TXS uses wrong settings directory

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#1344 TXS uses wrong settings directory

Milestone: None

Status: works-for-me

Owner: nobody

Labels: None

Priority: 1

Updated: 2015-07-07

Created: 2015-05-22

Creator: NotDifficult

Private: No

System: Windows 7 32bit
TXS: 2.9.4

According to https://sourceforge.net/p/texstudio/wiki/Frequently%20Asked%20Questions/#where-are-the-settings-stored settings are stored in %APPDATA%\texstudio\texstudio.ini. On my system %APPDATA% is defined and mentioned .ini exists. There are further lots of .cwl files and other TXS settings files (wordCount.usage, packageCache.dat, etc.). However, there is a similar looking folder at %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore\Program Files\TeXstudio\. This is used by my default user account. The other one is used when I run TXS as admin.

Summarized:

User "me" uses
%LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore\Program Files\TeXstudio\
c:\Users\me\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\TeXstudio\

User "admin" uses
%APPDATA%\texstudio\texstudio.ini
c:\Users\me\AppData\Roaming\texstudio\

Note: AppData\Roaming\texstudio\ is write- and readable by user "me".

Can it possibly be an issue caused by a non-capitalized driver letter? OwnCloud (also a QT application) had a similar issue: https://github.com/owncloud/client/issues/2591#issuecomment-66314835

Discussion

NotDifficult - 2015-05-22

No case issue:

C:\>echo %APPDATA% C:\Users\me\AppData\Roaming

Last edit: NotDifficult 2015-05-22
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Tim Hoffmann - 2015-05-23

Did you copy the portable version to your Program Files folder? Or did you manually put a texstudio.ini next to the executable?

What probably happens is this. TeXstudio finds texstudio.ini next to texstudio.exe. This is the indication for a portable installation, so TXS tries to save all settings to that folder. But Windows protects write access to Program Files and redirects the writing to the VirtualStore.

%APPDATA%\texstudio\texstudio.ini is proabaly from an earlier installation.

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Tim Hoffmann - 2015-06-21

status: open --> works-for-me

Group: -->
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NotDifficult - 2015-06-22

There is no texstudio.ini next to my texstudio.exe. %APPDATA%\texstudio\texstudio.ini is writeable using my user account.

I noticed that I installed TS using npacked -> https://npackd.appspot.com/
Could that cause an issue? Why would my elevated user account use a different settings directory?

Maybe you could just add a note to https://sourceforge.net/p/texstudio/wiki/Frequently%20Asked%20Questions/#where-are-the-settings-stored

Note: Windows might redirect the settings folder to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore\Program Files\TeXstudio\

Last edit: NotDifficult 2015-07-03

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Tim Hoffmann - 2015-06-23

I don't know if npackd just uses the default installer that we provide, or if it just installs a version of our portable version or it uses a customized installer routine. It may be the cause of your issue. Did you install TXS as "me" or as "admin"?

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NotDifficult - 2015-06-24

With "admin" I am referring to "me" when it is elevated (Right click: Run as Admin). Npackd runs as admin, so that is how TXS was installed.
Is there any other method to make TXS run as portable version besides placing a texstudio.ini next to texstudio.exe? Because there surely is no ini file...

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Tim Hoffmann - 2015-06-29

Is there any other method to make TXS run as portable version besides placing a texstudio.ini next to texstudio.exe?

No. So maybe it's not in portable mode. Anyway, you can also check the location of texstudio.ini by Help -> Check Latex Installation. Somewhere further down, there's an entry Setting file. What does it say for "admin and "me".

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NotDifficult - 2015-07-03

Your are right! TS is running in portable mode (at least as normal user).

admin:
C:\Users\admin\AppData\Roaming\texstudio\texstudio.ini

me:
C:\Program Files\TeXstudio\texstudio.ini

but that file does not exist:
C:\>dir C:\Program Files\TeXstudio\texstudio.ini
The system cannot find the path specified.

If you cannot reproduce it, it was probably unpackd which messed up the installation somehow. Thanks for your support!

Looking up the settings path is very helpful. Maybe worth a note
here? -> https://sourceforge.net/p/texstudio/wiki/Frequently%20Asked%20Questions/#where-are-the-settings-stored

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Tim Hoffmann - 2015-07-07

I cannot reproduce this here. Anyway, if you want to fix it, you can simply move the content from
%LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore\Program Files\TeXstudio\
to
C:\Users\me\AppData\Roaming\texstudio\.

Looking up the settings path is very helpful. Maybe worth a note
here? -> https://sourceforge.net/p/texstudio/wiki/Frequently%20Asked%20Questions/#where-are-the-settings-stored

Done.

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