just discovered (and finally fixed) a major problem (major for me, at least) that the Reset File Permissions "repair" actually CAUSED!

I use a lot of photo software, and some of it (including Adobe Elements, apparently) calls upon a program called exiftool.exe.  I discovered (after I had used Reset File Permissions--but I didn't make that connection immediately) that exiftool was refusing to execute. After much exploration and experimenting, I discovered that SEVERAL subfolders (most obviously one in C:\Users\<username>\Appdata\Local\) had now become recursive; in other words, the top-level \Application Data\ subfolder created by exiftool now contained a pointer to an imaginary subfolder-copy of itself, and that imaginary subfolder-copy contained a pointer to another imaginary subfolder-copy of itself, and so on. The recursion continues until the subfolder path ( .... \Appdata\Local\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\ ....) becomes so long that Windows 7 barfs... And the consequence is that exiftool won't run.

I won't attempt to explain the problem further; instead I recommend that you read this thread, which explains it much better than I can:

http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/115149-stop-application-data-folder-replicating.html

I recommend you DO NOT waste time and maybe cause other damage by attempting to delete the imaginary sub-folders! I found that it can be done, but the recursion will simply be recreated!

Instead; as the thread suggests:  download and then execute a (free) program called JunctionBox, from  http://sourceforge.net/projects/junctionbox/ (and then reboot, of course).  It worked for me first time. The user interface is simple and I used the default settings. I have 64-bit Windows 7, but other users say that it works with 32-bit Windows also.

It will be a cold day in you-know-where before I mess around with my permissions again! and I question whether it's a good idea to offer this as a "repair" option.....

I hope this helps someone!

Best wishes to all,

Martin

[Shane]

I am curious to why it happened to you. I do know that it can happen, but the reset permissions doesnt mess with the junction points, but it does give the user permissions, but a long time ago I put in the fix for that where after the file permissions run it runs a cleanup script, which goes to those default locations and changes the permissions back to denied like they are suppose to be.

So the fact that they are not denied on your system tells me that cleanup script either didn't run or there is something else going on.

I wonder, does the username have any unicode chars in it? Reason I ask is I wonder if it had Unicode chars in it that the script didn't run right because the script doesn't accept Unicode chars. That would explain it, and also means I need to work on getting unicode paths to work better

Shane

[TiredOfWindows]

Sorry about the slow response; I had a deadline I needed to meet.

My username contains only alpha characters with a space between my first and last names.

Martin

[Shane]

OK, I just made an account with a space in the user name and tested the file permissions and all those folders wouldn't give me access denied just like they should after running the repairs.

I did update the repair in the latest build v2.11.2, I changed it to where it would read and handle unicode names, I also changed the way it looked for the folders in the profile path. So let me know if you still have the problem with the new version, if you do I will have to dig in deeper with you to find out

Shane

[TiredOfWindows]

Well; the Exiftool problem came back -- cause unknown. I suspect that it was a Windows Update that did the damage; I'm sure it wasn't Windows Repair.  Anyway, I ran v 3.1.0 Windows Repair (just the first three repairs: 01-Reset Registry Permissions, 02-Reset File Permissions (on the C: drive only), 03-Reset Service Permissions) and then rebooted -- and presto! The problem was gone.

Thanks very much, Shane; you're The Man!

I'll put up a separate post about a timeout problem that has been screwing up my SSL for years, in case you have any insights.
 
Martin