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Tweaking.com Support & Help / WARNING: 02-Reset File Permissions repair can mess up pointers big time [SOLVED]
« on: February 21, 2015, 11:22:12 pm »
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
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